Foreign Minister Tuomioja pessimistic on Lipponen's chances as Commission President

Conservatives’ success in European election major obstacle for leading Finnish Social Democrat

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Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja (SDP) said on Monday that he does not believe that Finland’s Speaker of Parliament Paavo Lipponen (SDP) has any realistic chances of becoming the next President of the European Commission.
      Tuomioja, who gave his views at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, noted that the success in the European Parliament elections of centre-right parties strengthens the position of the conservatives, who want the Commission President to come from their party group. Lipponen is the chairman of the Finnish Social Democratic Party.
      However, no definite names have been put forward yet; the member states will name their candidates at the summit in Brussels at the end of the week. Tuomioja pointed out that "nothing can be forgotten, and nothing has been lost".
      A final decision on the Commission President will be made by the new European Parliament, which convenes in July.
     
The election result did give some direction to the Commission President issue. Belgium’s Liberal Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt had been seen as a very plausible candidate. However, his party suffered serious setbacks in the Sunday election, and his chances of getting the job are now seen as rather slim.
      Last week the Bavarian conservative Edmund Stoiber was reportedly urged by German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and French President Jaques Chirac to try for the post, but declined the offer.
      Luxembourg’s Christian Democratic Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker is now seen as a plausible candidate.
     
One possible Nordic candidate would be Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who helped negotiate the EU membership agreements of the ten new member states. However, his enthusiastic support for the US war effort in Iraq could turn against him. Also, Denmark is not a member of EMU.
      Another Dane, European Socialist leader Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, is not yet ready to concede the post of Commission President to a conservative.
      "Naturally we have a role in the choice of a President", Rasmussen said at a press conference on Monday.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Paavo Lipponen and the unbearable familiarity of second place (8.6.2004)

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