Franse krant Le Monde: 'premier van Frankrijk wil Barroso opvolgen'
The office of French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has cast doubt on Jose Manuel Barroso i's bid to stay on as European Commission president by suggesting that Mr Fillon could do the job instead.
An anonymous "minister" in Mr Fillon's cabinet told French daily Le Monde on Monday (7 September) that the prime minister is ready to step in if Mr Barroso fails to get re-elected by MEPs.
"Franocis Fillon is playing with the hypothesis of Barroso's failure," the minister said. "It's not a crazy idea, but it is unlikely in practice."
The Le Monde story gained added weight by quoting a figure "close to" French President Nicolas Sarkozy i and a "high ranking" diplomat, who said that Mr Barroso has a 70 percent chance of getting through.
Mr Fillon later the same day distanced himself from the report in an official communique which said he "unreservedly supports the reappointment of Jose Manual Barroso as president of the European Commission."
The statement did not categorically rule out his EU candidature, however.
The French story came out on the day that Mr Barroso began canvassing for support in the European Parliament, which will this week decide whether to put his candidacy to a vote on 16 September.
"He's not really worried about it [the Le Monde article] at the moment. He's busy trying to organise meetings with the parliamentary groups," Mr Barroso's spokesman, Johannes Laitenberger, said.
EU leaders including France in June unanimously endorsed Mr Barroso's candidature.
But Nicolas Sarkozy has played a double game with the Portuguese commission chief. Back in March, he said he "loved" Mr Barroso, while recommending that he should not be reappointed until Ireland votes again on the Lisbon Treaty.
Mr Fillon is the only centre-right name to emerge as a potential alternative to Mr Barroso. The Le Monde story praised his English language skills and said he is "economically orthodox."
Mr Barroso's arch-enemy in parliament, German green MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit i, previously said that former German foreign minister, fellow green Joschka Fischer, should do the commission job.
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