27 October 2009: Financial Times
By George Parker in London
David Miliband, Britain's foreign secretary, yesterday warned Europe against choosing a political lightweight as EU president, insisting that a big hitter such as Tony Blair, former UK prime minister, was needed to put the bloc on an equal footing with the US and China.
The foreign secretary has become increasingly vocal in his support for Mr Blair to become the European Union's first president, and yesterday urged the union's 27 prime ministers and presidents to make a bold choice.
Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, has also been making the case for Mr Blair in private phone calls to European leaders ahead of the EU summit in Brussels this week.
Mr Miliband told the BBC Mr Blair was not a formally declared candidate, but was waiting to see what sort of person Europe wanted as its new full-time president.
"Does it want someone who is just going to tick off the items on the agenda?" he said. "Or does it want someone who is going to be a persuasive advocate, a coalition-builder, a strategic leader of Europe's relationships around the world?"
The foreign secretary admitted that Mr Blair divided opinion in Europe, but urged the EU's leaders to put aside recent differences and to consider the broader geopolitical picture.
In a speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, Mr Miliband said: "The choice for Europe is simple: get our act together and make the EU a leader on the world stage or become spectators in a G2 world shaped by the US and China."
Mr Miliband said the EU's foreign policy was blighted by confused messages, patchy co-ordination and relationships with global powers that lacked "clarity, strategy or purpose".
His claims are not shared by the Conservatives or in many European capitals, where Mr Blair is remembered as a divisive figure.
But Mr Miliband believes the EU risks becoming marginalised if it opts for a lesser-known leader - such as Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch prime minister, or Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg premier.
British politicians have been reluctant to make the case for Mr Blair before the EU president's post has even been created: the Lisbon treaty still awaits the signature of Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president.
