Iraq, euro return to haunt Blair in race for EU job

(LONDON) - Tony Blair's stance on the Iraq war and the euro may have blighted his chances of becoming the EU president.

The question of Blair's commitment to Europe is key to discussions about whether he should take the new role of European Council president when the job comes into force under the Lisbon Treaty, expected to become law by December.

Two decisions Blair took during his 10 years of power have come back to haunt him -- his failure to bring Britain into the eurozone and his strong support for US president George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq.

On Iraq, Blair put Britain's ties with the United States above those with its European partners France and Germany, who strongly opposed the conflict.

"Iraq was a big mistake, and that distracted him from developing as a European leader and thinking about the future of the EU," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform.

But Grant believes the former premier has a "respectable record" on Europe.

On Britain staying out of the eurozone, Grant told AFP: "I don't think that is really his fault. Gordon Brown, his very powerful chancellor (finance minister) stopped him." Brown took over as prime minister in June 2007.

When he was elected in 1997, Blair became the most pro-European British leader since Edward Heath in 1970, sweeping aside 18 years of eurosceptic Conservative rule to embrace Brussels -- and boost London's influence there.

One of his earliest decisions was to adopt the European Social Charter, followed by the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into British law as the Human Rights Act.

Discussion about European economic issues was strongly influenced by Blair's arguments on the benefits of globalisation, and he was one of the most consistent supporters of reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

At the Franco-British summit at Saint-Malo in 1998, Blair also helped to develop the European Security and Defence Policy. However, his enthusiasm waned as his fears grew that it could weaken NATO.

The ex-premier's standing in Europe was reinforced by his speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg in June 2005 when he called for a more liberal and enlarged Europe.

But his policies were always tempered by the notoriously eurosceptic tendencies in Britain, reinforced by the main opposition Conservatives and a highly influential press.

Blair laid out clear "red lines" in discussions over the reforming Lisbon Treaty, demanding that the post of new European foreign minister have its title changed to high representative for foreign affairs to downplay its power.

"The idea that victory was won through refusing to compromise became a key part of his European policy, despite his grand declarations," said Thomas Klau from the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Blair's biggest failure could be seen in the continued scepticism of the British public towards Europe.

By promising in 2004 to submit plans for a European constitution to a referendum he committed "his biggest European fault", Klau argued, saying this forced French president Jacques Chirac to organise a similar vote.

The French rejected the constitution, a decision that, echoed by the Dutch, scuppered the document and sparked the creation of the Lisbon Treaty instead.

"He sacrificed a major European treaty to purely domestic concerns," Klau said.

The academic believes that even Blair's support for EU enlargement "was not a particular act of courage" because it had broad backing in Britain.