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09/07/2009

German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to help arrange a top international post for Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück if his center-left Social Democrats (SPD) aren't included in the next government after the Sept. 27 election, SPIEGEL has learned. "She's going to do something for Steinbrück," said a leading member of Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats. Merkel and the outspokenfinance minister had worked excellently together during the financial crisis and she appreciated his skill and reliability, the source added.

It's not clear yet what position she envisages for him. She would ideally like to reward him with the leadership of the International Monetary Fund, but the term of current IMF Managing Director Dominque Strauss-Kahn doesn't expire until 2012. Besides, government leaders agreed when Strauss-Kahn was appointed that the job will in future not no longer automatically be awarded to a European.

Steinbrück may instead get the job of Germany's European Commissioner -- the conservatives and SPD have long been arguing about who should succeed the incumbent German Commisioner Günter Verheugen, the Commission Vice President who is in charge of enterprise and industry. Verheugen is a member of the SPD.

Merkel has said in the past that the post should be filled by a member of her Christian Democrats. But Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has been urging European governments nominating their national candidates for the Commission to make sure that it isn't staffed by too many conservatives.