Sikorski and Kwaśniewski candidates for NATO top job

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski is one of the top candidates to succeed Jaap De Hoop Scheffer as NATO Secretary General, according to diplomatic sources in Brussels. The other top contender is Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

"Rasmussen and Sikorski are the names most often mentioned," said an unnamed source to Polish Press Agency (PAP). According to the source, "people believe it's time for a secretary general from a new NATO country," and that works in favor for Sikorski.

Over the weekend, German weekly Der Spiegel said that along with Sikorski, former president Aleksander Kwaśniewski is among the candidates for the position.

Meanwhile, Jarosław Kaczyński, the PiS leader, was quick to throw his support behind Sikorski, but he added that Kwaśniewski's candidacy was strong as well, and that the appointment of either of the two men would boost the country's position within the transatlantic alliance.

Source: Dziennik, PAP