Diplomats say Blair unlikely to get EU presidency

By Paul Taylor, European Affairs Editor

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - He has EU-wide name recognition, speaks English and French, is pro-European and full of energy despite a bruising 10-year stint as prime minister.

But Tony Blair is unlikely to be the first president of the European Union, EU diplomats and politicians say.

The smart money in Brussels is on Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, the centre-right chairman of finance ministers of the 15-nation euro zone, who has been at the heart of every European compromise since he came to power in 1995.

The former British leader, a part-time international envoy for Palestinian economic development since he stepped down last year, has made known his interest in the new post of president of the European Council and is nurturing a high media profile.

The vacancy for an experienced statesman or woman to prepare and chair EU summits opens next year provided all 27 member states ratify the treaty reforming the bloc's institutions to cope with its near doubling in size due to eastward enlargement.

Insiders say Blair has little chance because Britain is too disconnected from the EU mainstream, and he remains too divisive a figure because of his enthusiastic support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq which split Europe in 2003.

"Tony Blair? Forget it," said one EU ambassador, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with diplomatic etiquette.

Like many other EU officials and politicians, he noted that Britain has not joined the single currency or the Schengen zone of passport-free travel, and that Blair had negotiated elaborate opt-outs from the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights and police and judicial cooperation.