The speaker of the European parliament, Poland's Jerzy Buzek, called Saturday on conservative former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar to stand for European Union president. "As far as I know Aznar is not interested in such a position at the moment, but I think it would be good for the EU if he changed his mind and put himself forward," he said in an interview with the Spanish daily ABC.
Aznar, the former head of the Popular Party, was prime minister from 1996 to 2004, when he was defeated by socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Europe's leaders are stepping up their lobbying for the various candidates to be the first president of the bloc, a post enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty, along with a new foreign policy supremo.
They are to decide the posts at a summit in Brussels on November 19. On Friday the speaker of the German parliament, Norbert Lammert, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, came out in favour of Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. Other names being considered include Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga and former British prime minister Tony Blair.