By Duncan Lumsden & Hughes Beaudouin - 30th April 2004
EU external affairs commissioner Chris Patten has all but poured cold water on rumours that he might be in the running to be next European Commission President.
Speaking on the BBC Radio Four's flagship Today programme on Saturday, Patten responded to the claims in the Financial Times that he had 'emerged as a surprise contender.'
"I don't think so."
"I always said I would spend five years as a commissioner," he told the programme.
"Nobody has asked me so far."
"It would be pretty arrogant to say 'under no circumstances', but I would need a very great deal of persuading," he added.
But his answers to the Today programme, quoted also almost verbatim in the Financial Times but attributed suspiciously to "a close colleague" instead, leave the door deftly ajar for Patten to step in.
And some might read his comments as an open invitation for someone to put him forward.
According to FT Europe, Patten already has the backing of influencial former French president Valéry Giscard D’Estaing.
Giscard told the newspaper that Patten “would be a good person for the job, he has the talent, the beliefs and political position to be a good president.”
In response, Patten would only say that it was "nice of him" to be so supportive.
Other names in the hat include current justice commissioner Antonio Vitorino from Portugal, and former Finnish premier Paavo Lipponen. Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, another former PM in Greece’s Costas Simitis and Austria’s chancellor Wolfgang Schussel have also been mentioned.
But as one senior French diplomat noted wryly recently, “the fact that we’re talking about them means they’re not in the running.”
Candidates bandied around early in the process rarely stick it to the end: current incumbent Romano Prodi for example was a late starter in the last presidential race five years ago.
This could explain Patten’s sudden appearance on the starting line this weekend, as the EU’s now 25 leaders gather in Dublin to celebrate Europe’s enlargement, and start informal discussions on replacing Prodi when the current administration steps down in November.
Patten speaks French and was critical of the Iraq war, both of which are expected to ingratiate his candidacy to the Elysée.
As a pro-European Brit, he could help sway UK voters in a referendum on the Constitution – avoiding a major embarassment both for Brussels and London.
And as a pro-European British Conservative, his nomination could help emasculate the otherwise anti-European tendencies of his party, which cause problems both at home and in EU circles.
His Conservative credentials would also go some way to pacifying what is expected to be a centre-right dominated European Parliament.
But he will need to be put forward by the British government, a Labour party administration that would normally propose a closer ally to occupy the UK’s seat in the European Commission. Former cabinet member and UK premier Tony Blair’s one-time ‘king-maker’ Peter Mandelson is thought to be favoured.
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