FOREIGN ministers meeting at the EU summit expressed strong opposition to the US intention to veto the candidature of Dr Boutros Boutros Ghali for a second term as UN Secretary General.
Senior officials from several EU states, including Italy and Britain, also indicated that if Dr Ghali fails to get a full second term, their governments may look favourably on the candidacy of the President, Mrs Robinson, should she decide to run.
Meanwhile, the backlash against the US decision to refuse Dr Ghali a second term has forced the administration into admitting there is no obvious replacement among the mentioned candidates, including Mrs Robinson.
But the emphasis the US is putting on reforming the UN bureaucracy is turning attention to candidates with proven administrative experience rather than political or diplomatic skills. Mrs Robinson is not seen to have such experience.
At a private dinner on Friday night, many foreign ministers expressed anger at the lack of consultation with other states before the US announced its plan, according to reliable sources.
A proposal from one minister that Dr Ghali be given a 2 1/2 year extension of his term, which expires at the end of this year, also received widespread support. However, the ministers decided against trying to agree a common EU position at this stage.
Such an extension would also suit Mrs Robinson should she decide to seek the position after her first term as President finishes at the end of 1997. The idea of a 2 1/2 year extension was first suggested by Dr Ghali himself last week.
The French and German foreign ministers are understood to have spoken most strongly against the US plan to veto Dr Ghali.
There was no discussion of alternative candidates for the job, but the US move will increase speculation that Mrs Robinson might yet become a serious contender. She has consistently denied this, but speculation persists that if Dr Ghali was out of the running, or received a limited extension of his term, she could emerge as a serious contender.
The issue is likely to be discussed on the margins of the G7 summit of major industrial powers in Lyons next week where European leaders including the German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, President Jacques Chirac of France and the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, will be able to express their views to President Clinton. UN reform is a major item on the meeting's agenda.
A senior German politician, speaking off the record, said it would be wrong to drop Dr Ghali after just one term in the job. every other holder of the post had been allowed two, and to deny Dr Ghali would be an insult to him personally, to Egypt, to Africa and to the Third World.
Meanwhile, the German Foreign Minister, Mr Klaus Kinkel, told his colleagues at the dinner that he had been with Dr Ghali in Germany when he received the news that the US intended to veto him if he sought a second full term. It was only at that stage that the former Egyptian foreign minister decided to announce that he wanted to remain in the job.
The Danish Foreign Minister, Mr Niels Helveg Petersen, told reporters that he understood the US position, as Dr Ghali had said when he was elected that he would only stay for one term. Dr Ghali got the job in 1992 when it was deemed to be Africa's "turn" to provide the UN head.
The UN secretary general is appointed by the UN General Assembly on the recommendation of the UN Security Council. Each of the five permanent members the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - has the right to veto any candidate.
The US has long been irritated by Dr Ghali, holding him responsible for the lack of UN bureaucratic reform. In the run up to the US presidential election, he has become a popular target for the Republican candidate, Mr Bob Dole, adding to the pressure on the Clinton administration to dump him.
Last Friday a US State Department spokesman dispelled any doubts that the US was serious in its intent. "I hope Boutros Boutros Ghali would see our decision is irrevocable. Our minds will not be changed," he said.