EU COMMISSIONER Charlie McCreevy has said Bertie Ahern would make a good president of the European Council and suggested the Mahon tribunal was unlikely to hurt his job prospects.
He also criticised the work of the tribunal yesterday, saying it had gone on far longer than anyone had anticipated and extended its scope far wider than planning issues.
"It has outlasted two world wars, the length of the Nuremburg inquiry, etc, etc. So I'm sure my children will still be dealing with the Mahon tribunal. I'm not sure these tribunals will ever end," said Mr McCreevy, who before leaving Ireland to join the European Commission presented proposals to try to limit legal fees at the tribunal.
He said the tribunal had its job to do but added the media had lost its sense of fairness. "In the last decade in the media the balance of fairness has been lost. The demand for readership, viewership has maybe lessened standards but that is the modern time, that is what has happened in the UK and other places. Do I like it or not? No I don't like it. Do I accept it? That's just the way things are," Mr McCreevy told The Irish Times in an interview in the margins of an informal meeting of finance ministers in Slovenia.
Mr McCreevy said the focus should be kept on Mr Ahern in the week that he announced his retirement as the "most successful Fianna Fáil leader of modern times". He said Mr Ahern would be a strong contender for any of the three top EU jobs becoming vacant over the next year - president of the European Council, president of the commission or high representative for foreign affairs.
"I know Bertie would be well capable of doing anything and people in Europe know he would be well capable too. Bertie would be more than capable of doing any of them," he said.
However, Mr McCreevy said there were other strong contenders for the post in Europe and he also noted that the current president of the commission, José Manuel Barroso, was not even considered a candidate for the post until the final week of his appointment. He said it was unclear whether Mr Ahern's resignation would have a positive impact on the upcoming EU referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.