by afew Thu Jul 16th, 2009 at 05:41:54 AM EST

The "Blair for EU President" drum is being banged again. Whether this is part of some jockeying strategy designed to increase the UK's bargaining power on other matters or not, it seems that it's time to speak out again:

Tony Blair would be a most unsuitable "President of the European Union";

the Blair candidature encounters strong opposition among EU citizens.

The new President of the European Council, under the Lisbon Treaty, would have very considerable powers allied to the prestige of representing the 27-nation union and its citizens. The post seems necessarily to call for a consensual figure whose past acts have been unambiguously in favour of the core values and the harmonious development of the European Union.

On each of these counts, Tony Blair fails to convince.

He is not consensual, either in terms of the support he might command among EU citizens, or in terms of his international reputation, stained by the invasion of Iraq on false pretences, his recent non-performance as Quartet envoy to the Middle East while apparently performing to his own profit as an international consultant and public speaker.

He has not been unambiguous in his support of core values of the European project: his government in the UK was marked by a major decline in civil liberties and by complicity with the US in the programme of extraordinary renditions, contrary to the European Convention of Human Rights, and he opposed the inclusion in the Lisbon Treaty of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, securing an opt-out for the UK.

Though he speaks of himself as pro-European, Blair's decade as British Prime Minister did not see his country join essential European structures like the Euro and Schengen. And he steadfastly opposed, in the Lisbon negotiations, social and tax harmonisation measures and a common defence and foreign policy. For these reasons alone, a Blair presidency would be incongruous.

And his candidature sparks off strong opposition. If you haven't already done so, join those who have signed our Stop Blair! petition. (See below the logo in the lefthand column for different European language options).