Jean-Claude Juncker says he expects to be the next European Commission president by the end of the week - "if common sense prevails".
Jean-Claude Juncker should become the next president of the European Commission - even if there is no unanimity over the issue, German chancellor Angela Merkel has said.
In a dig at his staunch opponent David Cameron, he joked: "It seems that common sense is very unequally distributed, so one will have to wait."
She told the German Parliament a "qualified majority" of European leaders would be acceptable.
Mr Cameron will demand a vote of EU leaders if Mr Juncker is nominated for the job at a Brussels summit on Friday.
David Cameron says he will press the issue to a vote if Mr Juncker is nominated at an EU summit on Friday.
He says Mr Juncker would "politicise and compromise" the EC.
But Mrs Merkel said there would be "no drama" if he was chosen by a majority.
Ex-Luxembourg prime minister Mr Juncker made his comments during a speech in Germany ahead of Friday's crunch EU gathering.
Previously, the top job in Brussels bureaucracy has usually only been given with the unanimous agreement of at least the bigger countries, including Britain.
Speaking in Berlin, he said: "I am not designated commission president yet. If common sense prevails this will happen at the end of the week - but it seems that common sense is very unequally distributed, so one will have to wait."
'Not an arch villain'
'Vested interests'
The British prime minister has fought a lone campaign to block Mr Juncker becoming the next EC president, saying his appointment would "ignore the clear pro-change and pro-reform message" delivered by European voters in last month's election.
Mr Cameron has fought a lone campaign to block Jean-Claude Juncker, saying his appointment would "ignore the clear pro-change and pro-reform message" delivered by European voters in last month's elections.
If Mr Juncker's name is tabled at Friday's EU summit in Brussels, Mr Cameron has said he would demand an "unprecedented" vote to put on the public record EU leaders' views on the ex-Luxembourg prime minister.
If Mr Juncker's name is tabled at Friday's meeting, Mr Cameron has said he would demand an "unprecedented" vote to put on the public record EU leaders' views on Mr Juncker.
Speaking in Berlin on Tuesday, Mr Juncker said he expected to be the next EC president by the end of the week "if common sense prevails".
The row comes amid the disclosure of a secretly recorded conversation in which Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski appears to criticise the UK prime minister.
And in a dig at Mr Cameron, he joked that common sense was "very unequally distributed - so one will have to wait".
In comments, published by Wprost, Mr Sikorski described Mr Cameron's immigration policy as "either a very badly thought-through move or, not for the first time [showing] his incompetence in European affairs".
Former Conservative chancellor, the pro-European Ken Clarke, said he did not know what Mr Juncker was supposed to have done wrong, insisting he was "not an arch villain".
But Poland's foreign ministry says the remarks, reportedly recorded in January before the row between Mr Cameron and other EU leaders over Mr Juncker's appointment, have been taken out of context.
"The idea that he is an arch-federalist, a sort of public enemy number one, which the media have made him in the last few days, is slightly exaggerated," he told BBC Radio 4's World at One.
Tory MP Bernard Jenkin leapt to Mr Cameron's defence, telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "When a system is being challenged and needs to be challenged, very often the vested interests in the system resort to abuse because they can't hear; they can't understand what's going wrong.
And Business Secretary Vince Cable said Mr Cameron's handling of the row had damaged Britain's influence in Brussels.
"The fact is that the UK is faced with an increasingly stark choice about the nature of our relationship with our European partners.
But Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he was "proud" to have a prime minister "who fights for Britain".
"We're either in the European Union and that's governed by the institutions which have a federalist agenda or we're going to find ourselves having to make a different choice about a new relationship with our European partners which is what David Cameron is talking about - and he's right."
Mr Jenkin said he knew Mr Sikorski - a former Oxford University graduate - personally. "He used to be a Eurosceptic, but since he's been in government in Poland and Poland receives so much money from Germany, both directly ... and indirectly through the EU, you can't expect Poland to confront Germany on anything."
He said the Conservative Party had to decide between "independent nation states trading and cooperating freely in the EU" or going along with the status quo.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt added his praise to Mr Cameron's position, saying he was "proud" to have a prime minister "who fights for Britain".
"He's going out there in very difficult negotiations, fighting for the British national interest," he said.
"It's not comfortable... sometimes leadership is lonely, but if it's the right thing to do with Britain, I'm glad we've got a strong prime minister who's prepared to take those steps, even if he's isolated from time to time."
