No Lisbon, No Labour

Moving on, in the europhile media, is taking the form of discussing Blair's hopeless candidacy for president of the European Union. Hopeless because it is wholly uncertain that there will be a presidency to occupy, other than the current rotating, six monthly term affair, which means that next up is Spain and we all have Mr Zapatero, then Belgium (that should be fun with Belgium flickering in and out of existence), then Hungary.

The informal organisation of six month presidencies into groups of three, with a larger member state present in each trio, (ostensibly to lend experience and gravitas to smaller and newer member states and to make the presidency coherent, or at least minimally focused on the same issues over an eighteen month term), led to France attempting to seize power for three times the normal period at the expense of Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Which in turn led to silly behaviour over EU foreign policy and multiple missions in Georgia and elsewhere. Which all illuminates precisely what is at stake. Big member states being in charge, and outrageous bullying and rule breaking when arrangements don't suit big member states.

And apart from all that, there are still four member states refusing to sign up to the Lisbon Treaty in its current form, while Germany has harnessed the Lisbon Treaty also into a permanent German constitutional review before it can come into being at all as far as Germany is concerned.

European giggles about the Foreign Office's front running UK candidate (and just look at who runs the Foreign Office, despised from Washington to Moscow and everywhere in between) for a non existent office are a small price to pay for keeping attention off the substantive issues of Lisbon's ploughing into the sand yet again, and taking the Labour party with it.