Enrique Rubio |
London (EFE) the greatest legacy” of his decade at the helm of the United Kingdom.
“The most immediate challenge to the entire process has been Brexit, there is no way to avoid it,” says Blair, 69, in an interview with EFE and three other European agencies -DPA, AFP and ANSA- at the laboratory’s headquarters. of ideas that bears his name.
For the former Labor leader, a voice still widely heard in the corridors of power, the fact that the border within the island of Ireland is for the first time the border of the United Kingdom with the European Union (EU) “has put everything in danger”, since it created an unsolvable problem from the theoretical point of view.
In addition, the exit from the EU, now three years ago, has put the concerns of the Northern Irish communities, especially unionists, back on the table.
“The truth is that Brexit is the only thing that has put (Ireland’s) unification on the agenda again,” says Blair, who is confident that Northern Ireland will choose to stay within the United Kingdom if the practical problems involved are resolved. that the province is part of the community market and the British internal market at the same time.
Precisely the so-called Windsor Framework Agreement, signed in February by the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, may be “the beginning of the end” of these imbalances, although it acknowledges that the debates and negotiations between the EU and his country “will never end.”
And he confesses that he has “talked” with members of the Government and the Commission throughout the negotiations, while the signed agreement “is quite similar” to a proposal that his organization, the Institute for Global Change, presented on the affair.
The need to adapt
Blair is very critical of the unionists. In his opinion, the strategy of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has not changed over time and is based on a “very dogmatic” vision of what it means to be British, which led them to mistakenly support Brexit for being aligned with the hard wing of the conservatives.
Now, he says, the DUP should agree to enter the power-sharing government alongside the nationalist Sinn Féin – a former political wing of the IRA – something it has so far refused, and work to stabilize the situation.
Faced with this, the success of Sinn Féin stands out -which became the party with the most votes in the last Northern Irish elections- for having known how to reorient its strategy and also the rise of the non-sectarian Alianza party, which has adapted to the change in the nature of the electorate.
“This is a lesson for political parties: you have to be prepared to change your strategy, to understand how things change and adapt. If you don’t adapt, you’re in trouble,” she asserts.
Despite everything, he does not hesitate to claim the Agreement of Good Friday, on April 10, 1998, as “the only uncontested achievement” of his ten years in office (1997-2007), as well as “the toughest negotiation” in the that has never been involved.
Homework for Starmer
An eventual rejoining the EU should be a matter for “a future generation”: “Now, the debate is the degree to which we want to restore a strong relationship with Europe, which I and Labor want,” he says.
For this reason, he perfectly understands that the Labor leader, Keir Starmer, does not want to reopen the possibility of returning to the EU, a “divisive” issue for citizens, but he also defends that his party should not apologize for having positioned himself against Brexit , because its harmful effects have been noted.
“The immediate task is to fix the Brexit problems. The damage is manifest, it was predictable and it was predicted. And the other important thing is something that I have seen all over the world, because my institute works in 35 different countries: a strengthening of regional cohesion”, he underlines.
And regarding Labor’s chances of winning the elections scheduled for next year, Blair is optimistic because he sees in his current leader, Keir Starmer, “a very sensible guy and someone who gives the impression of being able to run the country”, despite while at the same time admitting that Sunak “is making amends” left behind by his predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
The horizon of higher taxes and poor public services in the UK creates a “difficult environment” for the Conservatives, whom voters blame for “giving them a hard time”.
“In the immortal words of Sir Rod Stewart: ‘It is time to give others a chance.’ Or whatever he said,” he finishes off with a smile.