Cox misses out on EU post

PAT COX, the former president of the European Parliament, failed to be selected to chair a group to study the future direction of the EU at a summit of union leaders in Brussels.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said he had put Mr Cox forward as a member of the committee, but had not suggested him as a candidate to head up the group. Despite early indications that several leaders supported Mr Cox for the job, it eventually went to the 65-year-old former Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez.

Graham Watson, leader of the Liberal group in the European Parliament to which Mr Cox belonged, immediately described him and his two vice-chairmen as being like dinosaurs from Jurassic Park.