EU leaders pick political novices for top jobs - Summary

Brussels - European Union leaders Thursday picked two skilled mediators from Belgium and Britain with low profiles and relatively little experience to head the bloc's top posts. Herman Van Rompuy, Belgium's prime minister for only 11 months, was chosen as the EU's first-ever full-time president.

Catherine Ashton, a Briton who has been EU trade commissioner for just over a year, was selected as its new foreign policy supremo.

"We are convinced that Van Rompuy will be excellent in guiding the work of the (European) council ... We have seen how good (Ashton) is in convincing people," said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who brokered the deal at a shorter-than-expected summit in Brussels.

According to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the appointments reinforced the belief that "consensus really is the driving force among different opinions and convictions" in Europe.

But analysts said the choices reflected the desire of national governments to prevent Brussels from gaining too much power.

"While Van Rompuy may keep the profile of the European Council (the body representing member states) relatively low vis-a-vis other EU institutions, the price that is being paid is no leadership," said Piotr Kaczynski of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

The two new figures, created by the incoming Lisbon Treaty, will flank European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in representing the EU around the world.

Officials said Van Rompuy would formally assume office on January 1. Ashton, however, will need to be vetted by the European Parliament as she will also act as Barroso's deputy.

Asked who would now be representing the face of Europe, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said: "The image of Europe is European unity."

But experts in Brussels wondered whether any of the new figures had enough clout to be on US President Barack Obama's phone book.

In his first comments as the new president of the European Council, a post he will hold for at least two and a half years, Van Rompuy said stepping down as Belgian premier would be "extremely hard."

He also embraced the view of fellow leaders that the president should in fact be a coordinator capable of facilitating "cohesion and consensus" among member states.

"Only one profile is possible and it's one of dialogue, of unity and of action. Every country should emerge victorious from negotiations," Van Rompuy said.

Ahead of the talks in Brussels, the current EU chair - Sweden - circulated a paper scaling down the role of the president.

The Swedish paper even omitted a key clause from the Lisbon Treaty which says that the president shall "ensure the external representation of the Union on issues concerning its common foreign and security policy."

While Van Rompuy had been considered a front-runner, Ashton emerged as a consensus candidate after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown agreed to drop the candidacy of his predecessor, Tony Blair. The former premier had been opposed by the political left because of his prominent role in the deeply unpopular Iraq war.

Seen in London as a quietly effective politician, Ashton had held a number of middle-ranking posts in the British government before Brown sent her to Brussels to succeed the flamboyant Peter Mandelson.

She was embraced by the outgoing foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and defended herself from the charges that she had only limited foreign-policy experience, recalling her role in brokering a major free-trade agreement with South Korea.

"Judge me on what I do," Ashton told reporters.

Brown hailed the choice as a victory for Britain and for women.

"She is the first woman to hold such a high position in the European Union, and I believe people everywhere should be delighted that one other barrier of discrimination and prejudice of the past has been broken down this evening," Brown said.

While insisting that Blair would have been "an excellent president of the council," Brown acknowledged that political machinations had trumped all other considerations.

At a summit last month, conservative and socialist leaders struck a deal whereby the EU council president should be picked from the political centre-right and the foreign policy chief from the centre- left.

Lithuania's president, Dalia Grybauskaite, also defended Ashton, describing her as a "very transatlantic person with huge experience internationally."

Van Rompuy's selection, meanwhile, left Belgium without a skilled mediator capable of maintaining relative harmony between the country's divided Flemish and Wallonian communities.