Solbes to take chief Spanish finance post

EU monetary affairs commissioner Pedro Solbes yesterday said that he has accepted the post of Finance Minister in Spain's incoming Socialist government, following a meeting with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Solbes, 61, will also serve as second deputy prime minister, Socialist party sources said.

European Commission president Romano Prodi had earlier confirmed that he had spoken with Solbes about his possible resignation to take up the job in the new Spanish government.

Speculation that he was a contender for the post of Spain's chief finance post followed the Socialists' surprise win in elections three days after the devastating Madrid bomb blasts.

Solbes, who took up the post of EU Commissioner in 1999, had in the past served in several Spanish ministerial posts in the government of former Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, also a Socialist.