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

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-11-20 05:03

Belgium's Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy (R) and EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton from Britain (C) take part in a family photo with European Union leaders after being elected respectively as EU President and EU foreign policy chief during an extraordinary summit in Brussels November 19, 2009. LtoR French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, Ashton, Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Van Rompuy. [Agencies]

The EU leaders have been at pains to strike the right balance between big countries and small, rich and poor, east and west, socialists and conservatives.

Britain had been pushing for a high-profile president. Others like France and Spain favored a low-profile person limited to chairing summits and greeting foreign dignitaries.

Britain's Brown opted to promote Ashton as foreign policy chief after he realized Blair had no backing from other EU leaders.

Smaller EU nations loathed the idea of being led by Blair, whose strong support for the Iraq war angered many Europeans. They also have expressed the desire a president from a country that uses the EU's common euro currency and participates in its passport-free travel zone. Britain has opted out of those EU projects.

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