The race for the European Union’s leadership has turned murkier, with the news that Finland’s prime minister is stepping down to seek a European role, while France is touting its ex-finance minister as its nominee for a European Commission post.
That undermines the chances of two potential compromise candidates - both French - to head the executive body, in what is expected to be a tough fight between governments, and the European Parliament, in June, with the added spice of a eurosceptic Britain following its own agenda.
The European Parliament, the EU’s only directly-elected body, wants the next Commission president - the big prize - to be the leading candidate of the political group which wins the most votes in next month’s European parliamentary election.
The floor leaders of the three biggest political parties said as much on Thursday in a joint statement, declaring: “The next elected Commission president will be the result of a transparent process, not the product of back-room deals.”
But if no party wins a clear victory, and if Britain objects to the official frontrunners as too integrationist, the top job may go to a dark-horse third candidate, as it did in 2004, when Portugal’s José Manuel Barroso was picked to break a deadlock.
Read the whole story: http://www.euractiv.com/sections/eu-elections-2014/katainen-seeks-top-eu-job-301377
Source: EurActiv
See also: http://yle.fi/uutiset/who_will_replace_katainen_four_favourites_stand_out/7176545