EU heads of states and governments will choose the persons who will be appointed to the new offices. There are two top EU posts: 1) the president of the European Council, 2) the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and the secretary general of the Council.
Currently the summit is about to start and the delegates are still arriving. It is expected that the event will be broadcast live at Europa.eu.
The top favorite candidate for the position of European Presidency is the current Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy. As former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's chances are diminishing Times Online reports that Gordon Brown have come to Brussels with a Plan B. While Brown's Plan B is not disclosed the newspaper speculates that it may be the desire to secure at least one of the other top positions for a candidate from UK. Particularly there has been quite a substantial amount of buzz that the current UK Foreign Minister David Miliband may be one of the possible favorites for the position of European Foreign Minister succeeding Javier Solana, but also getting some private advice from him.
Tonight's EU summit is informal. Yet the new job posts will yield more influence and responsibility than for example Javier Solana had before.
The job of the EU President
Technically this position is the presidency for the European Council. The European Council will get a permanent President with a term of office of two and a half years, with the possibility of a second term. The aim is to increase continuity in the guidelines for the EU’s work.
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
This person will run the emissaries of the EU representations around the world. The High Representative will lead the EU’s work on foreign affairs and will also chair the Council when the EU’s foreign ministers meet. In addition, he or she will be Vice-President of the European Commission and have a portfolio similar to that of a foreign minister. "The High Representative will make proposals in the area of foreign affairs and security policy, on which the Member States will then take decisions. For example, this could include conflict prevention or peacekeeping initiatives in countries outside the Union, or negotiation of international agreements within foreign affairs. Those EU Member States which sit in the UN Security Council will also make it possible for the High Representative to present the EU’s positions there," according to Europa.eu.
In the meanwhile, it seems that the EU top jobs so far have failed to thrill the European public. According to Euractiv "citizens are showing little interest in who their leaders will be, a round-up from EurActiv's media network reveals."
Written by Armen Hareyan
HULIQ.com
Posted November 19th, 2009 by Armen Hareyan
