Online campaigners aim to 'stop' Blair becoming EU president

Ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair has let it be known that he would be interested in the top job, although always with the coy proviso that he is accepted by the rest of the EU leaders.

But the British politician is not an uncontroversial figure. For some, it is unimaginable that a national of a country that is not part of core EU projects such as the eurozone and the Schengen borderless zone could represent Europe. His strong support for the US-led war on Iraq is also seen as a mark against him in some quarters.

The web-based petition, Stopblair.eu, seeks to tap into some of this anti-Blair feeling. Available in 11 languages, the petition already had over 4,000 signatures by Thursday afternoon (7 February), two days after it launch day, and aims to get 1 million signatures.

Jerome Guillet, a Paris-based banker and one of the founders to the petition, told EUobserver that the discussion about Mr Blair "seemed more intense lately. As this is an idea that we think is terrible, some of us decided to do something about it."

The petition - which has signatures mostly from the UK but also from France, Belgium, Portugal and Germany - says that if Mr Blair took on the post, it "would be in total contradiction with the values professed by the European project."

It also refers to the fact that a "large majority of European citizens opposed" the Iraq war.

The online campaign emerged from a community of pro-European bloggers based in France known as the European Tribune. According to Mr Guillet, they would rather see German former foreign minister Joschka Fischer get the job.

So far, talk about who should be the first president of the European Council – a two-and-a-half year post that may be renewed one time only - is in its early stages.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has indicated that he thinks Mr Blair, currently a Middle East envoy, could be good for the post.

But this has not stopped some speculation in Brussels that Mr Sarkozy's real aim may be to see Luxembourg's prime minister and veteran of the EU stage, Jean-Claude Juncker, become president instead.

Under this scenario, Mr Blair would be a front candidate to provide controversy so that EU leaders would then be happy to accept Mr Juncker as a compromise candidate.

However, others suggest that the Luxembourg leader's pro-European enthusiasm may be too much for other national capitals, such as London, to stomach.

But Mr Juncker and Mr Blair are likely to be only two of many names that will be tossed into the political ring before EU leaders make their final nomination, expected sometime in autumn.