BELGIUM/THE EU: Belgian Prime Minister Mr Guy Verhofstadt, tipped as a frontrunner to succeed EU Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, said yesterday he was happy with his job and wanted to keep doing it after June's European elections.
"I'm not looking for another job and I want to continue my job after June 13th," he told a news conference following the weekly cabinet meeting.
Mr Prodi steps down in November and EU leaders are due to select a successor at a summit in Brussels on June 17th-18th.
Other names in contention for the job include British External Relations Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten, Portuguese Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner, Mr Antonio Vitorino, and European Parliament President, Mr Pat Cox. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has ruled himself out.
Belgium holds European and regional elections on June 13th and support for Mr Verhofstadt's Flemish Liberal party has slipped in the polls. His centre-left coalition of Liberals and Socialists could lose its majority in Flanders, forcing the Liberals to hand the top spot in that region to the opposition Christian Democrats.
Former prime minister Mr Jean-Luc Dehaene - a Christian Democrat also named in the race to replace Mr Prodi - tops the opinion polls in Flanders, with Mr Verhofstadt trailing in sixth place, according to a recent poll.
Under Belgium's federal structure, a change of power at region- al government level in Flanders or Wallonia could lead to a change at federal level.- (Reuters)