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Belgian-British duo wins race for EU's top jobs
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-11-20 05:03

Belgian-British duo wins race for EU's top jobs

EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton from Britain attends a news conference after she was elected EU foreign policy chief in Brussels November 19, 2009. [Agencies] 

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.

She has barely caused a ripple during her year as EU trade chief and has no known foreign policy experience. She signed a trade pact with South Korea, stalled global negotiations at the World Trade Organization and helping defrost trade relations with the US after President George W. Bush left office.

Belgian-British duo wins race for EU's top jobs

Belgium's Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy arrives at a news conference after being elected as EU president during a EU leaders summit in Brussels November 19, 2009. [Agencies] 

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."

He drifted into the Belgian premiership in 2008 when his predecessor got bogged down in a nasty linguistic dispute between Dutch- and French-speaking politicians.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and often-outspoken Premier Nicolas Sarkozy of France did not reveal a preference before the meeting.