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| | Belgian PM Herman Van Rompuy |
| | | | Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton Photo: AFP
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Belgian-British duo wins EU race
Little-known compromise candidates handed European Union's top two jobs Thursday
Associated Press
EU leaders on Thursday handed the European Union's top new jobs to two little-known compromise figures - Belgium's prime minister and the EU's trade commissioner - dashing hopes of those who wanted to raise the continent's global profile.
The choice caps years of choppy efforts to give a united Europe a voice on the world stage commensurate with its economic heft. The EU leaders agreed on Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton of Britain as the EU's new foreign policy chief and Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as its president, diplomats said.
But their appointments suggested the need for compromise outweighed the desire for big names like Tony Blair, the former British leader who was once considered a leading contender for the presidential job.
The two new officials are supposed to give the EU a bigger role in such global issues as climate change, terrorism and trade amid the rise of China, Brazil and India.
The two top jobs were created by an EU reform treaty that takes effect in less than two weeks, on Dec. 1. The treaty is vague on what the EU president is supposed to do, other than encourage more European integration.
Ashton, who has never been elected to public office and is largely unknown outside Britain, had seemed an unlikely choice. She won the foreign policy brief after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and left-leaning leaders from Spain, Greece, Slovakia, Slovenia, Portugal and Austria decided to put her name forward.
Ashton, 53, was a junior minister and leader of the House of Lords in 2007 and had a history as an anti-nuclear weapons campaigner.
Van Rompuy was put forward for the president's job by Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt who chaired Thursday's summit, diplomats said.
Before the summit, Van Rompuy met with Belgium's King Albert to discuss the possible selection of his successor as premier.
Van Rompuy, 62, is a technocrat with a penchant for haiku poetry. A Dutch-speaking Christian Democrat, he is unknown abroad, and even in Belgium he keeps a low profile. Or as a Belgian commentator recently put it: "Van Rompuy opens his mouth only to breathe."
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