Could Tony Blair’s shadow candidacy as the first full-time president of the European Union go the same way as Rudy Giuliani’s US presidential bid? Like Rudy, Tony has the name recognition factor and track record in government to be a frontrunner. He is also a figure bigger than his party, appealing across the divide. Blair himself is more popular in some EU countries than his own.

However, they share a chequered past. Giuliani was dogged by allegations from US firefighters that he cut and run on September 11 as mayor of New York. Blair is charged with invading Iraq on false pretences.

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If oompah music and fire-eaters in folk costume are the way to win the European media’s heart, then Slovenia, the new holder of the rotating EU presidency, is off to a flying start.

The melodies struck up by the accordionist, horn player and guitarist who entertained a pack of Brussels-based reporters at a farm restaurant outside Ljubljana on Monday night were so rumbustious that one normally vivacious French journalist slumped ever more glumly in his seat. “Is this what EU enlargement really means?” he was no doubt asking himself.

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