Brussels, 22/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday the Irish presidency announced that the special summit for deciding on Romano Prodi's succession will take place on Tuesday evening on 29 June, on condition that consensus is found on a candidate. On Tuesday, Bertie Ahern denied that declarations from the British European affairs minister, Denis MacShane were true. The latter claimed that they had already found someone for the presidency of the Commission. During the Japan/EU summit in Tokyo, Ahern said that, "We hope that next week we will deal with this question if we agree on someone, as you know we don't have anyone yet".
He also stated that they needed further consultation but that Mr Prodi would remain in his post till 31 October and there was no reason for panic.
In the meantime, the head of the EPP-ED group at the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering informed Die Welt that he would oppose the candidacy of Javier Solana and that the EPP's favourite remained Michel Barnier, José Manuel Barroso, Wolfgang Schüssel and, "quite obviously, Jean-Claude Juncker".