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Empresas y finanzas

Dutch name emerges for EU post amid doubt about his chances


    AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands has put forward its Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans for a European commission post, a newspaper reported on Monday, but delays in naming a candidate may have hurt his chances of a top post.

    The Netherlands is seeking a vice president commission post with a weighty portfolio for the veteran diplomat, Dutch daily de Volkskrant said, citing unnamed sources in Brussels.

    Dutch officials declined to comment because The Hague has not made an official proposal. Analysts said it's far from certain the Dutch will succeed in gaining a top position after waiting so long to put forward a candidate.

    De Volkskrant said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who heads the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, had been mentioned earlier as a possible candidate but failed to gain support.

    The name of Trade and Development Minister Lilianne Ploumen has also come up, but she has even less foreign experience. She and Timmermans are both from the Labour Party, which is expected to get the seat after several conservative politicians.

    Incoming European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said he wants nine of the 28 commissioners in his new team to be women, so nominating a man could weaken Dutch chances.

    "The Dutch never had a formal candidate and didn't play their cards very well," said Louise van Schaik of the Clingendael think tank. "This doesn't have much chance of succeeding, especially because Juncker is having a problem finding enough female candidates."

    Van Schaik said Timmermans, a fluent Russian speaker, is highly suited for a new eastern policy "super commissioner" position. But he would rank second after the newly appointed EU foreign policy chief, Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini, who will also hold a commission vice president seat.

    Timmermans gained international prominence with the widely-admired and emotional speech he gave at the United Nations following the July 17 shooting down over Ukraine of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which had 196 Dutch nationals on board.

    The speech was widely credited with swinging many European Union countries round to favour tougher sanctions against Russia, which is believed to have been shot down by Russian-backed separatists.

    His office could not immediately be reached for comment.

    (Reporting By Anthony Deutsch and Thomas Escritt, editing by Tom Heneghan)