Brussels - Anyone who wants to become the president of the European Union should first face an interview with the bloc's national leaders, Polish diplomats said Tuesday.

The EU is expected to choose its first ever president and foreign policy director within days, and rumours are running high that small cliques of powerful member states are trying to agree on candidates ahead of the formal decision.

Poland is therefore proposing "that the election of the future president of the (EU) Council is preceded by a discussion ... during which the candidates would present their vision of how their tasks would be conducted," according to a paper circulated among member states.

That interview would be carried out by national leaders, whose task it is to appoint the new EU chief.

Similarly, heads of government and foreign ministers should conduct a joint interview of the candidates for the post of EU foreign representative, the paper said.

Sweden, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, has begun consulting national leaders on their candidates for the top jobs created by the Lisbon Treaty, which is expected to come into force on December 1.

However, the Swedes have not yet said when they will call an EU summit to appoint the bloc's new leaders, nor indicated which candidates member states have put forward.

In the interim, rumours have focused on the premiers of Belgium and the Netherlands, Herman van Rompuy and Jan Peter Balkenende, to take the job of EU president.

Britain's foreign minister, David Miliband, is said to be the front-runner for the job of EU high representative, even though he has regularly denied being interested in the job. (dpa)