Malta now backs Barroso nomination

The Maltese government has informed the Irish presidency that it supports the nomination of Portuguese Prime Minister José Manuel Dur&atidle;o Barroso as the new president of the European Commission.

EU leaders will convene for a council meeting in Brussels this evening to confirm the nomination of the new president.

Mr Barroso, a surprise nominee, is the front-runner to succeed Romano Prodi, whose term expires on October 31.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi made contact via telephone with Irish Premier Bertie Ahern on Saturday in order to discuss the nomination of the new commission president as well as other pending nominations, a spokesman told The Times.

Malta had originally supported the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, for the job but Mr Juncker ruled himself out of the job.

Last Friday, Dr Gonzi discussed the EU's most senior position with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and European People's Party president Wilfred Martens.

After having failed to reach a compromise on the successor to Romani Prodi during the last EU summit, the Irish presidency has, in the last days of its term, managed to rally the support of most member states to back the Portuguese Prime Minister.

Mr Barroso, 48, is leader of the Portuguese centre-right PSD party. In the run-up to the war in Iraq, he supported the Spanish-UK backing of the US position. The Portuguese Prime Minister is not considered to be a 'real' federalist and has always been perceived as a defender of the rights of smaller EU states.

The new candidate needs to be approved by the European Parliament next month and the European Socialists, who are the second largest group in the parliament seem reluctant to support Mr Barroso.

On Sunday, the Socialists said the new head of the EU executive should not automatically be drawn from the ranks of the centre-right, which remained the biggest bloc in the EU assembly after the European elections.