Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is set to become Nato's new secretary-general, following a private agreement by the leaders of Britain, France and Germany to back his candidacy, the Financial Times said on March 9 2009.

According to the Financial Times,  "Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, and Angela Merkel, German chancellor, appear to have agreed that the 56-year-old Dane should become Nato’s chief diplomat".

The US was likely to confirm its backing for Rasmussen ahead of Nato’s 60th anniversary summit next month in Strasbourg and Kehl, the newspaper said.

The alleged deal leaves Bulgaria’s candidate, former foreign minister Solomon Passi, out of the running.

Passi was nominated for the post a few weeks ago by his party, the National Movement for Stability and Progress, and just recently received the backing of the Bulgarian Government despite comments that his nomination lacked any real chance and was aimed only at boosting the NMSP publicity ahead of this summer's Bulgarian elections for Parliament.

His name did not even feature in the Financial Times' story about potential candidates for the job.

Rasmussen has been Danish prime minister since 2001 and still has two and-a-half-years of his term left to run. The other strong candidate to replace Nato's current secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, namely Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorksi,  "would have irritated the Kremlin, something Nato is keen to avoid as it seeks to put relations with Moscow on a better footing", the newspaper said.

Other candidates were Jonas Gahr Stoere, Norway’s foreign minister; Des Browne, former British defence secretary; and Peter Mackay, Canadian defence minister, according to the Financial Times.