Spain keeps the flag flying above offices of power

Date: 11/06/1998

They may be doing it in a rather less melodramatic manner than the French, but the Spanish also seem to be succeeding in their efforts to get 'their man' into one of the Union's top banking jobs.

Having lost the presidency of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to German banker Horst Köhler, Spain's former Socialist Finance Minister Pedro Solbes is now the front runner for the top job at the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Sir Brian Unwin, the EIB's incumbent chief, is expected to retire next spring and Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar believes the job has a red and yellow flag fluttering over it.

Others, however, point out that Madrid has already done better than most in the battle for top international jobs. Spanish nationals head NATO, the EU's Court of Auditors and the European Parliament, while former Prime Minister Felipe González represents the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Kosovo and Miguel Moratinos speaks for the Union in the Middle East.

Not a bad tally for a not-quite-superpower EU member state.