Blair favoriet bij gokkers; Balkenende tweede (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Irish gambling firm Paddy Power has tipped former UK premier Tony Blair to become the first EU president, with Dutch, Luxembourgish and Danish men also on good odds.
Mr Blair on Tuesday (13 October) was the 4/6 favourite, followed by Dutch leader Jan Peter Balkenende (4/1), Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker (11/2) and Danish Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen (6/1).
Corruption-tainted former Irish taoiseach Bertie Ahern (50/1) and 76-year old ex-French president Jacques Chirac (33/1) also made the running. But the company removed Italy's Silvio Berlusconi on Monday after his odds reached 100/1 amid prostitution and graft allegations.
"Tony Blair and our own Bertie Ahern have both been touted for the top post in Europe. Blair is the obvious favourite while Bertie might just pack his bags and head off to mainland Europe. Would anyone blame him?" the company said on its website.
With Brussels hungry for gossip on the appointment, a Paddy Power employee told EUobserver that the firm's research is limited to reading newspapers and using common sense.
"It'd be a matter of opinion. It's an educated guess," she said.
Paddy Power also courted EU-minded customers over the Irish referendums on the Lisbon Treaty. It predicted the 2009 Yes vote correctly, but reportedly lost money by getting it wrong on Lisbon in 2008.
The upcoming 29 October summit in Brussels was due to name the EU's new, Lisbon-mandated president and foreign minister, as well as the next team of EU commissioners.
But Czech President Vaclav Klaus hijacked the agenda last week by forcing a debate on changes to the legal document instead. "All the talk of who will get what has suddenly stopped because of the Czechs," one EU diplomat said.
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