Blair en français

A few weeks ago, Tony Blair was interviewed on France Inter (without benefit of interpreter). There was another interview on French radio late-Jan., in his role of envoy to the middle east. Then there was his infamous appearance at the conference of the centre-right UMP. The reason for him to want to display his skill in the French language is obvious enough. But it may all come to nought. This is Pierre Moscovici, a potential leader of the PS (Franc Parler on France Inter, 14 Jan - *):

[since the European president] also presides over the Eurogroup, I believe it would be extremely complicated if the European Union were presided over by a man who, whether you like it or not, represents a country that is not a member of the Euro: there we have a whole series of reasons why a British person, even if it's Tony Blair, cannot be president of the European Union.

This ignores the aspect that, if Blair were to become president of the EU, he would not be the representative of Britain. All the same, it is a widely held view in Europe: it was repeated by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Euro MP and leader of the Greens (interview on France Inter, 5 Feb).

* An extract from the Moscovici interview (in French). Again, I apologize for the sound quality of this.