Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi will have to miss this week's European Union summit because of a fever, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Tuesday. ''He has a scarlet fever and that makes it tough for him to get around. His doctors have ordered him not to travel for the moment,'' Frattini said. ''I'll be representing Italy on Friday''.

Frattini will deputise for the premier at the special summit, which has been called by the Swedish EU presidency to discuss the bloc's new foreign representative and the first permanent president of the European Council. The posts have been set up under the future Lisbon Treaty which aims to streamline EU workings and raise its international profile. The officials will be officially appointed at the regular end-of-year EU summit in December and will start their terms when the Lisbon Treaty comes into force on January 1. The nominations were originally expected to be largely thrashed out at the summit on Thursday and Friday but there has been a hitch since the Czech Republic has yet to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. However, Czech President Vaclav Klaus is expected to soon get a Constitutional all-clear to OK the treaty, paving the way for the appointments to be discussed at another special summit in mid-November. Former British Premier Tony Blair reportedly leads the running for the post of the first European Council's permanent president while there have been various names touted for the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy.

The new representative would replace current office holder Javier Solana and have greater powers. Among those who have been tipped at various times for the job are former External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and NATO ex-secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. But Patten would be unlikely to secure the position if the presidential post went to Blair. Blair is backed by several large EU members including Italy but opposed by smaller members. His country's failure to join the euro and Britain's history of euroskepticism argues against him but the media have billed him as the most charismatic among possible candidates. So far Blair has said little about the job and whether he even wants it. Only two candidates have thrown their hats into the ring so far: Luxembourg Premier Jean-Claude Juncker and Dutch Premier Jan Peter Balkenende. Juncker has been particularly critical of a Blair candidacy, saying his possible appointment would ''threaten the interests of small members''.