Belgian Foreign Minister EU bound?

BRUSSELS, July 7 (UPI) -- Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel Wednesday was tipped to become the country's next European Commissioner in Brussels.

Newspapers reported Michel's Liberal party was in talks with the Socialist party, the dominant grouping in the French-speaking part of the country, over the influential post on the EU's executive body.

Michel, who is deputy to Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, said he would not comment on "what is no more than a simple hypothesis," but added: "The post of European commissioner is obviously a very important function which one can't dismiss out of hand."

Also on Thursday, the Finnish government nominated former European parliamentarian Olli Rehn to be their country's next European Commissioner.