EU leaders ponder candidates for bloc presidency this week

BRUSSELS: European Union leaders were expected to continue an informal discussion today on who should become the bloc's first long-term president, a post that is to be created under the EU's Lisbon treaty on institutional reform.

The president of the Council of EU leaders will be picked unanimously for a two-and-a-half-year term, strengthening the current system of a six-month presidency that member states hold in turn.

This will happen only if the Czech Republic ratifies the treaty. The other 26 EU countries have done so.