Will Tony Blair re-enter politics as the European Union’s first president? This tantalising idea has been dangled in front of Europe’s leaders by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president. Immediately, the ancient mariner of EU politics, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, stepped forth to say the former British prime minister cannot be EU president because Britain is insufficiently European. He was backed by a former right-wing French premier, Edouard Balladur. Events, time and the emergence of other names will decide whether Mr Blair wants to give up earning pots of gold and mobilise support to start earning the decent but relatively modest emolument of a top EU official.

But what is the new president of the EU? For a start, he or she is not the president of Europe. The job is to preside or chair the European Council – the assembly of nation-states that decides whether to allow proposals from the European Commission to become EU law.