Patten 'not a candidate' for Prodi's job in Europe

EU: The EU's External Affairs Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten, has stated that he is not a candidate to succeed Mr Romano Prodi as Commission President and that he is looking forward to life away from Brussels when his term in office ends later this year.

"I am not a candidate for the presidency of the European Commission and I am not a candidate for the managership of Chelsea, which also has an Italian incumbent," Mr Patten said.

He told The Irish Times and other European newspapers yesterday that he already had plans for the future but he did not rule out accepting the post of Commission President if it is offered.

"I have for some time had other prospects in front of me - universities, books and an international think tank. I haven't found any reason for thinking that other options would be better than those," he said.

EU leaders will choose Mr Prodi's successor at a meeting in Brussels next month. A number of EU leaders, including Luxembourg's Mr Jean-Claude Juncker and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, have said they are not interested in the job. Belgium's Prime Minister, Mr Guy Verhofstadt, said this week that he is not "specifically" looking for a new job but the outgoing President of the European Parliament, Mr Pat Cox, has made clear that he would like to succeed Mr Prodi.

Mr Patten said that Mr Prodi's successor would need to be tough enough to avoid being bullied by EU leaders. "I think the next president will need to be able to provide a narrative for what the European Union has to be and has to do today. I think she or he will need to be able to stand up to the member-states, avoid being bullied and convince them that it's their European Commission and that, if it's not strong, it's bad for all of them," he said.