UK's Cameron calls EU leaders to discuss Commission president
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron has called EU leaders to discuss choosing a new European Commission president, his office said on Monday, a day after anti-European Union parties won resounding victories in elections for the European Parliament.
The euro-sceptics include Britain's own UK Independence Party (UKIP), which on Sunday won more seats in the European elections than any other British party.
The prospect of UKIP's widely forecast success may have influenced Cameron's plans to lobby against the two most prominent candidates for the commission's president, on the grounds that they are too federalist, as Reuters reported on Friday.
With a national election next year in the UK, the rise in UKIP's popularity has put Cameron under pressure to toughen his stance on Britain's relationship with Europe, to win over voters and placate anti-EU members of his governing Conservative party.
EU leaders are due to hold a preliminary discussion about who should get the Commission job, and other senior EU roles, at an informal dinner in Brussels on Tuesday.
"The prime minister has agreed with the other leaders that tomorrow's meeting is just the start of the process and there will need to be more consultation in the coming months," a spokeswoman for Cameron's office said.
In the series of calls over the last few days, in which Cameron spoke to six EU leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, he also reiterated that the decision was one for the heads of state.
Earlier on Monday, former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, the centre right's choice for Commission president, brushed off questions about his candidacy, saying the job was effectively his for the taking.
Candidates must be nominated by the EU's 28 heads of state and government and then by approved by a simple majority in parliament.
"It is clear that other leaders share the Prime Minister's view that the European Council has a clear mandate in the Treaty to nominate the next President of the European Commission and it is important to follow that procedure," the spokeswoman for Cameron said.
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Larry King)
