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The Tony Blair Show

Is British Prime Minister Tony Blair Europe's greatest hope for the future or its most vile enemy? Is he a great historical leader or "a wily miser" only interested in holding on to his power? German papers crackle with questions on Friday, as commentators debate the meaning behind Blair's speech to EU parliamentarians on Thursday.

Tony Blair is the man of the hour in Germany with Friday papers chattering at full blast about the British Prime Minister's speech to the European Parliament on Thursday. In the speech, Blair -- who is about to take on the six-month job of EU president -- made an elegant plea for a comprehensive Euro-remodel. He wants a modern, competitive Europe and one that is able to compete in a globalized world, not a tired dinosaur that mainly wants to protect its own. The gifted rhetorician also insisted that he has always been a "passionate pro-European" -- a comment that received both applause and heckles -- and that he wants to revitalize, not lobotomize Europe. He also attempted to swat away critics -- who charge that he is only interested in Europe's pocketbooks, not its soul -- by underscoring his belief in Europe as "a political project" and social union -- not just as a free market. One of his main goals as president, he said, would be financial reform and a rewrite of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Both German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his increasingly important rival Angela Merkel, who most -- including Tony Blair -- believe will succeed Schroeder in German elections in September, had critical words for Blair after the speech. Schroeder reiterated his belief that last Friday's EU budget summit meeting failed because of Blair's refusal to give up a lucrative, but antiquated British rebate. And he also voiced strong opposition to Blair's desire to reform the CAP. Unlike Blair, he does not see the subsidies as outmoded and is strongly opposed to Blair's suggestion that money saved from agricultural subsidies be put into research. Merkel, too, came out surprisingly strong on the CAP subject, perhaps dashing Blair's hopes that if elected she would prove a strong ally.

Not surprisingly, German papers ping-pong about on the Blair question, weighing everything from his undeniable personal charm to his current political downturn at home to his fuzzy vision of just how to get his grand European dreams accomplished. The right-leaning Die Welt lauds Blair's speech as "an impressive" rhetorical tour de force in which he managed to squeeze applause from even the most skeptical EU parliamentarians. "Blair the comeback genius has once again confirmed that he is one of the most fascinating political personalities around. ... His speech was aggressive, friendly, as vague as necessary, but not polemical. He appeared as a politician whom one can trust to inspire both new form and content from the EU," the paper writes, singing the prime minister's praises. After reforming the "hopelessly antiquated Labour Party," Blair now has "a new mission," the paper says. To whip Europe into shape. The paper wonders aloud if the current vitriol from Schroeder and other European leaders isn't just "a last sign of panic before the transformation. OM the end, the direction in which Europe needs to be steered is already clear. Blair's vision has success and reality on its side."

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung characterizes Blair's appearance as "rhetorically brilliant, soft in form and choice of words, but tough and cutting in substance." The reason however, that his arguably good ideas often fall on deaf ears is not only because of the "obstinacy of the 'old' Europeans or personal animosities" between him and other EU biggies. Rather, says the center-right paper, it is because of Blair's own selfishness. As much as he may be a passionate European, "he has never used his considerable prestige to convince his unconvinced people" of the merits of Europe. And, pokes the paper, he particularly "chickened out when his own career was at risk." By not embracing the euro, for example. Now, he has the chance not only to do something for Europe, but again for himself. Indeed, the crisis in Europe could be the opportunity he needs, says the paper, to extend his own term in office, which some say will be cut short to allow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, a hand at power. One thing many Europeans can't forgive Blair for, however, is the fact that he added a budget crisis to the already dire constitutional crisis. "Here, the suspicion cannot be dismissed that he intended to make an already staggering EU lose its balance completely by giving it a powerful shove."

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung presents itself as Blair's greatest German cheerleader, saying emphatically, "The EU can be glad Blair is taking over the leadership. If it were the turn of one of those two losers, Schroeder or (French President Jacques) Chirac, there'd be a disaster: the return of a core Europe that would head full throttle into a dead-end." Instead, the paper argues, Blair is making it possible to hold a discussion about what the future of Europe should be. His actions in doing so are reminiscent of the time 10 years ago when Blair took over the Labour Party and said the party had to come up with pragmatic policies that would renew Britain and not stick with the socialist slogans in their party statutes. "Where this debate will lead to is open," the paper writes. "It's even open for question whether the EU is even the right instrument for a renewal of a Europe, where the people want a greater say in the policies that effect them."

The business daily Handelsblatt offers quite a different version of Blair, calling him "the EU whipping boy of the moment." Not only Schroeder, but Chirac and Luxemburgian President Jean-Claude Juncker all openly sneer at him and treat him as though he alone "dug the European grave." The paper evokes a snappy phrase to describe Blair's current EU quagmire: "splendid isolation." Regardless of the political quibbling, however, the paper jubilates that "the crisis has released energies that Europe's leaders have been lacking for a long time. ... Finally the senselessness of the CAP is being discussed." And it says, "In this time of change, Blair is the right man to be in the driver's seat." The only thing that will convince people of the importance of the EU and regain their trust in it is economic success, it says. "Europe needs Britain," it concludes. "Not as a deterrent example of a policy of obstruction, but as a blueprint for a successful growth strategy."

The Financial Times Deutschland amusingly dubs Blair's address to the EU his "I am a European" speech, in mock reference to US President John F. Kennedy's famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a Berliner -- or I am a jelly doughnut, depending on who you ask) speech of June 26, 1963. The speech managed to placate some of Blair's critics, says the paper. And his insistence that "Europe has to withstand the 'reality test' not only appealed to many Brits, but also to many Germans, French and Poles...Now Blair has to deliver." And so far, says the paper, "all Blair has given us is a pretty slogan. Nothing more." The next six months, it says, will be pivotal. And clearly it won't be easy, as Blair has made enemies in high places in Europe.

For the Berliner Zeitung, Blair may just become "a great European leadership figure." During his performance in Brussels, he "not only spoke about the need for reforms but also about the necessity of an EU that values the social system. That was new and for that reason he received so much applause from parliamentarians. The question, however is, was that a new Blair or the old one with a new tactic?" Like the FTD, the paper would like to see him prove his words with deeds and show if he is "serious about his leadership role and his reform plan or if he is simply a wily miser."

The center-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung calls up an all-too used allusion of late, comparing Blair's refusal to give in on the British rebate to the final coup of the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar. The battle -- a decisive victory for Britain and a bitter defeat for Napoleon -- turned the edge of power away from the French -- seemingly for good. "It's ironic," says the paper, "that 200 years after Trafalgar, a Englishman again wants to make order out of Europe." The paper also lambasts those who label Blair a neo-liberal, insisting that Europe does not have to choose between being a free market economy and a social state. Still, the paper is not optimistic about Blair's chances of successfully steering Brussels in a new direction. "Chirac will do all he can to embarrass him. Schroeder will not support his former friend, either. Blair will have to seek new allies. Above all, he will have to prove that he not only thinks British, but also European."