PARIS, Dec 20: Nobody wants for the moment to take the responsibility, but France has been criticized for having committed a major diplomatic gaffe by forgetting, unlike the other EU countries, to hold a diplomatic reception to “welcome” into the European Union the ambassadors of the 10 countries that are to be admitted in 2004.

Indeed, criticism of the blunder committed by France comes not only from representatives of the 10 countries to be admitted in 2004 — Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia — but also from the French political opposition.

Jacques Delors, the former European Commission president, has apparently saved the day for the French diplomatic apparatus by staging a reception of his own for the 10 ambassadors to France.

At the foreign office, State Secretary for European Affairs Noelle Lenoir has decided to hold a low-key breakfast — which apparently has allowed France to save face.