Spanish support González EU presidency bid 

The poll, conducted by Spanish think-tank Real Instituto Elcano, revealed that 42% of interviewees support González for the EU post, while only 23% back Tony Blair, the other possible high-profile runner for the position. 

González has already been endorsed for the position by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana (EurActiv 23/06/09). 

Should the Lisbon Treaty enter into force by the end of 2009, the EU's first permanent president will be introduced under the Spanish EU Presidency in the first half of 2010, a fact that Solana thinks should work in González's favour. 

"A relationship between two Spaniards - and I know them well - will be very positive, very constructive, and would bring added value," Solana said, referring to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish prime minister, alongside González. 

A 2008 poll by Harris interactive identified Tony Blair as the preferred candidate for the job of EU president among Europeans as a whole, and while the more recent Spanish poll may not reflect views across Europe, González's candidacy has looked increasingly strong of late, with Blair's position having weakened, especially after French President Nicolas Sarkozy's U-turn. 

Sarkozy strongly supported the idea of 'President Blair' towards the end of 2007. However, he has since shifted his support for Blair to the former Spanish premier. Jean-Marie Colombani, Le Monde's former editor, told El Pais that Sarkozy's change of heart was due to Blair's failure to achieve anything as EU envoy to the Middle East, and "the polemic over his actions on the Iraq war". 

Another potential stumbling block for Blair materialised earlier this month, when former UK EU Commissioner Chris Patten announced that he would be "very positive" towards the idea of becoming Europe's first foreign minister. The former governor of Hong Kong told the Financial Times that while he was not campaigning for the job, "if I was approached, which I think is unlikely, I would certainly be very positive about it". 

Patten, who served as EU commissioner for external relations, is popular in Brussels and has already attracted support from Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-chair of the Greens in the European Parliament. His candidacy is likely to attract the support of those who dislike Blair, say analysts, and with two candidates from the same country unlikely to succeed, Patten's strong candidacy may prove attractive to the British too. 

Nor, though, is González's candidacy without its critics or potential stumbling blocks. 

At the press conference which saw him endorse González, Solana was asked to comment on the risk of an 'Iberian overload' should a Spaniard take the job of EU Council president and José Manuel Barroso, a Portuguese, be re-confirmed as Commission head for the next five years. 

"It's a question for others to respond to," said Solana, amid laughter from the audience. 

Questions over González's role in Spain's counter-terrorism actions against ETA in the 1980s have plagued González in the past. The four-term former Spanish prime minister has consistently denied any knowledge of how a shadowy organisation called the Anti-Terrorist Liberation Group, formed in the early 1980s, apparently with police and military support, killed 27 people whom its members believed were terrorists. It ceased operations in 1987. The involvement of the then prime minister has never been proven.