Labour's backing of Blair for EU President disregards democracy

William Hague has criticised the Government’s decision to support Tony Blair for the proposed new post of President of the EU Council.

Labour’s Europe minister, Glenys Kinnock, today announced that Tony Blair will receive the Government’s full backing.

But William, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, stressed the former Prime Minister should be let “nowhere near the job”:

“The creation of a new EU President could be enormously damaging for Europe. Any holder is likely to try to centralise power for themselves in Brussels and dominate national foreign policies. In the hands of an operator as ambitious as Tony Blair, that is a near certainty.”

William pointed out that because Gordon Brown has refused to hold a referendum on the renamed EU Constitution, the British people have not actually been asked whether Europe should have a new President at all.

He stressed, “Rather than secret stitch-ups by unelected politicians for unelected politicians voters should have their say on the future of Europe. Appointing Tony Blair as a President in Europe would be the perfect symbol of this stale Labour Government’s arrogant disregard for democracy.”