EU president

[Grey Fox]

Blair because the irony of it is just too big to ignore.

[Josquius]

1. Hah, hah and freakin' hah. Blair is labour when the majority of Europe has rightist governments, British, and has even got Tories and LibDems saying they don't support him. And his inaction as 'special envoy' in the Middle East has damaged his reputation. 0 possibilities.

He's Nu Labour. So fairly centrist on the British scale. And that's the British scale. On the European scale he's safely on the right :p

[Zanza]

The German Handelsblatt suggests that Juncker, being perhaps the most experienced EU politician, would never announce his interest openly if he had hopes to actually get the post. Because that usually backfires. And Sarkozy doesn't like him apparently.

[Maximus]

I knew she was a good choice.

Who is she?

[BVN]

Everybody but Blair, please.

[Alatriste]

/quote]
Who is she?

Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former president of Latvia.

@BVN

I Assume you mean anybody, because having six presidents would be a bit unwieldy.

[The Larch]

Why Blair should not get the job :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeffrandall/6462902/Tony-the-twister-Blair-now-wants-a-free-ride-on-the-Euro-Express.html

You know, it used to be that the Telegraph was - like the Guardian - a paper one could respect for the quality of its journalism regardless of one's own political orientation. But after reading that frothing diatribe masquerading as a editorial, I fear it's really now just the Daily Mail printed on bigger paper.

Damn, I've read that and you can only picture him with small horns and a devilish goatee afterwards, cackling maliciously as he goes on rejoicing in his destruction of everything British. I knew that the torygraph was biased, but...just damn.

[Warspite]

I Assume you mean anybody, because having six presidents would be a bit unwieldy.

That's the genius of his plan. 

[Alatriste]

Is that guy the leader of the Rebel Scum(R) ?

Well, he's Dutch. IIRC once I spent somewhat like 50 years obliterating rebel scum in the Low Countries before the damned Dutch Republic formed.

[BVN]

I Assume you mean anybody, because having six presidents would be a bit unwieldy.

That's the genius of his plan. 

Indeed... 




But given the size of EU bureaucracy, that wouldn't even be such a crazy idea.

[Zanza]

But given the size of EU bureaucracy, that wouldn't even be such a crazy idea.

Ah, the mythical size of the EU bureaucracy. About 25,000 for a population of 495 million. That's one EU bureaucrat for 20,000 citizens. An astounding number when you compare it to national bureaucracies.

[BVN]

But given the size of EU bureaucracy, that wouldn't even be such a crazy idea.

Ah, the mythical size of the EU bureaucracy. About 25,000 for a population of 495 million. That's one EU bureaucrat for 20,000 citizens. An astounding number when you compare it to national bureaucracies.

1. There are 38.000 civil servants working for the Commission. There are a few more working for other institutions, but I don't have numbers on them.

2. And you forget to take into account the number of tasks the EU bureaucracy has in regard to a national bureaucracy. Granted, the EU is active in many fields today, but my experience learns me that the Commission is very eager to poke his nose even in fields which are literally reserved to the member states in the Treaty.
If the Commission would stick to his core business, I'm sure they could do with a bit less.

3. Maybe my words were badly chosen, because many national bureaucracies are also bigger then they should be.

4. Don't think I'm bashing the EU. I'm largely pro EU

[Zanza]

1. There are 38.000 civil servants working for the Commission. There are a few more working for other institutions, but I don't have numbers on them.

No, there are 38,000 staff working for the Commission. At most 33,000 of those can be considered bureaucrats if you look at the staff figures.
http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/about/figures/index_en.htm
Anyway, still not a huge number.

If the Commission would stick to his core business, I'm sure they could do with a bit less.

I agree. If the Commission wasn't so horribly bloated with 27 Directorates, it would need a lot less people I think.

[Warspite]

But given the size of EU bureaucracy, that wouldn't even be such a crazy idea.

Ah, the mythical size of the EU bureaucracy. About 25,000 for a population of 495 million. That's one EU bureaucrat for 20,000 citizens. An astounding number when you compare it to national bureaucracies.

1. There are 38.000 civil servants working for the Commission. There are a few more working for other institutions, but I don't have numbers on them.

2. And you forget to take into account the number of tasks the EU bureaucracy has in regard to a national bureaucracy. Granted, the EU is active in many fields today, but my experience learns me that the Commission is very eager to poke his nose even in fields which are literally reserved to the member states in the Treaty.
If the Commission would stick to his core business, I'm sure they could do with a bit less.

3. Maybe my words were badly chosen, because many national bureaucracies are also bigger then they should be.

4. Don't think I'm bashing the EU. I'm largely pro EU

38,000 staff to manage a single market of over 300 million people? How awful.

[Alatriste]

38,000 staff to manage a single market of over 300 million people? How awful.

Almost 500 millions actually... and many of those 38,000 are translators and interpreters. The trick is, the Union works mainly trough national bureaucracies.

Fear keeps the local systems in line, Moff' said (Moff Tarkin).