European Union leaders began the second day of a crucial summit yesterday with no consensus candidate to head the executive European Commission but with rising prospects of agreement on a first European constitution.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, chairing the summit, said the 25 leaders had made «very good progress» on drafting a new founding rulebook for the enlarged bloc. But he hinted they might have to postpone the search for a successor to Commission President Romano Prodi for a few weeks.

«Ultimately, somebody has to get this job. Whether that's today, tomorrow or in a while we'll have to see,» Ahern told reporters.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder accused «conservatives and Christian Democrats (of) playing a game of a party-political power tactics» to block the preferred Franco-German candidate ? Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he believed the Flemish liberal, fiercely opposed by Britain as too much of a federalist on European affairs and too anti-American over Iraq, was out of the running.

«Guy Verhofstadt was not someone who had the positive support, not just of the United Kingdom but of other member states,» Straw said.

<B>NEUTRALISING</B>

Five hours of talks that ended shortly before one a.m. (2300 GMT), failed to produce consensus on one of at least eight names to run the Brussels-based executive for the next five years.

Diplomats said the standoff had reopened bitter divisions within the 25-nation bloc between supporters and opponents of the US-led war in Iraq, pitting supporters of a more federal EU against those who want a Europe of nation states.

European conservatives weighed in on Thursday by proposing the EU's external relations commissioner, Briton Chris Patten, in the expectation that France and Germany would reject him, Verhofstadt and Patten thus effectively neutralising each other.

One EU diplomat had earlier said failure to agree a name could sour the mood so badly that leaders may be unable to build on positive steps made towards the bloc's first constitution.

«If there is no result (on the Commission president) and a really bad atmosphere, there may not be a deal on the treaty,» he said, adding that France and Germany could be deliberately tough in talks after suffering defeat on Verhofstadt.

But Ahern denied this, telling a post-midnight news conference: «I don't think it's a question of recrimination.»

He said he had eight or nine possible candidates, but had not formally put forward any of them as he did not yet believe any could achieve the necessary support. However, he said the field had narrowed down to about half of the original list.

Late additions to those in the frame included Irish businessman, former commissioner and former world trade chief Peter Sutherland, and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, but there was no obvious frontrunner.

<B>PROGRESS ON CONSTITUTION</B>

Despite the presidency row, the EU leaders quietly edged closer to a deal on the constitution as they tried to rebuild public confidence in the bloc following mass abstentions and eurosceptic gains in European Parliament elections last week.

Ireland said it was «closing in» on agreement on a first constitution after it put forward proposals to narrow differences over voting powers, the bloc's battered budget rules and policy areas where national vetoes will remain.

Ahern said he would make final proposals to answer remaining objections on the treaty, whose aim is to improve decision-making and give the enlarged bloc a fresh start.

The constitution would give the EU clearer leadership with a long-term president of the European Council of national leaders and a foreign minister to represent the Union on the world stage, wider powers for parliament, a simpler legislative procedure and more decisions taken by majority voting.

Poland and Spain, whose stand on voting rights sank a deal in December, voiced hope that they could agree a text this time around. Britain, although it vowed to protect its national veto in some areas, said a deal was more likely than not.

«There is a unanimity that we cannot leave Brussels without a constitutional text,» said Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.

Six months ago, Spain and Poland fought to retain a deal they won in the 2000 Nice Treaty, which gave them almost as much power as Germany despite having less than half its population.

<B>Blair tells Chirac and Schroeder : You don?t run Europe</B>

• Britain's Tony Blair fired a broadside yesterday at France and Germany, telling Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder they could not steamroller their European Union colleagues into agreement. «We are operating in a Europe of 25...not six or two or one,» the prime minister?s spokesman told reporters. «It was unfortunate yesterday that President Chirac chose to attack our position before negotiations had really begun.» Chirac told a news conference before those talks that it would be better if the EU executive was headed by someone from a country with long experience of the EU and which was a member of all the bloc's activities, including the euro single currency and the Schengen open-border agreement. Britain refused to back the candidate of Berlin and Paris to lead the bloc?s executive, Belgian premier Guy Verhofstadt.

par Mike PEACOCK and Moritz DOEBLER