UPDATE:Still No Pact On Top EU Jobs Candidates -EU Presidency
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STOCKHOLM -(Dow Jones)- The European Union still hasn't reached any agreement
on candidates for the EU's top jobs, Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt
said Wednesday.
Reinfeldt, who holds the EU's rotating six-month presidency, said he had spent
a good part of the past four days and nights on the phone with European heads of
state and government but progress had been limited.
Reinfeldt had hoped to have names in place for the bloc's first full-time
president and foreign minister before leaders of the 27 EU nations meet for
informal talks in Brussels Thursday. He said there will still be one more day
for the heads of state and government to decide on the top jobs, adding that it
is uncertain whether any candidates can be presented.
"I don't know if you have tried this, but good luck trying to get in contact
with 26 heads of states within 24 hours. These are people who tend to have some
other things to attend to as well besides talking to me," Reinfeldt said.
The EU's newly passed Lisbon Treaty established the jobs, and called for
national leaders to choose who should fill them.
-By Anna Molin, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3091; anna.molin@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-18-091130ET
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