Comment at end
11th November, 2009
TWO newsworthy items:
BLAIR IS BACK – BROWN BLOCKS ROMPUY
1. According to this site, in German, but you can translate, The British have “blocked” Van Rompuy as EU presidency candidate. You can read the Babel translation here. Nothing in the British press on this, though. Perhaps something has been lost in political translation.
The “Bredouille”, as in the article, literally means – to be in REAL trouble
2. And also tonight Tony Blair was interviewed on Amanpour at CNN, here. Video.
No denial, no confirmation over EU job. We’ll take that as a “yes”, then.
Excerpt from Amanpour:
AMANPOUR: And in terms of your future, are you or anybody around you taking steps to make it possible for you to assume a new E.U. presidency, to be the president of the E.U.?
BLAIR: You know, when I was asked this question today, I said, look, I’m doing the job I’m doing at the moment. And the one thing I’ve learnt over a very long period in politics is don’t speculate about things in the future, because who knows?
AMANPOUR: Are you taking yourself out of consideration?
BLAIR: No, I’m simply saying, Christiane, that when I’m here today in Palestine, working on the issues to do with the Palestinian economy and my quartet role, that’s what I want to talk about. And when and if I want to talk about something else, I’ll do it at a — at a future moment, if you don’t mind.
AMANPOUR: But surely, if you were E.U. president, part of your job right there would be made much easier. How does it sound, President Blair?
[15:20:00]
BLAIR: What it sounds right now for me is that, even though I know you very well, and this is the third time you’ve tried to put the question to me, it’s my third time of not answering it, but concentrating on what I’m doing now. And I really understand why you’re putting it to me, and I hope you kind of understand, if I can say so politely, why I’m just concentrating on this here today.
Because, actually, I do feel passionate about this and whatever happens in the future. This is really, really important for me, and I — I intend to stick with it.
If — if I had to point to one single thing that would make a difference to a secure and prosperous 21st century, in this part of the world, but actually far broader than this part of the world, it’s resolving this issue. All the other things we’re trying to do, even in places like Afghanistan, would be easier if we had a resolution of this issue. So this is what I’m working on.
AMANPOUR: And on that note, former Prime Minister Blair, thank you for joining us. And we’ll be following the E.U. matter closely, as well.
BLAIR: Thanks, Christiane.
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Tags: EU President, David Cameron, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, HERMAN VAN ROMPUY, Amanpour, Austrian radio report, Brown blocks Rompuy, Bredouille - REAL trouble, Ken Clarke
