Brussels, 26/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - The United Kingdom should support and play an active role in developing an EU common foreign policy if it wants to continue to have influence in the world, UK Foreign Minister David Miliband has said. “It is very strongly in the British national interest for the EU to develop a strong foreign policy,” he told the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London on Monday 26 October. The UK is wrong to fear a European foreign policy, he said arguing that Britain should embrace it, shape it and lead European foreign policy. Without an effective foreign policy, Europe could lose all influence in a world dominated by the United States and China. “The choice for Europe is simple - get our act together and make the EU a leader on the world stage or become spectators in a G2 world shaped by the United States and China,” said Miliband, who is seen by some as a future EU High Representative for foreign and security policy. He himself said that he had any interest in the new post created by the Lisbon Treaty, stating, on the sidelines of the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg, that he was not a candidate for the post. He did, however, say that Tony Blair was the best candidate for the post of full-time President of the European Council. Blair, he said, had the stature to speak to the United States and China as an equal. (H.B./transl.rt)