Bildt fears insipid EU top job compromise

Sweden's foreign minister Carl Bildt has given voice to apprehensions that the EU may settle on an uninspiring compromise candidate for the new post of president when the union's leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday.

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Bildt warned that the EU could miss a "historic occasion", saying the choice could diminish Europe's voice in the world.

"In my circle of foreign ministers there is undoubtedly a certain apprehension about the fact that certain heads of government are leaning towards a minimal solution for the presidency question, which could reduce our chance of having a clear voice in the world," Bildt wrote on his blog.

A first-ever European Union president and a new foreign policy supremo will be named at a working dinner in Brussels Thursday by the EU's 27 heads of state and government.

Bildt said the consensus required for making such a choice could translate into weaker candidates nabbing the top posts.

"This could mean -- from our point of view -- missing a historic occasion," he wrote, adding that the coming into force of the Lisbon treaty was a chance for Europe to "become a new power on the global stage."

Thursday's talks will be coordinated by Sweden as the country holds the rotating EU presidency.

Bildt's name had circulated to become the 27-country bloc's new foreign policy chief, but his chances were cut short Tuesday when Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt named EU Affairs minister Cecilia Malmström as the country's next EU commissioner.