BRUTON CANDIDACY:TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has said he learned last week that John Bruton was preparing to canvass EU governments to select him as the first president of the European Council.
Mr Bruton previously asked the Irish Ambassador to Washington, Michael Collins, to convey his interest in the post to EU leaders if they were seeking a compromise candidate. He also expressed interest in becoming Ireland’s next EU commissioner.
The candidacy of former British prime minister Tony Blair for the council presidency raised sharp divisions among EU leaders at their two-day summit in Brussels.
Mr Cowen said yesterday, however, that there was no substantive discussion on Mr Bruton’s candidacy or on other candidates and this would not happen before the Czech government formally ratified the Lisbon Treat.
Speaking to Irish reporters, Mr Cowen said he would not comment on “informal or other conversations” that took place before Mr Bruton declared his candidacy for the position in letters to the ambassadors of the 27 EU states to the US. On Thursday, Government sources expressed surprise that Mr Bruton had written to the EU ambassadors.
A spokesman for Mr Bruton, who finished his five-year term yesterday as EU ambassador to Washington, said he told the secretary to the Government last Friday that the letter had been drafted and would be posted on Monday.
The spokesman said Mr Bruton agreed during this conversation that the message should be conveyed to “higher” powers.
Mr Cowen said: “It was last week that it became clear to me that John was indicating he was going to write around to colleagues putting forward the position as I say as outlined in his correspondence.”
Mr Collins confirmed yesterday that Mr Bruton spoke to him in a private conversation on October 5th about the Irish commissioner’s job and the presidency of the EU Council.
“The first point was that he would take the commissionership if it were proposed to him, while recognising that it was entirely a matter for the Taoiseach to decide,” Mr Collins said.
Mr Collins said Mr Bruton also asked him “to convey his interest in the presidency of the Council in the event a compromise candidate was sought.”
Mr Collins conveyed the dual message, about the commissionership and the presidency, to Dublin the same day.
“There was no expectation that the Taoiseach would get back to him. He was not expecting a response,” Mr Collins said.
The confusion appears to derive from the fact that Mr Bruton expressed his interest, availability and qualifications on October 5th, but his candidacy was not declared clearly until last weekend.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said Mr Bruton was present two weeks ago when he addressed the European institute in Washington. “I met him but he didn’t communicate at all to me in any way about this.” Sources close to Mr Bruton said there were many people at the event and it may not have appropriate to raise the matter in that forum.