Few leaders get ejected from office if they lead, argues Tony Blair. Sitting in his office yesterday, Tony Blair's train of thought about the European Union's future is interrupted when heavy machinery, owned by London-based Irish construction firm,, FM Conways, rattles noisily outside his Mayfair window.
The interruption, however, is brief. For over a week, Blair has placed himself centre-stage with a succession of public outings in the wake of the rise of populist parties in the European Parliament elections.
Earlier, he had spoken at a Confederation of British Industry event, emphasising the scale of the challenge facing the United Kingdom if it heads into an unwanted, in his view, referendum on EU membership.
In the 1950s British leaders saw “no necessity” to be involved in Europe, “but very soon, a new generation of leaders realised that as the world changed so we had to be part of it. Finally we joined. Since then no British prime minister has ever suggested leaving it”.
Today, some demand a UK retreat from the EU, but this is not the attitude that has “made this country great, or has kept it despite all our limitations, at the forefront of world events for centuries”.
Too often, he goes on, the British “tend to talk sometimes as if there is a British exceptionalism here” – that the British are the only ones who can see what is wrong with the EU “whereas I don’t think that is true.
“A lot of what the Brits think about Europe is quite a common thought across Europe. It is only in Britain where some people say, ‘Now we want out of the whole thing’.”
The UK can get changes, but only if it convinces other member states that the changes sought will benefit the EU as a whole, not just a price that has to be paid to dissuade an obstructive partner from threatening to leave.
Difficulties
Equally, however, the British must heed the difficulties faced by other EU leaders, most particularly German chancellor,
Angela Merkel
: “She will do as much as she can to keep Britain inside,” he says, pausing before emphasising slowly, “as much as she can”.
Blair has little sympathy for former Luxembourg prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker’s arguments that he has a mandate to become the next president of the European Commission because the European People’s Party is the biggest grouping in the European Parliament.
“I don’t know that people in Europe had in mind that they were electing a commission president, I think you have got to be realistic about this. People do not feel connected to the European Parliament in the way that we would like them to,” he says. Again, Blair pauses, mildly amused at Juncker’s manoeuvrings. “The sensible thing is to say, “Yes we have to take account of who won the European Parliament elections but in the end nominate the person you think is best for the job.”
However, that person is not Blair, even though he has had a string of contacts with EU leaders over the last fortnight, including Merkel: “I am not seeking a role in Europe, formal or informal. I have no other interest,” he insists.
Pressed about other commission presidential candidates, he refuses to offer opinions on any of those mentioned, including Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the Finnish PM Jyrki Katainen, or his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk.
“There are lots of people who fit the bill, who would be strong, competent chief executives, if you like, of the commission and would be prepared to adopt that reforming agenda from the European Council,” he says.
However, it is the European Council – not MEPs – which should be exerting weight by laying out a strong agenda for reform and then appointing a commission head to carry that out in the face of likely opposition from MEPs.
“The new parliament is, frankly, going to be difficult, let’s say interesting, at points strange. The European Council is going to need to reassert itself strongly,” says Blair, who mentions “leadership” again and again.
EU leaders must agree “a manifesto for change” – not just some rushed conclusions from a summit meeting – that will reform the union as much as is possible within existing treaties.
The manifesto will have to be “sufficiently precise that afterwards the commission knows exactly what it is supposed to do” and that it has the full support of EU leaders in executing it, he told the Confederation of British Industry earlier.
The European Parliament elections “do represent a desire for change,” he says.
EU citizens feel distant from EU institutions and want the EU to stay out of matters that are best left to national states: “They have to listen, but you also have to lead, not just try to ride the tiger.
“In politics you have two types of politics: the anger and the answer. It is best to go for the answer, not the anger. When you try to start to ride [that] tiger what happens is that it takes you in directions that you can’t control. Then you end up in a big mess.”
Sometimes, leaders have to hear what people say they want, but then give them what they need, he says, because the public itself would start to get “to get worried” if their leaders express some of their own “strong and sometimes partisan views”.
“If the leaders start to share those [views] they start to get a bit anxious. They know at one level that they want to complain about Europe, but if they got a leader . . . who started to say, “Let’s get out of here”, they’d start to get worried about that.”
The approval voiced by the UK Independence Party and the Front National in France for the "socially conservative nationalism" of Russian president, Vladimir Putin is no surprise, he argues.
Globalisation and technology are pushing people together: “It is, for sure,at times frightening and insecure. But it is a deception to tell people that they’re better off shutting down in the face of it; or stigmatising those that are different in race, colour, nation or faith.”
