Barnier's expectations

Michel Barnier, France's farm minister, brought his entire cabinet to Brussels for a week-long schmooze to get to know important MEPs (is there any other kind?) and Commission officials. He appeared keen to stress his interest in EU policies other than agriculture and fisheries (possibly because he was struggling to convince people that he was still in charge of fisheries after Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, had called for the quota system to be torn up).
So what was he after? The sometime foreign minister and before that European commissioner is spoken of in some quarters as a possible candidate for the upgraded post of high representative for foreign and security policy that is to be created by the Lisbon treaty, if it is ever ratified. The difficulty is that Barnier appears not to have Sarkozy's backing for such an appointment, which might count against him.
But there are other options. While he was in Brussels he said that he would be standing in the European Parliament elections in June 2009. Some observers believe that Barnier has his sights on at least being head of the centre-right EPP-ED group in the Parliament, a post currently occupied by Joseph Daul, another Frenchman from Sarkozy's UMP party. Sarkozy might back that, since he has argued that the Parliament has a major role to play in influencing the course of European integration. Barnier might even be aiming higher still, looking to become president of the European Parliament if the EPP-ED strikes a deal to share the next five-year parliamentary term with another group.