Does the Pope have another little toiler at the top of Euro politics?

Before we cheer too loudly at the defeat of Tony Blair’s effort to become president of the European Union, we should take another look at the man who did eventually win the title, Herman van Rompuy, presently Prime Minister of Belgium. He is described in the Guardian as a leading light in “Roman Catholic and Christian Democrat politics”. On the Today programme it was revealed that he is a practicing Catholic who likes to go on a monthly religious retreat.

Speaking five years ago, as an opposition politician, Mr Rompuy argued that Muslim Turkey could not be considered a candidate for EU membership. “Turkey is not a part of Europe and will never be part of Europe. An expansion of the EU to include Turkey cannot be considered as just another expansion as in the past," he said. The universal values which are in force in Europe, and which are fundamental values of Christianity, will lose vigour with the entry of a large Islamic country such as Turkey.”

On the credit side, it is rumoured that Baroness Catherine Ashton, who won the post of foreign policy chief, is a humanist.