26/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - France, which will take over the presidency of the EU in the second half of 2008 and which will therefore also be responsible for the process of appointing the permanent president of the European Council (laid down in the Lisbon Treaty from 1 January 2009), does not “currently have any candidates” despite Nicolas Sarkozy's “affinities” with the former British prime minister, Tony Blair. “Any choice at this time would be premature”, the French secretary of state for European affairs, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, said on Tuesday 26 February in Brussels. “We will see when the time comes, and not before the end of the year”, he added. “It is one thing for there to be affinities, but quite another for there to be candidates”, Mr Jouyet added, in reference to Mr Sarkozy's very positive comments regarding Mr Blair. The future French presidency wants “a person with charisma, capable of driving and giving impetus to the European Council's work” for this post, Mr Jouyet said. The president of the European Council will be elected by qualified majority for a period of two and a half years. At this point no official candidates have been registered, but several names have been mentioned including Jean-Claude Juncker, Tony Blair, Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Guy Verhofstadt. (H.B.)