Paris - Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who is favoured to become the first president of the European Council, on Thursday urged French President Nicolas Sarkozy not to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

"When the Olympics open, President Sarkozy will be president of the European Union," Juncker told Europe 1 radio, referring to France's assumption of the EU presidency on July 1.

"I would not understand if (he) did not go to Beijing in August for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics."

Sarkozy has hinted that he might not attend the August 8 opening ceremonies if Chinese authorities made no progress in negotiating with Tibetan pro-democracy protesters.

He has welcomed the recent resumption of negotiations between Beijing and representatives of the Dalai Lama.

Referring to the announced intentions of US President George W Bush and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to be in Beijing for the ceremonies, Juncker said, "I would not understand if the American president was there, the Russian president was there and that Europe was absent."

He added, "We will surely not leave it to only the Russians and the Americans to have a dialogue with China."

Juncker urged Sarkozy not to wait too long before saying what he intends to do.

"We must announce our intentions to go before summer," he said. (dpa)