Denial from France about a European emperor (8)
I believe the answer is:
napoleon
'emperor' is the definition.
(I know that Napoleon is a emperor)
'denial from france about a european' is the wordplay.
'denial from france' becomes 'non' ('no' in French).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'european' becomes 'pole' (someone from Poland).
'a'+'pole'='apole'
'non' placed around 'apole' is 'NAPOLEON'.
(Other definitions for napoleon that I've seen before include "Open loan to the French general. strangely" , "Corsican conqueror" , "French VIP" , "Former French gold coin" , "Corporal and emperor" .)