Czech interim Prime Minister Jan Fischer is among candidates to join the EU executive, the European Commission, Czech media reported on Friday.

Fischer's departure to the European Union would likely lead to the appointment of a new interim prime minister who would take the central European country, facing a deep economic drop this year, to an election due in May next year.

Www.idnes.cz, the internet edition of the mainstream daily Mlada fronta Dnes, reported heads of the two biggest parties, the right-wing Civic Democrats and leftist Social Democrats, had discussed Fischer's nomination.

A Civic Democrat spokesman, Martin Kupka, did not confirm or deny the report, but said: "At this point this is speculation. It will not be clear until Monday. Nothing is definitive."

Fischer's spokesman was not immediately available for comment and a spokeswoman for the Social Democrats said she was not aware of Fischer's possible nomination.

News website www.aktualne.cz quoted head of the small Green Party, Ondrej Liska, as saying Fischer's name had come up in party negotiations but he did not believe the prime minister would take the EU job given his task to lead the country toward the election.

The non-partisan cabinet, which has the right to nominate the commissioner, is due to discuss the issue on Monday.

A number of names has been mentioned, but political parties have not reached agreement. Fischer has said he would pick his own candidate if the parties do not find common ground.

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso won a new term and will be putting his team of commissioners from all the EU member countries together in the coming weeks.

Fischer took over after a centre-right minority cabinet lost a no-confidence vote in March. He was due to quit after an early election last month, but stayed on after plans to hold the vote were struck down by the country's constitutional court.

Reuters

Güncelleme Tarihi: 06 Kasım 2009, 22:44