Blair pushes for full-time EU president

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair will tomorrow set out his vision of a full-time European Union president.

Fresh from a successful Anglo-American military campaign against Iraq, Mr Blair will tell fellow EU leaders at a summit in Athens tomorrow it is time to provide a new European figurehead.

"Someone the White House can call," as one British government official put it. Mr Blair wants a full-time president, appointed from the ranks of present or former European prime ministers, to become the public face of the EU and give it a coherent voice. The president would be elected by Euro MPs albeit from a shortlist carefully drawn up by EU leaders.