Heading for impasse in effort to fill top jobs

A summit this week to appoint an EU President and foreign affairs chief looks set to run over schedule with no clear candidates agreed despite long consultations, according to EU officials.

Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy is the frontrunner to become President, but diplomats say no agreement has been reached on the foreign policy job and some countries want a more established statesmen than Mr Van Rompuy as President.

"There is still no clear candidate for either job," an EU diplomat with knowledge of the negotiations said.

Failure to agree the names would be a deep blow to the efforts of the 27-country bloc to strengthen its position on the world stage and could undermine its ability to project itself as a global economic power.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt had hoped unanimous candidates for both jobs would emerge from talks with leaders and would be confirmed at a dinner. The summit now looks likely to run into the early hours of tomorrow and beyond.

Sweden has even taken the precaution of ordering breakfast for the heads of state and government attending the summit in case the dinner ends without a result, diplomats say.

"If there is no agreement - and currently many things seem to be blocked - then it must continue on Friday or probably it will have to be postponed," said Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger.

The role of President of the Council of EU leaders is being created under the Lisbon Treaty which comes into force on December 1, reforming the bloc's institutions to ease decision-making. It increases the powers of the high representative for foreign affairs and creates an EU diplomatic service.

The difficulty for Sweden is trying to secure a deal that satisfies all member states - large and small, northern and southern European, those that are centre-right or centre-left - while reflecting the wishes of the European Parliament.

At least six names have repeatedly been mentioned by diplomats and analysts for the President's job, and a similar number for the role of high representative, but the list seems to grow rather than shorten.

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero announced on Tuesday that his Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, was in the running for the foreign policy role, although until this point Mr Moratinos's name had barely been mentioned.

Weighing against Mr Moratinos would be the EU's tradition of not awarding too many posts to one region, given that European Commission President José Manuel Barroso is Portuguese.

The EU is expected to opt for a centre-right president and a centre-left foreign affairs chief. There is no firm favourite for the latter role, but Italians Massimo D'Alema and Giuliano Amato are increasingly mentioned as candidates.