which supported by own diplomatic service

The Brussels Summit was fatal to the two favorites to the Presidency of the Union: If the star of Tony Blair, whose name was cited for months, collapsed under pressure from his opponents, his competitor said, the Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker has not satisfied. This confrontation of two different visions of Europe it is unwound before that European leaders have lifted in Brussels the last political obstacle to the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon by transferring to the requirements of highly Eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus. His country will be properly exempt from the application of the Charter of fundamental rights, as it were, in 2007, the United Kingdom and the Poland ("Les Echos" from October 30). In the evening, the Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, was that its President was now ready to sign the Treaty: "I would like to assure you that if the Constitutional Court declares November 3 that the Treaty of Lisbon is in agreement with the Czech Constitution, nothing will impede a rapid completion of the ratification."The entry into force of the text would then intervene "before the end of the year", according to diplomatic sources. And as early as January 1, the Union would be equipped with new institutional rules, facilitating decision making in Council of Ministers, giving powers to the European Parliament and creating two new positions: President of the European Council and high representative, which supported by own diplomatic service, should strengthen the weight of Europe in the world.

"The ideal profile".

Remains to choose men: if any official debate took place during the two days of the Summit, the leaders until the final ratification to their preferences, these appointments have furnished all whispers which have punctuated this Council. The candidacy of former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, appeared to be excluded from the outset. After the refusal of the Benelux, Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian Government leaders - who inherit successively the next presidencies of the Union - have developed "the ideal profile" of the future President. "We want a truly European President", they said, ironically sounding the death knell of the Blair candidacy. Risky to Nicolas Sarkozy, consisting of IRAP to propose a representative of a historically Eurosceptic country, remained out of the latest advances European euro to the Charter of fundamental rights, appears to be lost. He indicated that the France and the Germany support the same candidate,"when the time comes

Jean-Claude Juncker did not appear as long as a credible outsider, some seeing in it one too ardent European, other him blaming a lack of initiative at the head of the Eurogroup, during the financial crisis. Between these two extremes, a third way seems to emerge for a less charismatic personality. Jan Peter Balkenende, the Conservative Prime Minister of the Netherlands names seemed to hold the rope before the former Austrian Chancellor Schüssel, the Finns Paavo Lipponen and the Belgian, Guy Verhofstadt. A female candidate called their greeting by President Barroso and the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, could decide them that it is Mary Robinson, former President of the Republic of Ireland or the current Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.

The game is still complicated by the choice of the High Representative, also Vice-President of the Commission, called on to play the role of Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Union. Together Thursday before the Summit, many conservative leaders of the EPP accepted this position to return to a Socialist, as is currently the case with Javier Solana. Entrust this task to the current Secretary at the Foreign Office, David Miliband, as the rumor suggests, would allow London to save face while bringing it to accept a President of the Council which the European commitment would not be a decoy.