THE pool of potential candidates will not be vast when the new-look European Union comes to choose a president.

The rules, as proposed by the drafters of the new constitution, stipulate that the president or chairman of the EU Council will be picked by the sitting national leaders in a majority vote. The candidate, must belong to their own club of past or present Prime Ministers or Presidents.

Tony Blair is high among the few names that always crop up when EU insiders get around to speculating on the first Euro-president. The Prime Minister seems tailor-made for much of the profile, but he suffers from one big handicap — Britain’s selfexclusion from the euro.

The other name often cited is that of José María Aznar, the conservative Spanish Prime Minister. Aged 50, like Mr Blair, and after seven years in power, Señor Aznar has indicated that he sees himself as a candidate for the European presidency. As a leader of a nation regarded as almost one of the “bigs”, Señor Aznar fits the bill, however, his proAtlantic credentials could count against him.

After Mr Blair defied public opinion and led Britain into a successful war with Iraq, Paris Match called the Prime Minister the “real President of Europe”. This was an indirect swipe at Jacques Chirac, who already likes to see himself as the de facto boss of the Union but, at 71, is not widely tipped as a future EU boss.

When it comes to federal credentials and profile, Joschka Fischer, the German Foreign Minister, is also often cited. A favourite among the smaller states is Wim Kok, 65, the Labour politician who led the Netherlands for a decade.

Others suggested include Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the dynamic Danish Prime Minister, Jean-Luc Dehaene, the former Belgian Prime Minister, and Antonio Guterres, former Prime Minister of Portugal.

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