Decoding Mandelson on Europe
Pretty thinly coded piece by Peter Mandelson in the FT this morning suggesting that the economic portfolios in the European Commission are probably worth more than the Foreign Affairs job that Gordon Brown bagged for Cathy Ashton last week.
For good measure he says Van Rompuy and Baroness Ashton “will no doubt aim to prove [the commentators who feel they show a lack of ambition on the part of the EU] wrong”. How supportive.
Further down the piece Peter Mandelson says: “Most European consensuses gravitate towards the lowest common denominator.”
He has separated this from the Cathy Ashton mention by a couple of paragraphs but I can’t help feeling he wanted us to read them together.
I haven’t managed to stand up the Sunday Times’ claim that Peter Mandelson demanded David Miliband’s job but he was obviously enjoying the fact that some wanted him to consider the EU Foreign Rep job and knows that a critical opponent in all this, the man who appears to have got his way completely last Thursday, was EU Commission boss Manuel Barroso.
Lord Mandelson’s clearly got Mr Barroso in his sights and this piece, inter alia, was a warning not to go soft on market reforms and give the French what they want, even if they did just give Mr Barroso what he wants on the top two EU jobs.
Related: Baroness Ashton is the Brit most likely to bag a top EU job
Carving up the EU top jobs – should you care?
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