(HAMBURG) - Former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing said Wednesday Europe must "invent its own George Washington" to lead the bloc as the first EU president under the Lisbon reform treaty.

The mastermind of the failed EU constitution told the Ubersee-Club in Hamburg, Germany, that a candidate of Washington's calibre was required to fill the top job in the 27-member bloc.

"Europe must look for and invent its own George Washington," he said in reference to the first president of the United States.

"Let's not fail and let's not disappoint the history of Europe in the choice of the first president."

Former British prime minister Tony Blair's name was one of those bandied around for the job of EU Council president even before EU leaders signed the Lisbon treaty in December enshrining the new president's post.

Among the other possible candidates cited in Brussels' corridors are former Polish president Alexander Kwasniewski, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.

The job will be up for grabs in 2009 if the bloc's 27 member states can keep to their timetable and individually ratify the treaty over the next year.

The president's post, for a two-and-a-half-year term, would replace the current system whereby each country assumes the rotating presidency for six months.

The EU president's post, which will be renewable once for any incumbent, is aimed at providing a personal face for the sometimes faceless European institutions.

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