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| Europe |
| Portuguese leader poised to become new EC president |
| 2004-06-27 |
| The Portuguese Prime Minister, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, has emerged as the strong favourite to become the European Commission’s next president. Mr Durao Barroso could be appointed as Romano Prodi’s successor at a meeting of European Union leaders on Tuesday, bringing months of wrangling to an end. Diplomats in Brussels say support is swinging behind the centre-Right politician, who is fluent in several languages. The search for Mr Prodi’s successor reached stalemate at an EU summit in Brussels earlier this month, with Britain blocking Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian prime minister, and Jacques Chirac, the French president, retaliating by scuppering the chances of Chris Patten, the former Conservative Cabinet minister. Downing Street officials signalled that Britain would not try to block Mr Durao Barroso, 48, from the presidency. If he gets the job it could pave the way for Tony Blair to decide whether to appoint Peter Mandelson, the former Northern Ireland secretary, as Britain’s European commissioner. The Prime Minister is said to be "itching" to give Mr Mandelson the post, but he is also said to fear a backlash by voters that could scupper Labour’s chances of holding Mr Mandelson’s Hartlepool seat in a by-election. Mr Blair cannot make the appointment until the new commission president is known. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |