Ahern could top list of EC President candidates

A BRITISH think-tank considers Spanish NATO chief Javier Solana the best European Commission President from Britain’s point of view, but if Taoiseach Bertie Ahern were to enter the fray he would likely top the list.

Mr Solana is closely followed by current president, Ireland’s Pat Cox. Mr Solana, currently the EU’s foreign policy ‘high representative’, gets nine out of 10 in an assessment by the London-based European Policy Forum, which describes him as “a dream candidate for the UK.”

Mr Cox scores eight out of 10 for charm, communication skills and market economics. He is “a transparently decent and honest man”, says Forum president and former Tory Euro-MP Graham Mather.

Third choice for a “Brit-friendly” figurehead running the EU civil service is Portugal’s Antonio Vittorino, said to be Mr Blair’s favoured candidate.

Mr Vittorino, currently the EU Commissioner responsible for justice and home affairs, scores seven out of 10 for “technocratic ability”.

The forum scored the candidates out of 10 for their compatibility with traditional British interests in Europe. At the other end of the scale comes Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker with just two out of 10.

The choice of new Commission president is supposed to be made by EU leaders at their summit in Brussels later this week, but no clear-cut favourite has emerged.

Mr Cox conveniently stepped down as a Euro-MP a few weeks ago, so is well placed to switch from European Parliament president to Commission president if the call comes.

If EU leaders are serious about taking note of public apathy and correcting perceptions of the EU as remote and irrelevant, they might plump for the populist Mr Cox. But EU leaders might just twist the arm of another Irish politician.

Step forward Taoiseach Bertie Ahern who chairs this week’s EU summit on the future constitution of Europe. He flatly ruled himself out earlier this year, but a few days ago was careful to hedge his bets.

He is considered to have done an excellent job in the past six months in the rotating EU presidency and would be seen as much more than a compromise.