EU: The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is emerging as the "hot favourite" in Brussels to succeed Mr Romano Prodi as president of the European Commission, according to a German newspaper.
The Financial Times Deutschland quoted leading EU officials yesterday as saying the Taoiseach could be best candidate if no other name is agreed upon at next month's summit in Brussels.
"I know that Ahern has an interest in the job," said a source the FTD dubbed as "one of Europe's leading politicians".
The newspaper quoted a spokesman for Mr Ahern as saying: "He is happy at home; I cannot imagine any circumstances at the moment under which he would take up the position" - a comment the FTD called a "denial that leaves everything open".
There are several candidates in the race for the top job at the European Commission: Mr Chris Patten, the external relations commissioner; Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg; the former Belgian Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Luc Dehaene; Belgium's Prime Minister, Mr Guy Verhofstadt and Mr Pat Cox, the departing President of the European Parliament.
Mr Cox is ruled out by some, including the FTD, for having no executive experience, while Mr Verhofstadt's anti-Iraq, integrationist views would be a problem for the British. The British vetoed Mr Dehaene once before in 1994.
Britain's Chris Patten, a strong candidate, might yet falter because of British opt-outs of the Eurozone and Schengen and the risk of a 'no' vote in next year's constitutional referendum.
Mr Juncker is seen by many as too much a fan of the Franco-German axis and many see it too soon for another Luxembourger after Mr Jacques Santer, the former president who resigned in disgrace in 1999.
A government spokesman in Berlin said yesterday the FTD report had been "noted" but said "the government does not want to speculate on names at this stage".
The Taoiseach has already said he would back Mr Cox or any other Irish candidate if they had a "clear chance" of becoming the president and were nominated by another state.
A Government spokesman said that "if any Irish man or woman has a chance of becoming president of the European Commission, [Mr Ahern] would support them 100 per cent".
Later a spokesman added that Mr Ahern was precluded from nominating an Irish candidate directly for the post because of Ireland's current presidency.
This is seen by the FTD as an obstacle to Mr Ahern's chances, namely the difficulty to aid the search for a compromise candidate if he himself is the favourite compromise candidate.
Mr Ahern's chances are, however, aided by the fact that divisions still remain over who would be the most suitable candidate, with new EU members unlikely to favour a candidate seen as too close to France and Germany.
"The government heads have a problem: there are no clear favourites," said one leading EU politician to the FTD, something the newspaper views as Mr Ahern's trump card.