Taoiseach to attend post-election meeting in Brussels

EU leaders including Taoiseach Enda Kenny will travel to Brussels next Tuesday to discuss the appointment of the next European Commission president, with EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy warning yesterday that it will be "too early to decide about names."

Following this weekend's elections, EU leaders will turn their thoughts to candidates for the EU's top jobs, with Mr Kenny still being mentioned as a possibility for the position of European Council president.

Mr Van Rompuy , who met Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Brussels yesterday, is due to meet German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin today, following similar meetings with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and French president François Hollande in recent days.

But in a letter to heads of State yesterday, Mr Van Rompuy said EU leaders would talk about the “process” leading to the election of a European Commission president over dinner next Tuesday, adding it was too early to decide on names.

“I would like us to discuss the outcome of the elections and to look at what we can learn from its results” the outgoing head of the European Council wrote.

This year the various political groups in the European Parliament have nominated candidates for European Commission president should their party reach a majority in the elections, citing a clause in the Lisbon Treaty which states that the European Council "must take account" of the results of the European elections when choosing the next European Commission head.

Reservations But a number of member states have reservations about the system, fearing that the process risks politicising a post that is supposed to be independent.

Britain is strongly opposed to the so-called 'Spitzenkandidaten' system, with Germany and the Netherlands also raising concerns. Chancellor Merkel said this week that there needed to be a majority both within the council and the parliament on the appointment, predicting that the process could take several weeks.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has also said that the process is not "automatic" adding that the council is not afraid of "fierce discussions" with the European Parliament.

The fact that neither of the two largest political groupings in the Parliament – the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) – are likely to claim an outright majority in this weekend’s elections may lessen the Parliament’s case for electing Jose Manuel Barroso’s successor. A low turnout in the elections could damage the Parliament’s argument that its proposed system is more democratic.

Speaking to The Irish Times following his final press conference before the European elections in Brussels yesterday, the European People's Party (EPP) candidate Jean-Claude Juncker said he had the full support of EPP-member Fine Gael and Mr Kenny as candidate for the European Commission presidency. He added that Chancellor Merkel had also backed his candidature at the EPP's congress in Dublin in March. Reunite the bloc Declaring that the financial crisis has "divided Europe, " the former Luxembourg prime minister said he wanted to reunite the bloc.

“Europe has lost its sense of pride [...]I want to reunite Europe, that is why I want to be president of the next European Commission.”

Mr Juncker is vying with the S&D's candidate, German Socialist Martin Schulz, who has the support of Mrs Merkel's junior coalition partner, the SPD.