Reports in an Italian paper that Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is a candidate for the chairmanship of the European Council are nonsense, deputy PM Lodewijk Asscher said on Friday.

‘The fact that it is nonsense will not surprise you,’ Asscher told reporters at the weekly press briefing.

Italian paper La Repubblica said German chancellor Angela Merkel ‘could see the Dutchman Rutte’ in the job. Rutte, the paper said, is ‘seen as a strong, Liberal hawk’.

Belgium’s Herman van Rompuy currently chairs the body but his term in office expires in November.

European leaders are meeting in Brussels this weekend and jobs are on the agenda. Rutte has already said he will support Jean-Claude Juncker for the position of president of the European Union.

Finance

Meanwhile, Nos television reports that the name of Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem has also been dropped for a possible heavyweight role in Brussels.

Dijsselbloem currently chairs the influential euro group and has been tipped to stay in the position if it becomes a permanent job. Others have suggested he could replace Olli Rehn, the current commissioner for economic and budgetary affairs.

Foreign affairs minister Frans Timmermans has also been suggested as a good candidate for a Brussels job.