Tony Blair: I don't regret opening UK borders to European immigrants He added: "I think most sensible people in Britain can see immigrants have made a great contribution to our country." In a BBC interview, Mr Blair also indicated that he would like to return to a high-profile "public role" and said that he could have continued as Prime Minister. "I have always said I am a public service person first," he said. I would have been happy to carry on as Prime Minister, I would have been happy taking the European job as president of the EU. Was Labour right to relax immigration controls in 2004? There is growing speculation that the former Labour leader is pushing to become the next European President. After keeping a relatively low profile in this country, Mr Blair has now given two major BBC interviews this month and will appear at a Labour Party fundraiser next month. Mr Blair insisted that Britain could still join the single currency if the problems in the eurozone are addressed. The former Prime Minister also urged Germany to do more to "save" the single currency ahead of a key summit in Brussels later this week. "The only thing that will save the single currency now is in a sense a sort of grand plan in which Germany is prepared to commit its economy fully to the single currency," Mr Blair said. That means treating the debts of one as the debts of all, which is very hard for Germany to do. It means the other countries in the eurozone need to reform, need precise credible programmes of change to reform so that Europe can regain its competitiveness. Otherwise it is quite unfair to ask Germany to pay. But Mr Blair - a prominent Europhile - refused to accept that the single currency's troubles meant the UK would never join. "If they sort it all out and Europe moves forward again then Britain is going to have a very interesting choice to make," he said. Speaking of his policy towards joining the euro when he was Prime Minister, Mr Blair added: "I always took the view that economically you had to make an unambiguous case for Britain joining. Politically however, I was always in favour of keeping us very positive towards the project of European integration, and able to join at any time we wanted to do so. The former premier said the "broad sweep of history" showed that European integration would continue regardless of the fate of the eurozone. Britain needed to protect its alliance with the EU in order to exercise influence, he said.