EU: SOLANA BACKS D'ALEMA BID

EU: SOLANA BACKS D'ALEMA BID

(ANSA) - Brussels, November 17 - Former Italian premier Massimo D'Alema would do a "great job" if chosen to become the European Union's new foreign policy chief, the EU's foreign policy representative Javier Solana told reporters on Tuesday.

"I've worked with him over the years, in his capacity as premier and foreign minister and I really think he'd be excellent," said Solana, who also dismissed reports that D'Alema doesn't know English well enough to do the job.

"I can assure you that his English is nearly perfect. He may not have Shakespeare's command of it but then neither do I. I'd say he speaks it as well as I do," said Solana, switching from French to English.

Diplomatic sources said later that Solana sometimes lapses into Spanglish, a broken mix of Spanish and English.

The EU foreign representative declined to comment on a report by the Financial Times on Tuesday that critics accuse D'Alema "of anti-US and anti-Israeli bias, a charge he rejects as naive".

The daily said he was "known as the man with the iron moustache" and was "the most leftwing premier Italy has had since 1945".

"He is familiar with the dark arts of Italian political intrigue, having conspired to replace Romano Prodi, his colleague, as premier in 1998," the FT said.

EU leaders are set to choose their new High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy on Thursday, with D'Alema a frontrunner for the new, more powerful post set up by the Lisbon Treaty.

They will also choose the first standing president of the European Council, the second new top job envisaged by the Treaty.

Italy's centre-right government has said it is fully behind D'Alema's bid, saying it was in the country's best interest to do so.