The centre-right European People's Party (EPP), the largest group in the European Parliament, has warned that it will reject the Taoiseach if he is nominated as the next president of the European Commission, writes Denis Staunton in Brussels
A spokesman told The Irish Times the group was adamant that Mr Romano Prodi's successor should belong to one of its constituent parties.
"We have won the elections and it should be a member of the EPP family. Bertie Ahern doesn't fit the bill," the spokesman said.
Fine Gael is the Irish constituent party of the EPP and Fianna Fáil belongs to the smaller Union of a Europe of Nations.
Former taoiseach Mr John Bruton, a vice-president of the EPP, said the group had a number of potential candidates for the post of Commission president but added that the EPP's attitude to Mr Ahern would depend on the circumstances in which he emerged as the nominee.
"I think he is well thought of but he is not of an EPP member party. The feeling is that it should be someone in the EPP," he said. Leading candidates from the EPP are Austria's Chancellor, Mr Wolfgang Schüssel and Portugal's Prime Minister, Mr José Manuel Durão Barroso.
The EPP's rejection of Mr Ahern came as it emerged that the Taoiseach has been promoting the candidacy of former attorney general and EU commissioner Mr Peter Sutherland.
Mr Ahern suggested Mr Sutherland as a successor to Mr Prodi to some EU leaders during his recent tour of capitals and again during talks in Brussels on Thursday.
A former head of the World Trade Organisation, Mr Sutherland is chairman of BP and Goldman Sachs. He has retained a close interest in European affairs and as a former member of a Fine Gael-led government, is seen as a member of the EPP "family".
The Taoiseach, who was travelling to Tokyo for an EU-Japan summit yesterday, will consult with other EU leaders by telephone later this week in an effort to find an agreed candidate. If agreement is found, the leaders will meet in Brussels a week from today to formally endorse Mr Prodi's successor.
Germany said yesterday that the Commission president should come from a country that is fully involved in all EU policies, but Britain's Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, insisted that all candidates should be considered, even if they came from states outside the euro-zone and the Schengen border-free area. "We follow the constitution of the EU at the moment and it is very clear that the president of the Commission can be drawn from any member-state," Mr Straw said.
The EPP leader, Mr Hans-Gert Pöttering, said yesterday that the group would oppose the EU's foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, if he is nominated to succeed Mr Prodi. For his part, Mr Solana, a Spanish socialist, played down his interest in the job.
"As you know, I have just had an operation on my knee so I am running for nothing," he said.
Spain indicated yesterday that it would oppose the nomination of the Portuguese Prime Minister Mr Durão Barroso, who organised a meeting before the Iraq war with President George Bush and his European allies on the Azores.
Other candidates under discussion include Denmark's Prime Minister, Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner, Mr Antonio Vitorino, and the outgoing president of the European Parliament, Mr Pat Cox.
The Taoiseach has made clear that he will not call a meeting of EU leaders unless a candidate has been agreed. If he fails to secure consensus around a single name, the task will fall to the Dutch presidency next month.