President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain endorsed Tony Blair on Friday to be the first to fill a re-created European Union presidency, even as critics questioned how a leader from a nation deeply skeptical of the European Union could serve in the role.European leaders agreed early on Friday to a new treaty for the 27-member bloc that creates the post of European Union president to represent Europe internationally on issues like climate change, bilateral relations and development. The post, with a 30-month term that can be extended to five years, is to replace a cumbersome system by which European Union leaders and nations rotate holding the presidency every six months.
The new office would come into effect in January 2009 and could finally make it clear whom Washington should call when it "wants to speak to Europe," as Henry Kissinger once put it.