Brown: Blair would be an excellent president
Gordon Brown has backed former prime minister Tony Blair to become EU president
Thursday, 29, Oct 2009 05:40
By Richard James.
Gordon Brown has once again publicly backed former prime minister Tony Blair to become the first president of the European Council.
The prime minister was speaking at a press conference in Brussels during a summit of EU leaders today.
While the talks are expected to involve a range of topics, namely climate change and the economic crisis, speculation over who will fill the new presidential role if the Lisbon Treaty comes into force has continued to dominate the agenda.
The Czech Republic remains the only member state not to ratify the treaty and a number of candidates have already started to campaign for the position.
While Mr Blair has yet to formally throw his hat into the ring and announce his candidacy, the British government has started to strongly champion his cause.
Speaking in Brussels, Mr Brown said his predecessor would make "an excellent president", claiming his credentials were well proven.
He said concern and opposition to Mr Blair due to the Iraq war was now a thing of the past and Europe should be looking forward instead of dwelling on the past.
"Iraq was an issue that was very divisive in Europe for many years, but not anymore," he said.
"People want to look forward and how Europe can shape its own policies."
While continually stating how good a candidate Mr Blair would make, the prime minister stated any decision on the matter was still a while off and unlikely to be made in the coming days due to the Czech position.
The prime minister told reporters though that he had spoken to Mr Blair already this week and admitted he did so on regular occasions.
At the talks in Brussels, the EU leaders will discuss economic strategies aimed at bringing their collective economies out of recession, as well as new climate change targets ahead of the Copenhagen summit in December.