20 / 11 / 2009
Positions of President and High Representative announced
The Council of Ministers revealed yesterday
evening (19 November) the names of those who will occupy the senior portfolios
created by the Lisbon Treaty, the ratification of which was completed on 2
October when Ireland voted ‘yes' in a national referendum.
Herman van Rompuy, currently Prime Minister of
Beligium, has been chosen as the European Council's first permanent president. Mr van Rompuy, an economist by training, has
been instrumental in building a consensual and stable coalition government in
Belgium since 2008. His term of office will last for two-and-a-half years.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland will become the
first High Representative of the 
European Union for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy. Baroness Ashton has chaired numerous committees in the UK, has
held a cabinet-level role in the UK's House of Lords and, most recently, has
undertaken high-level trade talks with China as part of her role as EU Trade
Commissioner. Included in her mandate will be, the role of Vice President of
the European Commission.
A great deal of restructuring will now take
place in Brussels to create the new External Action Service Directorate General
(DG) that Baroness Ashton will head by merging the present External Relations
DGs of the Commission and the Council of the
European Union. The new service will operate as a hybrid, working both
alongside the Commission's other DGs as well as directly with EU Member States and is intended to streamline and render more
coherent the execution of Europe's foreign policy.
The appointments come in the same week as the
Council of the European Union passed Conclusions on democracy support in the EU's
external relations, which put forward an Agenda for Action that should help
make democracy support a more visible pillar in EU foreign policy (read more
here). The EPD, an independent organisation committed to enhancing the EU's
capacity in this area of policy, looks forward to working with Baroness Ashton
and all those involved in the establishment of the new External Action Service
to consolidate Europe's commitment to democracy support around the world.