E.U. Chooses Belgium Prime Minister As New President
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/europe/20union.html?hp
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BRUSSELS — Meeting to decide who will represent them on the global stage, the European Union’s 27 leaders chose two low-key candidates with little international experience on Thursday, after Britain finally abandoned its campaign to install Tony Blair in the bloc’s new presidential role.
The national leaders chose Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian prime minister, for the presidential job, and Catherine Ashton of Britain, the European Union’s trade commissioner. The two were proposed by Sweden, the country that currently holds the rotating European Union presidency and that has managed the negotiations over filling the new posts, according to several diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity, as is customary.
The decision was reached at a dinner meeting of the national leaders in Brussels, where the European Union has its main administrative headquarters. Diplomats alerted news agencies when decision was made.
After an eight-year battle to rewrite its internal rules, the choice of two relative unknowns seemed to highlight Europe’s problems instead of its readiness to take a more united and forceful place in world affairs.
In a sense, Europe seemed to be living down to expectations. Earlier, the foreign minister of Sweden warned against a “minimalist solution” that would reduce the union’s “opportunity to have a clear voice in the world.”
The Belgian prime minister, an economist, has earned respect for calming down ethnic tensions in Belgium in his 11 months as prime minister, but his candidacy was initially threatened by leaders of other small countries who believed that they were being dictated to by Paris and Berlin.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/europe/20union.html?hp
The national leaders chose Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian prime minister, for the presidential job, and Catherine Ashton of Britain, the European Union’s trade commissioner. The two were proposed by Sweden, the country that currently holds the rotating European Union presidency and that has managed the negotiations over filling the new posts, according to several diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity, as is customary.
The decision was reached at a dinner meeting of the national leaders in Brussels, where the European Union has its main administrative headquarters. Diplomats alerted news agencies when decision was made.
After an eight-year battle to rewrite its internal rules, the choice of two relative unknowns seemed to highlight Europe’s problems instead of its readiness to take a more united and forceful place in world affairs.
In a sense, Europe seemed to be living down to expectations. Earlier, the foreign minister of Sweden warned against a “minimalist solution” that would reduce the union’s “opportunity to have a clear voice in the world.”
The Belgian prime minister, an economist, has earned respect for calming down ethnic tensions in Belgium in his 11 months as prime minister, but his candidacy was initially threatened by leaders of other small countries who believed that they were being dictated to by Paris and Berlin.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/europe/20union.html?hp
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- groups:
- Community, World Politics
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- tags:
- European Union, Belgium
