European leaders attending a summit in Brussels on Thursday named Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy as the first permanent president of the European Commission, a post created by the recently adopted Lisbon Treaty.
Even before the his selection to the post, Rompuy was widely tipped to become the first European Commission President as he had the crucial French and German support. Van Rompuy,a poetry-writing economist, was not well-known outside his before he became the Prime Minister of a coalition government involving five parties in January.
After becoming the Prime Minister of a coalition government, Van Rompuy became famous as a coalition builder who steered the linguistically divided Belgian government out of a crisis. His selection to the top EU post is widely seen as a reflection of EU leaders' choice for a president who could not possibly overshadow national leaders.
Also on Thursday, Britain's European Trade Commissioner Baroness Ashton was made the 27-member European bloc's High Representative for Foreign Affairs. Baroness Ashton has been the EU's trade commissioner since last year and she replaces Spaniard Javier Solana as EU's new foreign policy chief.
Baroness Ashton, who also is not a well-known political figure, has served in several low-key ministerial posts for eight years before being chosen to replace Lord Mandelson as EU Trade Commissioner in 2008.
Her candidacy came as a surprise to many when British Prime Minister Gordon Brown backed her for the post after accepting that his predecessor Tony Blair could not become the European Council president. Earlier, Brown had backed Blair for the top EU post.
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