Inkless Wells

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A president of Europe who lived in Canada for 44 years?

by Paul Wells on Thursday, November 19, 2009 10:15am - 15 Comments

You’ll be shocked to learn that the European Union is mired in a cumbersome process.

This time what they’re trying to do is to pick a stable long-term president for the Union, and a stable long-term foreign-minister type, now that the Lisbon Treaty seems about to be implemented. Until now the “presidency” of Europe has fallen to the head of government of whichever country gets the rotating six-month presidency. Which means, pre-Lisbon, that every 13 and a half years everyone gets to be figurehead for half a year. This new system should be an improvement. But first, of course, it’s a schmozzle. Tony Blair has enemies, nobody else is particularly exciting. Apparently some people are mentioning our old friend Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the former President of Latvia who spent much of her adult life in Montreal. Expect a TV ad campaign against her, on the premise that she’s just visiting and it’s all about her. The linked article also mentions François Fillon, the last sane man in French politics, as a possible dark-horse candidate. This would be a very bad idea, because Fillon could not possibly help Europe as much as his departure from Paris would hurt France. But don’t get me started.

AND-YOU-THOUGHT-OUR-DEMOCRACY-WAS-BROKEN UPDATE: Great analysis from Der Spiegel, whose sources can’t decide whether Sweden is to blame because it didn’t sufficiently pre-cook the results, or Poland, because they want the process to be at least minimally democratic.

Tags: EU, François Fillon, Vaira Vike-Freiberga

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Anon

With France and Germany behind him, and Brown probably secretly so, looks like the Belgian PM is a lock for the Presidency. Would Sarkozy allow anybody to outshine him on the world stage? For that matter, would Merkel or anybody else?

CAPS

And there is no way a Belgian PM would outshine anyone anywhere at any time. One just hopes he doesn't waffle.
Mulletaur

Yeah, the job is van Rompuy's. You're right, they want somebody weak they can control, not somebody like Blair. Also, Verhofstadt was vetoed by Blair previously – memories are long.

euromarianne

Vaira Vike-Freiberga is an amazing candidate, open to the world and deeply knowledgeable of European and national affairs. No-one in Europe would have the idea to have a campaign against on the basis she lived in Canada – while her country was occupied by a foreign power…

Europe can do better on the democracy side for sure, first by nominating more women at top jobs as outlined here
http://www.genderbalancedcommission.eu/

The next step is going to have a transparent nomination procedure.

Not sure Canada can give any lesson on that between Supreme Court judges and Senators discretionnary nominations… When the provinces will be involved in a transparent (which would be the best analogy with the EU 27 members states), then we can talk about it again.
Bill Simpson

It is hard to see how this role will play out. Sometimes it looks no more substantial than the UN chief; at other times, the essentially unelected power now resident in Brussels seems ready to overwhelm all local interests.

There is a growing nationalist backlash against the EC. I suspect that the Belgian is the likely winner, if only because it is hard to be fearful of anything Belgian. Tony Blair actually threatens to try and do things, and Vaira Vike-Freiberga is a little too compelling for everyone to agree on.

Berlusconi would be a fun candidate, providing ample scope for distraction, scandal and amusement, without any prospect of meaningful activity – perfect!

kcm

Berlusconi…why do i have the image of Nero fiddling and Rome burning?

http://intensedebate.com/people/jolyon jolyon

Christ on a pogo stick!

Am I ever glad that I don't live in a EU country. Hundreds of millions people's new head of state is going to be a second rate pol who is chosen with less transparency than College of Cardinals choosing a new pope.

And they are supposed to fill the two posts of leader and foreign affairs over the course of dinner tonight while also deciding other bureaucratic matters. I guess it just shows who's in charge – bureaucrats in Brussels – and who the figure heads are.
http://intensedebate.com/people/zamprelli4731 Zamprelli

Anyone know when http://www.vike-freiberga.me will be up and running?
http://www.drivenmag.com Eric Grant

Lede made my day.
http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

From Spiegel:

But few of the candidates are keen on such "job interviews" because they fear that an embarrassing defeat could have political consequences back home. What is a prime minister supposed to say to his people after his application for a top job in Brussels has failed? "I'm back again and I didn't get it, but I still love you," Reinfeldt said, mocking the Polish proposal. He added that the suggestion was "unrealistic."

Wow. All I can is wow. Complete lack of respect for democracy.

she criticized the closed-door selection process, saying the EU was functioning "like the former Soviet Union."

Absolutely, there is no difference. One thing is for sure, the people of Europe are playing no part whatsoever in this charade.
Mulletaur

Well, congratulations to Baroness Ashton, then. Sorry, Tony.
Anon

From the <a href = "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8367589.stm">BBC:

EU leaders have chosen the Belgian Prime Minister, ,b>Herman van Rompuy, to be the first permanent European Council President.

The other top job created by the Lisbon Treaty – foreign affairs supremo – has gone to the EU Trade Commissioner, Baroness Catherine Ashton from the UK.
http://intensedebate.com/people/colbycosh colbycosh

"Fillon could not possibly help Europe as much as his departure from Paris would hurt France." I guess this became an exercise in "Be careful what you wish for" almost immediately: Belgium seems, if anything, much less able to spare Van Rompuy. When it comes to France, we can at least be pretty confident that there will BE a France five years from now.
http://twitter.com/FACLC @FACLC

Oh c'mon, did nobody else notice that while Europe considered but rejected a candidate for President who spent most of her life outside of Europe in Canada, Canada is in the midst of rejecting a candidate for Prime Minister who has spent most of his life outside of Canada in the US/UK? The post title just screams Ignatieff at me.
Eric

Good posting, interesting article. Regarding the headline, all of those candidates are foreigners to all of the citizens of Europe, barring the candidates own. If a candidate were to run for the presedency of France, one who lived in Canada for extensive periods, and who referred to him/herself as Canadian, then you could bet your next cheque it would be a big political issue.