Wrangling over Blair for EU president

BRUSSELS, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A new entrant has emerged as lobbying for and against ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair as the European Union's first full-time president intensified.

Former Irish Prime Minister John Bruton, completing a five-year term as EU ambassador to Washington, contacted European governments to bid for the post, the Irish Times reported Thursday.

Bruton said that as ambassador he works harmoniously with all 27 EU member states and was well qualified to be the full-time president of the European Council, the EU's highest political body, representing member nations' heads of state and government.

The position of a full-time president for 2 1/2 years is new, created by the 2007 Lisbon Treaty, which aims to streamline decision-making and reform the bloc's structures. The treaty, which must still be ratified by Poland and the Czech Republic, does not specify the president's powers.

Blair, 56, has not officially said he wants the job, but will seek it if EU leaders meeting in Brussels agree to make the role substantial, with a globally recognized name, rather than administrative, led by a lesser-known consensus-seeking technocrat, The Times of London reported.

Friends of Blair said he would give up his lucrative commercial interests if he felt he could "make a difference" for Europe, The Times said.

The Financial Times argued in an editorial that "Blair is the wrong man for the EU job."

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, a European Council president for six months in 1997 and 2005, said Blair didn't "strictly adhere to (EU) community principles."

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the BBC Thursday Blair would be a divisive choice.