Patten, Cox, Vitorino, Verhofstad en Lipponen genoemd voor opvolging Prodi (en)

With the decision on who should be the next European Commission president looming, a number of big names are jostling for the top position.

External relations commissioner Chris Patten has emerged as one of the top runners in the race, according to media reports.

Speaking to BBC's Radio 4 on 1 May, Mr Patten did not rule himself out of the top job after an article in Saturday's Financial Times said he was a contender.

"It would be pretty arrogant to say 'under no circumstances', but I would need a very great deal of persuading," said the former governor of Hong Kong adding that he had not been asked.

But his is not the only name in the hat.

Irish media report that European Parliament Pat Cox will reveal in a speech on Wednesday whether he will run again as an MEP in the June elections or whether he is gunning for a higher position as Irish Commissioner or Commission President.

At a press conference on Saturday to mark the EU's enlargement, Mr Cox neither confirmed nor denied that he would like to be nominated by the Irish government for the post.

For his part, Bertie Ahern, the Irish prime minister and current head of the EU, said that there were "a number of prominent and very upstanding names" being mentioned for the post.

"I do believe that we will get an extremely good President of the Commission from the names that have been mentioned", he added.

Mr Ahern will begin consultations with his EU counterparts this week.

Other names in the hat include Belgium's Guy Verhofstadt, the justice and home affairs commissioner Antonio Vitorino and former Finnish prime minister Paavo Lipponen.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, whose name was mentioned originally, seems to have lost favour - mainly because of his decision to form a coalition with the far-right in 2000 while Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker has ruled himself out of the race.

The nomination for Romano Prodi's successor will be made at a meeting of EU leaders in June. The candidate has to be approved by the European Parliament and so is likely to come from the centre-right which is expected to do best in the elections.

The new person would start their job in November.