Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso is widely tipped to be selected as the next European Commission (EC) president succeeding Romano Prodi who leaves the post on October 31, local media in Brussels reported Monday.  

The EU observer newsletter said Barroso has been proposed by Bertie Ahern, prime minister of Ireland that currently holds the rotating EU presidency, and that there is widespread support for his appointment.

"I am very pleased to be able to confirm that there is overwhelming support for the appointment" of Barroso, said Ahern on Sunday, who conducted a marathon round of phone calls to national capitals to test Barroso's acceptability.

It was reported that Barroso has secured the backing of Germany and France, who were thought to have been in doubt because of his organization of the Azores Summit on the eve of the Iraq war with US President George W. Bush and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

A special summit for European Union (EU) leaders is scheduled for Tuesday evening here to finalize the EC presidential candidate, the EU Council announced Monday.

The meeting is likely to last only a matter of hours as EU leaders are reportedly close to agreeing on the candidate.

At the EU summit on June 17-18, EU leaders failed to select a candidate for the EC presidency when the France-Germany bloc and the Britain-led group could not agree on a name.

The EU leaders have to finalize the nomination before July 20 when the just-elected European Parliament members will have their first plenary session and will be required to decide whether to accept the candidate.

(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2004)