Former Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen (SDP) downplayed speculation on Wednesday that he might be chosen as the EU President - which is what the proposed office of President of the European Council has been called.
“The office has not been established, and there is no official candidacy. I am certainly not declaring my self a candidate”, Lipponen said at an event marking the publication of the first part of his memoirs.
The office of EU President will be set up if the Lisbon Treaty is approved. The treaty still requires the approval of the Czech Republic before it can take effect.
Lipponen was generally relaxed at the event, but he took on a more serious tone when the question of the office of EU President came up. He said that the issue should not be made into a dispute of domestic politics.
Lipponen said that he had been approached on the matter from abroad a few mnths ago.
There has been speculation in a number of European publication that he might become a candidate for EU President, and former Social Democratic Party leader Eero Heinäluoma has urged the government to speak more actively on Lipponen’s behalf.
“The government should quickly make a decision that it is ready to support the candidacy of Paavo Lipponen”, he wrote in an online column last week on the website of the MTV3 television network.
The staff of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) said on Wednesday that the government would not discuss the matter before the office has officially been set up.
Vanhanen has said on a number of occasions that advance promotion of possible candidates for top positions can actually weaken their possibilities of being chosen.
