Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said that European Union leaders are still split on who should be appointed as the 27-nation bloc’s first president.

“To state the obvious, not everyone is saying the same names,” Reinfeldt, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, told reporters in Berlin today.

Reinfeldt said he was “only halfway through” consultations with EU leaders and declined to discuss the names of possible candidates. He said a date hasn’t been set for a summit to choose the president and a separate EU foreign policy chief, intended to heighten Europe’s global profile.

EU leaders will attend a dinner hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin later today linked to ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. No press conference is planned after the dinner.

Passage last week of the EU’s governing treaty shifted debate over the appointments into high gear, with Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy emerging as a compromise candidate for president after former U.K. leader Tony Blair’s chances faded.

Van Rompuy, 62, joined Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, 53, and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, 54, as contenders in the behind-the-scenes campaign for the post.

The role of the president, with a 2 1/2 year-term renewable once, is to “drive forward” the work of EU summits and “facilitate cohesion and consensus,” according to the new treaty.

Big Budget

“They’re moving toward a president who won’t be a rival to leaders and who’ll work behind the scenes to get things done,” Shada Islam, an analyst at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre, said in an interview. “The foreign minister will have a public role and access to the EU budget for external relations. It’s an impressive budget -- billions of euros.”

Blair, 56, the highest-profile candidate, failed to win the backing of socialist allies such as Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann and Spain’s Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, partly due to his support for George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Contenders for EU foreign policy chief include U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband, 44, and Massimo D’Alema, 60, who has served as Italy’s prime and foreign minister.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Czuczka in Berlin at aczuczka@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 9, 2009 12:22 EST