Belgian PM picked as first EU president

20 Nov 2009, 7:13 am   -   Source: AFP/SBS
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European leaders have chosen Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy to become the first president of the European Union.

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European leaders have chosen Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy to become the first president of the European Union.

Britain's Catherine Ashton was named the body's new foreign affairs supremo at a meeting of the EU's 27 heads of state and government in Brussels.

"This is the new leadership team of Europe," said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeld, flanked by Van Rompuy and Ashton.

The move, which came far more quickly than analysts had anticipated, installs two candidates with little experience in international politics and in Ashton's case, none in diplomacy, to the EU's highest-profile jobs.

Von Rompuy, who earned a reputation as a fixer in dealing with Belgium's bickering political class, is expected to take a low-profile appoach to the top job.

Behind-the-scenes 'fixer'

The 62-year-old Christian Democrat, a Flemish and French speaker, is also known for his poetry, regularly composing Haiku which he publishes on a blog.

A political moderate, open to compromise, Van Rompuy favours an austere style, using his "little grey cells" to overcome his country's problems.

Ashton, currently EU Trade Commissioner, secured the foreign affairs job after Britain dropped its campaign for Tony Blair to become EU president.

Sensing the tide of opinion was against former prime minister Blair, an extremely high-profile candidate whose support of the Iraq war helped divide Europe in 2003, British PM Gordon Brown changed tack.

"When it became clear that because of the various political considerations and varying views among the rest of the members, then the prime minister made the forceful step of proposing Catherine Ashton for the high representative's position," a Downing Street spokesman said.

The differences over political affiliations, geographical considerations and even gender sucked credibility from the process, as leaders bickered over what role the president should play, possibly for five years.

 

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