Before the end of the year, there will be a new European Union treaty enabling it to function more efficiently and to enjoy greater unity. Europe will have a face, principally that of its president, who will be elected for two and a half years.

Who should we chose? Here and there, people are already are talking about Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister. Is this is the best idea?

He certainly has great qualities - flexibility, rapidity and a feeling for how to communicate. He is certainly in no way disqualified for this new function because he is no longer a sitting head of government. However, the EU's president must fulfil two conditions in order to carry out the role properly and to be accepted by everyone: first, to come from a country that is completely in step with the EU's forward march and that participates in all its different forms of co-operation; and, secondly, to be determined to build the independence of Europe, notably in the diplomatic and military fields.

Is this the case with Mr Blair? In the first place, Great Britain has demanded a special status exonerating it from the common legal obligations incumbent on the members of the EU in many fields. Notably, it participates neither in the euro nor in the Schengen zone. It has constantly sought to block the fiscal and social harmonisation that would facilitate exchanges within the EU.

Blair casts himself as EU president candidate

Speaking on French TV, Tony Blair sang the praises of the EU and sketched his agenda for its future, all in fluent French

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Mr Blair did nothing to put an end to this singular situation for ten years, despite his claims to have good intentions in this respect. If the presidents of the United States and of Europe were called upon to hold regular meetings to discuss questions of mutual interest, how could an EU president from a country that intends to keep its monetary independence negotiate the co-ordination that is indispensable between the euro and the American dollar? It is difficult to see how Mr Blair could qualify as a spokesman for Europe in these circumstances.

In the second place, if the EU is to move forward, it must do more to reinforce its presence in the military and diplomatic fields. But it must do so in a way that is independent of America. How could Mr Blair credibly enshrine this ambition when, in the disastrous Iraqi affair, he always stuck zealously next to the United States when he was not out in front? The perseverance that he demonstrated cost him power in his own country. How could he be a symbol of an independent Europe?

Mr Blair is without doubt a remarkable personality but he cannot be the symbol of a Europe that wants to assert itself.

Édouard Balladur was Prime Minister of France from 1993 to 1995. A longer version of this article appeared in Le Monde last month

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