EU:The head of France's opposition Socialist party yesterday rejected the idea that former British prime minister Tony Blair could become the first president of the European Union.
In a speech on Saturday to France's ruling centre-right UMP party, Mr Blair set out his vision for Europe, fuelling speculation he might seek to become the 27-nation bloc's first president, a post due to be created later this year.
But François Hollande said the former British Labour prime minister's support for the US-led invasion of Iraq made him unsuitable for the post.
"We need a president who could be representative of a political Europe, a Europe independent from the United States and I don't think Tony Blair fits that profile," Mr Hollande told France's Radio J in an interview.
"Blair has evident qualities and had successes in his country, but the position he took on the invasion of Iraq means he can't be the next president of Europe," Hollande added.
In his speech, Mr Blair irked France's Socialists by joking that his views would probably make him at home in French President Sarkozy's government, although he would rather be a member of a reformed Socialist party.
Both the French Socialists and British Labour Party sit in the same socialist group in the European Parliament. Mr Blair also said he would return to Paris on January 31st to give a speech to a think tank founded by the Socialists' former head of economic policy, Eric Besson, who is now a junior minister in Mr Sarkozy's government.
The former British prime minister told his audience: "Europe is not a question of left or right, but a question of the future or the past, of strength or weakness."
- (Reuters)