President Emile Lahoud's announcement and Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's move again brings out into the open the differences between the pair.

Lahoud directly blamed French President Jacques Chirac for Romania's exclusion of him from Wednesday's opening of the meeting of La Francophonie in Bucharest.

Though Lahoud and Saniora have sparred over many issues since a government dominated by anti-Syrian politicians took office last year after Syria withdrew its army from the country, they have continued to work together and attend Cabinet meetings.

"The presence of any Lebanese official at any level in this summit is a purely personal one and does not represent the Lebanese state and does not bind it to whatever decisions and attitudes that might be adopted by the summit," Lahoud said in a statement issued by his office.

Apparently seeking to avoid increasing political tensions, Saniora declined Romania's invitation, but deputized Culture Minister Tarek Mitri to attend as "his personal representative."

Saniora said in a statement that he had informed Lahoud of his decision and hoped he would accept it "to serve Lebanon's interest."

In Paris, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said France hopes the summit "will show all its solidarity with Lebanon, which remains a particularly dynamic actor in the Francophone world."

In his statement boycotting the summit, Lahoud accused the Romanian president of bowing to "direct pressure" by Chirac not to invite the Lebanese president to the summit.

Romania's decision "violated the sovereignty of the Lebanese state and the dignity of its constitutional institutions and those running them," Lahoud said.

"Romania should have respected rules but unfortunately it succumbed to the will of President Chirac who acted in a personal way that did not take into account deep-rooted Lebanese-French relations."

Chirac and Lahoud appear unusually distant from each other as the heads of state of two countries that have extensive and long-standing ties. The French leader was also a close friend of the Lebanese leader's political rival, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in February last year. Hariri's supporters have accused Damascus of being behind the killing, a charge Syria denies.

Under international and Lebanese pressure, Syria was forced to withdraw its army from Lebanon last year, paving the way for elections that brought an anti-Syrian government to power for the first time in nearly three decades.

U.S. and other Western officials as well as U.N. envoys have been cautious about contacts with Lahoud because he has refused to step down since last year's elections produced a parliament with a majority opposed to Syrian influence.

However, Lahoud attended the U.N. General Assembly session in New York last week and spoke on behalf of Lebanon. He also attended the U.N. General Assembly session last year. Lahoud himself played host to the 2002 Francophone summit in Beirut that Chirac also attended.

Twenty-two heads of state, 11 prime ministers and 36 foreign ministers are expected to attend the three-day summit in Bucharest.

The themes of the meeting are education and training; new technology; and promoting the French language. (AP)