Controverse over voorzitterschap Europese Commissie verhardt (en)

As France and Germany harden their positions on the next commission president by saying that the person must come from a core EU country, new names are still being floated.

The latest is former Irish Commissioner Peter Sutherland, according to Irish media, who was briefly mentioned at the summit last Friday (18 June) amidst a growing list of possible candidates.

Mr Sutherland, who is now chair of BP, was pushed by Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern at the meeting of EU leaders last week.

According to the Irish Times, Mr Ahern also put forward Mr Sutherland's name during his tour of capitals before the summit.

However, Mr Sutherland would fall at the first fence if Germany and France stick to their demands that the future commission president must come from a country which has the core EU policies.

UK rejection

German government spokesman Bela Anda on Monday (21 June) said, "it can hardly be imagined that the commission president will come from a country not represented in the core areas of EU bodies and its institutions".

This followed a comment by French president Jacques Chirac last week where he said that he did not think it a good idea that the future commission president come from "a country which doesn't take part in all European policies".

This would exclude Irish, Danish, Swedish and UK candidates as well as all of the new member states - over half of the total 25 member states - and has been flatly rejected by the UK.

"We follow the constitution of the European Union at the moment and it is very clear that the president of the commission can be drawn from any member state", said UK foreign secretary Jack Straw.

Meanwhile, the centre-right European People's Party continue to insist the person come from their political family.

Leader of the group, Hans-Gert Pöttering, yesterday rejected Javier Solana, the current EU foreign policy chief, for the job saying because he is a socialist, according to Die Welt.

Of the candidates still being mentioned, José Manuel Durao Barroso, the Portuguese leader, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, French foreign minister Michel Barnier and Luxembourg leader Jean-Claude Juncker all belong to the EPP.

As for Mr Sutherland, he was formerly a member of a Fine Gael-led government in Ireland. Fine Gael, now the main opposition party, belongs to the EPP. However, Ireland is not a member of Schengen - the EU's open borders system.