Stop Tony Blair from being appointed as the unelected "President of Europe"

We, European citizens of all origins and of all political persuasions, wish to express our total opposition to the nomination of Tony Blair to the Presidency of the European Council.

The Treaty of Lisbon provides for the new post of President of the European Council, to be elected by the Council for a mandate, renewable once only, of two and a half years. Under the terms of the Treaty: "The President of the European Council shall chair it and drive forward its work" and "shall ensure the preparation and continuity of the work of the European Council". Further, "The President of the European Council shall, at his level and in that capacity, ensure the external representation of the Union on issues concerning its common foreign and security policy".

The future President of the European Council will therefore have a key role in determining the policies of the European Union and its relations with the rest of the world. This first Council Presidency will also have a major symbolic weight for both citizens of the European Union and for the image of the Union in the rest of the world. In this perspective, we believe it is essential that the first president embodies the spirit and values of the European project.

For some time now, increasingly insistent news reports have made evident a wish, in some quarters, to see Tony Blair appointed the first President of the European Council. This appointment, were it to take place, would be in total contradiction with the values professed by the European project.

In violation of international law, Tony Blair committed his country to a war in Iraq that a large majority of European citizens opposed. This war has claimed hundreds of thousands of victims and displaced millions of refugees. It has been a major factor in today's profound destabilisation of the Middle East, and has weakened world security. In order to lead his country into war, Mr Blair made systematic use of fabricated evidence and the manipulation of information. His role in the Iraq war would weigh heavily on the image of the Union in the world, should he in fact be named its president.

The steps taken by Tony Blair's government, and his complicity with the Bush administration in the illegal programme of "extraordinary renditions", have led to an unprecedented decline in civil liberties. This is in contradiction with the terms of the European Convention of Human Rights, which is an integral part of the treaty.

The European Charter of Fundamental Rights formalises the founding values of the European project and is one of the pillars of the new treaty. Tony Blair fought its inclusion in the Treaty of Lisbon, and eventually managed to secure an exemption for the UK.

Rather than move European integration forward, the former British Prime Minister set a series of so-called red lines during the Lisbon negotiations, with the intent of blocking any progress in social issues and tax harmonisation, as well as common defence and foreign policy.

Furthermore, it seems unthinkable that the first President of the European Council should be the former head of a government that kept its country out of two key elements of the construction of Europe: the Schengen area of free movement of people and the Euro zone.

At a time when one of the priorities of the European institutions is to reconnect with its citizens, we believe it is essential that the President of the European Council should be a person with whom a majority of citizens can identify, rather than one rejected by a majority. Therefore, we declare our total opposition to this nomination.

This petition which currently has over 34,000 signatures and is signed both by opponents of the European Union and by supporters of it.

Tony Blair is equally unacceptable to them both.

4) Number 10 Downing Street Petition

There is little point in signing this Number 10 Downing Street Petition, as we suspect that this will be conveniently ignored, until after the decision to appoint the President of Europe has been made.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/notoBlair/

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to do all in his power to prevent Tony Blair becoming President of the European Union

Reasons oppose Tony Blair as "President of Europe"

• Some people cite Tony Blair's involvement in the supposedly "illegal" invasion of Iraq , an issue which they have unsuccessfully tried to impeach Blair etc. on. Nevertheless, there are millions of European Union citizens who oppose that war, or who supported the initial overthrow of the evil dictator Saddam Hussein, but who oppose the subsequent incompetent "regime change" afterwards, and who are sickened by the thought of Tony Blair in a position of power and influence over them again.

• Tony Blair's record on policies on "anti-terrorism" legislation is appalling. Everything he touched has been badly draughted and catch all, and has actually helped our terrorist enemies, by eroding and destroying the fundamental human rights and liberties. of innocent people, and helping to radicalise passive terrorist supporters into active terrorist plotters. The "European President" should not be someone so unduly influenced by securocrat lobbying .

• Tony Blair's policy of simultaneously starving British military forces of the best equipment, whilst over-committing them and sending them to die in long running foreign wars, such as in Afghanistan and Iraq, without any clear exit strategy, is an incompetent way to conduct Foreign Policy, both for the United Kingdom and for the wider European Union. He should not be given the chance to repeat this at the European Union level.
  
  
• Tony Blair and his Labour cronies (including the present unelected Prime Minister Gordon Brown) have given lip service to "human rights" etc, but have done the exact opposite in practice This is pure Orwellian doublethink

  
  The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them....To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies

  which they communicate in newspeak slogans.

• Another thing the European Union needs less of is overzealous bureaucrats, stultifying red tape, and pointless over regulation. A massive increase in the intrusive, interventionist Nanny / Big Brother Database Surveillance Snooper Stalker State, together with a tolerance of the such abuses by the private sector, has been a feature of Tony Blair's policies.

• Similarly, the economic and financial mismanagement by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown etc. are partly responsible for the current economic depression and near collapse of the financial system - why should such failure be rewarded by the appointment of one of the chief culprits, to another unelected position of power and influence ?

  
  

• Tony Blair's personal financial property empire, worth several million pounds, appears to be a direct result of his "flipping" his home and second home Parliamentary allowances. This expense systemswas changed to allow such "flipping", whilst Tony Blair was Prime Minister - he could have forbidden the practice, but instead seemingly took advantage of it. The records of MPs expense scandals, which came out recently in the Daily Telegraph did not include anything on Tony Blair - because, somehow, Tony Blair's Parliamentary expenses records have mysteriously been shredded years ago (how the bank account records of payments can have been lost, is yet another suspicious mystery). Questions about the legality of his property empire will continue hang over Tony Blair if he is appointed as the unelected "President of Europe".

• Tony Blair's role as a Middle East Peace Envoy, funded by theQuartet on the MIddle East i.e. the United States of America, the Russian Federation, the United Nations and the European Union. Being paid by the USA, the Russian and even the UK government - would be seen as a direct conflict of interest for a purely European Union role, which should be a full time job in itself.
  

Potential reasons to support him:

What are the forces which are trying to foist this unsuitable politician on us ?

• Short term scheming by Labour party spin doctors and appartachiki who surround Gordon Brown in Downing Street., who think that spinning this story might expose some divisions in the opposition Conservative party, during their party conference this week.

• Some sort of obscure political jousting between the French President Nicholas Sarkozy and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with Tony Blair's "candidacy" being used as political gambit in some backroom political deal.

• Political meddling in European Union affairs by vested interests in the USA, who have fooled themselves, that Tony Blair would somehow have some real influence to promote United States interests within the Council of Europe and the European Union.

• Tony Blair's personal charm and superficial skills and experience as as television performer - obviously much better than the dour, often rude, Gordon Brown. Surely there are some other charming, articulate politicians somewhere within the 450 million population of the European Union ?

• Tony Blair's ego and "mission" to "make a difference" in the world, whilst bolstering his lecture circuit and consultancy marketable value, through prestigious international roles and his network of contacts amongst world leaders
  

None of these seem to be good reasons to allow Tony Blair to be inflicted on us, yet again, in any position of power and influence.