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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 001560 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL EUN
SUBJECT:  NEW EU LEADERSHIP: VAN ROMPUY AND ASHTON 
EMERGE TO JOIN BARROSO 
 
REF: A) BRUSSELS 1521, B) BRUSSELS 1522, 
      C) BRUSSELS 1414 
 
BRUSSELS 00001560  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  Belgian PM Herman Van Rompuy and EU Trade 
Commissioner Catherine Ashton (UK) were selected 
by the 27 European Union (EU) leaders November 19 
to become, respectively, permanent President of 
the European Council and High Representative of 
the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. 
The deal appears to have been reached after UK PM 
Brown realized he could not maintain Tony Blair's 
candidacy for the President's job and proposed 
Ashton for the High Rep's position, clearing the 
way for a balanced ticket.  After a surprisingly 
brief meeting of the EU-27, Swedish PM Reinfeldt 
introduced the new leadership of Europe. 
Reinfeldt also announced the new Secretary-General 
(SG) of the EU Council, Frenchman Pierre de 
Boissieu, currently Deputy SG.  Van Rompuy, who 
will take up his duties on January 1, 2010, said 
his new position would bring more coherence and 
continuity to the work of EU leaders, and that his 
personal opinions would be subordinate to the 
Council's.  The nomination of Ashton, who will 
serve as a Commission Vice-President, remains 
subject to the European Parliament's approval of 
the new Barroso Commission.  The nominee, who will 
be the interlocutor of the Secretary, countered 
critics who noted she was never elected to public 
office and had little experience of foreign policy 
issues, by saying: Judge me by what I do.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
EASIER THAN EXPECTED 
-------------------- 
 
¶2.  Belgian PM Herman Van Rompuy (politically 
center-right, ref A) and EU Trade Commissioner 
Catherine Ashton (UK-politically center-left) were 
selected by EU leaders November 19 to become, 
under the terms of the Lisbon Treaty (ref B), 
permanent President of the European Council and 
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs 
and Security Policy, respectively.  The deal 
appears to have been reached after UK PM Brown 
realized he could not maintain Tony Blair's 
candidacy for the President's job and made the 
forceful step (according to a British spokesman) 
of proposing Ashton for the High Rep position at a 
meeting of Socialist and Social Democrat leaders 
ahead of the EU-27 working dinner, a move that met 
several criteria, including the rising call for a 
woman to be appointed to one of the senior 
positions.  Just a few hours later, after a 
surprisingly brief meeting of the EU -27, Swedish 
PM Reinfeldt appeared at a joint press conference 
with Commission President Barroso, Van Rompuy and 
Ashton to introduce, the new leadership of 
Europe. 
 
¶3.  Reinfeldt stressed that the selection process 
was treaty-based, implying full consultation of 
his fellow EU leaders, and that the decision was 
reached with the unanimous backing of all leaders. 
 He expressed confidence that the personal 
qualities of Belgian PM Van Rompuy will make him 
an excellent choice for guiding the European 
Council's work for the next two and half years. 
As for Catherine Ashton (who, as Reinfeldt noted, 
served as Leader of the House of Lords when the 
Lisbon Treaty was ratified in the UK), her 
nomination remains subject to the European 
Parliament's overall approval of the new Barroso 
Commission, which may come in January.  (COMMENT: 
The Commission spokeswoman indicated November 20 
that Ashton might be able to take up her duties 
congruent with Lisbon's entry into force; i.e., 
December 1, pending possible early consultations 
with the European Parliament.  We are in uncharted 
waters.  END COMMENT)  Reinfeldt also announced 
that the Frenchman Pierre de Boissieu, currently 
Deputy Secretary-General of the EU Council, would 
become Secretary-General. 
 
¶4.  Barroso praised Reinfeldt's leadership, 
hailing a decision taken by consensus.  He offered 
Reinfeldt a Rubik's cube, joking that the Swedish 
PM managed to find the perfect combination for the 
 
BRUSSELS 00001560  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
EU top jobs (the deal offers a balance of trade- 
offs between small and large EU countries, right 
and left, male and female, etc.).  Openly showing 
his personal satisfaction with the selection of 
Ashton (the only Baroness I can call Cathy), 
Barroso said it would have been impossible to 
find a better choice for the two jobs.  The 
selection of Van Rompuy, said Barroso, is a 
tribute to Belgium, a founding member of the 
European Community, and the expression of the 
EU's gratitude to Belgium for its constant 
support to the great European project. 
Barroso was confident that the European Council 
would benefit from the intelligent, wise 
leadership of Van Rompuy.  Barroso pledged to 
work in full loyalty with the two and in full 
respect for their qualities and responsibilities. 
 
 
NOMINEES'S FIRST WORDS 
---------------------- 
 
¶5.  Reading from prepared notes, Van Rompuy 
confessed that it was difficult for him to 
relinquish the direction of his country; however, 
he accepted the decision as a mark of 
recognition for Belgium.  He had not sought this 
high office and did not make any demarche to 
obtain it, he added, but would take it with 
conviction and enthusiasm.  Van Rompuy said he 
would assume his new duties on January 1, 2010. 
(Note: Because the Lisbon Treaty will take effect 
December 1, 2009, i.e., after the six-month 
Swedish rotating presidency has begun, Sweden will 
continue to chair meetings of the Council until 
the end of its term in office, in accordance with 
a decision by the December 2008 European Council. 
End Note.) 
 
¶6.  Van Rompuy said his new position would bring 
more coherence and continuity to the work of the 
European Council of Heads of State and government. 
He added, A perspective that goes beyond six 
months will allow us to be better organized where 
the major multi-annual dossiers are concerned, 
such as the EU financial framework and the Lisbon 
strategy for growth and jobs.  Van Rompuy 
emphasized his intention to take all member 
states' sensitivities into account and to respect 
the diversity of the EU. He said that only one 
profile was possible for the new position:  a 
profile of dialogue, unity and action. 
Proclaiming the EU institutional debate now 
closed for a long time, Van Rompuy expressed 
determination to make the new institutional 
framework operate.  He said he would attend Summit 
meetings around the world to present the EU 
positions as agreed on by the Council.  He 
described the EU as a Union of values, saying 
there was no future for this world without many 
of our values.  He made it clear he had no 
intention of departing from his working habits and 
would not seek excessive exposure in the media. 
 
¶7.  Ashton said it was a measure of her surprise 
that she had no written speech prepared for this 
press conference.  She paid tribute to HR Javier 
Solana and Relex Commissioner Benita Ferrero- 
Waldner, whose jobs are combined under the Lisbon 
Treaty, and from whom she will inherit an 
incredible amount of work.  Both had exercised a 
kind of quiet diplomacy she was planning to 
emulate.  Ashton said she pledged to represent EU 
values around the world, and do it in her own way. 
 
¶8.  In the question period, Barroso expressed 
confidence that his new Commission will include 
eight or nine women.  Gender balance had come 
increasingly to the fore in Strasbourg and 
Brussels as candidates were debated.  To her 
critics, who complained she had never been elected 
to public office and lacked experience in foreign 
policy, Ashton replied: Judge me on what I do. 
Van Rompuy answered critics on the lack of 
transparency and democracy of the nomination 
process by noting that it was treaty-based and 
that 27 democratically elected leaders had 
selected him.  As for his opinion on whether 
Turkey should join the EU, he answered that his 
personal opinion was irrelevant and completely 
subordinate to the opinion of the Council. 
 
BRUSSELS 00001560  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
EUROPE'S PHONE NUMBER - AND NOW? 
------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  Asked the Kissinger question - i.e., Which 
of you will President Obama be calling and which 
of you will be calling him? Van Rompuy, known for 
his wit, answered, We are anxiously waiting for 
the first phone call!  Barroso added that the 
U.S. Secretary of State would now have a clear 
interlocutor in the person of Cathy Ashton, who 
will be our Foreign Minister.  On matters other 
than foreign affairs, he said, it should be 
understood that the EU is a Union of States and 
that by definition, our system is more complex 
than the U.S. or the Chinese one. 
 
COMMENT: RUBIK, INDEED 
------- -------------- 
 
¶10.  Whether or not ideal nominees have emerged, 
he process of choosing Van Rompuy and Ashton - 
aptly symbolized by Barroso's Rubik cube - has 
involved a high number of crossing-cutting 
matrices and calculations (gender, political, 
geographic, national, and 27 permutations thereof) 
of positions filled and yet to be filled.  The 
result has been met with general satisfaction in 
EU circles, if only because it did not lead to 
deadlock, for which the Swedish presidency is owed 
considerable credit.  However, it remains to be 
seen if the much-heralded EU leadership will stop 
traffic in Beijing.  The repartee over the 
Kissinger question shows that the EU is very 
conscious of how its leadership is perceived 
abroad. 
 
¶11.  Van Rompuy and Ashton will model the new 
positions.  Notwithstanding Van Rompuy's claim 
that institutional debates are over, there is 
still much institutionally to be devised, and 
haggled over,  particularly the merger, to be 
engineered by Ashton, of the Commission's DG 
RELEX, much of the Council's General Secretariat, 
and parts of Member States' diplomatic 
bureaucracies to form the EU's External Action 
Service (ref C). And much to be devised 
particularly regarding the working relationship, 
to be set by Van Rompuy, between him and the 
continuing rotating six-month presidencies among 
the member state countries. 
 
MURRAY