Silvio Berlusconi kisses Tony Blair (Thierry Chesnot/Reuters)
The former Prime Minister has enjoyed the Italian leader’s hospitality
by Lucy Bannerman in Rome
Tony Blair can count on the support of at least one old ally as he manoeuvres himself to become the first president of Europe.
Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, found time out from his political battles to write a front-page letter in a right-wing newspaper, declaring his former holiday companion to be the best man for the job.
“Tony Blair has got everything it needs to become the first president of the European Council,” he wrote in Il Foglio. “He has everything it needs to be designated to that role, as soon as it will be judicially and politically possible . . . In agreement with many other heads of government, and heads of state, and in co-ordination with the powers of the European Parliament, my Government and I will work to ensure we do not lose a great political legacy, made with courage, equilibrium and prudence without uncertainty.”
Mr Blair’s appointment, he added, would renew the governance of the European Union.
The Italian leader has made no secret of his support for Mr Blair to win the historic role, created under the Lisbon treaty.
A summit in Brussels was due to name the new president, and also the foreign minister, at the end of the month but the path has since been blocked by President Klaus of the Czech Republic, who refuses to put the final signature to the document, which has been ratified by the rest of the EU member states.
Mr Berlusconi was one of Mr Blair’s key allies over the Iraq war, during the days of the Bush Administration. He also played a memorable role in their Italian holidays, treating the Blairs to his legendary hospitality during a visit to his villa in Sardinia in 2004.
Because he was recovering from a hair transplant at the time he also treated the world’s press to photographs of a world leader in a bandana. Cherie Blair later spoke of the impressive festivities held in her husband’s honour, including live music and a fireworks display that spelt out the words “Viva Tony”.
Mr Berlusconi also made a personal call to the head of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, to put in a good word for the former British Prime Minister, according to Il Foglio, a Milanese daily, whose largest stakeholder is Mr Berlusconi’s estranged wife, Veronica Lario, and whose editor is Giuliano Ferraro, a former spokesman in his first Government. Mr Barroso, a Portuguese conservative, is strongly supported by Britain and was appointed in 2004, thanks largely to Mr Blair.
The Irish bookmaker Paddy Power said this week that Mr Blair was the 4-6 favourite, followed by the Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende (4-1); the Luxembourg Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker (11-2); and the Danish Nato chief, Anders Fogh Rasmussen (6-1).
Mr Berlusconi, 73, who faces a series of criminal trials after a court stripped him of his immunity from prosecution last week, was removed from the running after his odds reached 100-1.
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