Category "Heroes" [Gaganymede]

Mary Robinson for Europresident?

09 October 2009 at 13:09
Politik Pop, Heroes

Le Figaro claims Tony Blair is still the front-runner for the job of President of the European Council, but they also list other possible candidates, some unlikely, some expected. There's Gordon Brown, François Fillon, as well as Juncker and Gonzalez. Every candidate has their advantages and their drawbacks, but when one of them got my specific attention.

Image credits: Unknown

When I read the name of former irish President Mary Robinson, I thought I shouldn't get carried away because she's the only woman in the list. But when I read she was honorary President of Oxfam International, a powerful, famous NGO, I was stunned: you don't imagine politicians neither commiting themselves to charities, nor being supported by organisations they haven't created themselves! Then I saw that she had been High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations, and that she had been awarded by Amnesty International for her work there. Wow!

This profile looks almost too good to be true. I'm sure that if we look a bit further, we can find something wrong. A journalist at the Washington Post wrote she didn't deserve the presidential medal of freedom, awarded by Obama, roughly because something was missing in her resume: a real achievement. He accuses her of talking the talk, but not delivering. (It's almost ironic now that we know that Obama has just got the Peace Nobel Prize, hardly nine months after his inauguration...) Likewise, she was President of Ireland, and not head of the government. It makes a difference because in Ireland, the President has very limited powers. She could then be reproached her lack of executive experience. It could indeed be a problem if we want a strong President, to really give pulse to Europe.

Anyway, I guess the 27 european leaders, who will decide who will be the first President of the European Council, do not want to choose someone who would urge them to respect their promises regarding Congo, among other things.

Nevertheless, I would be proud to have someone whose commitment for the Human Rights and fight against misery will have been so strong, as Preisdent of the European Council.