Des socialistes divisés laissent tomber l’option Blair [en] [de]

Spanish Premier José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, responding to a question from EurActiv at a pre-summit press conference, said that the “clear aspiration” of European socialists was to have one of their own installed as High Representative for Foreign Affairs, the other top EU job to be created by the Lisbon Treaty. 

The socialist leader in the European Parliament, German MEP Martin Schulz, later confirmed this when questioned by EurActiv at the Brussels summit. 

The revelation, coming in the wake of Zapatero’s meeting with other centre-left leaders from around Europe, would appear to be a final nail in the coffin of Tony Blair’s much-discussed but as yet unconfirmed candidacy for the EU president job. 

The Spanish PM’s words carry added weight, given that yesterday afternoon, he was appointed a member of the socialist “troika” negotiating the top jobs on behalf of the European left. He will be joined by Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann and Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the president of the Party of European Socialists (PES). 

Brown alone in supporting Blair 

Yesterday’s events also served to highlight the clear divide in the European left, as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown continued to talk up Tony Blair’s credentials, arguing that his predecessor would “be an excellent candidate for the job.” 

However, the UK PM acknowledged that despite Blair’s potential to strongly represent the EU in key global discussions on “growth, jobs and climate change,” he has not formally declared his candidacy. 

In so doing, Brown struck an increasingly isolated figure among his centre-left colleagues. “Brown is on his own,” socialist sources told EurActiv, though Poul Nyrup Rasmussen maintained that "there are several names for the two posts," adding that "it is simply too early to go into that parcel". 

Liberals enter the fray

Meanwhile, European liberals threw their hat into the “top jobs” ring, arguing that they are entitled to one of the remaining EU positions of power in exchange for their support of José Manuel Barroso’s reappointment as Commission President earlier this autumn (EurActiv 10/09/09). 

“We supported Barroso’s re-nomination and now the EPP (European People’s Party) has to live up to the deal,” said Annemie Neyts, President of the European Liberal Democrats Party (ELDR). 

Such a move would not be unthinkable as there are precedents in the EU’s recent institutional history. In 2002, a liberal-EPP deal saw Irish Liberal MEP Pat Cox elected European Parliament President, effectively sidelining the European left. 

The no-name summit 

Despite the media frenzy surrounding the names of potential top job candidates, EU institution leaders were at pains to point out that names were not officially being discussed. 

Current EU Council President, Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt said because of ongoing uncertainty over the fate of the Lisbon Treaty – notably in the Czech Republic – there would be no discussion of names until 3 November, at the earliest when the Czech Constitutional Court is expected to rule on the EU treaty. 

“We will at this Council not have formal or informal debates about names to fill up the new functions which the Lisbon Treaty would put in place,” reinfeldt claimed. 

José Manuel Barroso added that “this will be a summit about policies, not about names”. 

However, Dalia Grybauskaitė, president of Lithuania, was of a somewhat different opinion. “Of course we will discuss names, but not with the microphones on”, she said.