MNI SOURCES: EU Vote Results Muddy Outlook For Top Jobs Split

--Paris-Berlin Tensions Could See Compromise Candidates Emerge

By David Thomas

     BRUSSELS (MNI) - Germany and France may struggle to broker a deal to carve

up the most senior European Union job openings, with a political, geographic and

gender-balancing compromise package the most likely solution, senior officials

have told MNI.

     EU leaders meet Tuesday in the wake of the weekend's European Parliament

elections to discuss how a split of top jobs, including the European Commission

and European Central Bank presidencies, might work, although it is unclear if

the leaders will try and put actual names to the various roles this early in the

process. 

     For starters, leaders will need to try and work out if the

'Spitzenkandidat' system -- whereby the biggest party names its candidate for EC

president -- can work this time round.

     "The election result is clearly pro-European but split in four, so

difficult for any 'Spitzen' to be the obvious candidate," one EU official said,

noting a compromise package was needed. 

     --PARIS-BERLIN TENSION

     All this means that the idea of a straight Franco-German deal splitting the

Commission for the ECB presidencies may not be so easy, sources say.

     If German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposes official EPP candidate Manfred

Weber for the EC presidency, sources believe French President Emmanuel Macron

could well block him, which in turn could see Merkel block a Macron Choice of

chief EU Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier.

     Any compromise deal under which Barnier gets the Commission and Bundesbank

President Jens Weidmann went to the Bundesbank would "look pre-scripted and a

betrayal" of the EPP, a further source said, with other officials noting current

Franco-German tensions do not favour such a cozy carve-up.

     With the Liberal ALDE-ELDR and maybe the Greens likely involved in putting

the package of senior jobs together, the possibility increases that a candidate

from a smaller country could get one of the top jobs, sources said.

     --NORDIC STRAND

     Denmark's Margrethe Vestager, who currently holds the Competition brief,

could therefore be a strong candidate for the EC Presidency. That would have

implications for who gets to win the ECB.

     "If small countries get jobs, the Germans could go for a 'proxy' like Olli

Rehn," said one official.

     "While that might look a bit Nordic, someone from an Eastern European

country could be named for the Council presidency and maybe a southern candidate

for the High Representative (for Foreign Affairs)," he added.

     Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero and Portuguese Prime Minister

Antonio Costa have also been mooted for the EU presidency, although Costa is

apparently less than eager to leave his country, given pending elections there.

     In the course of putting this puzzle together, one official said he

expected "some new names" to crop up.

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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