Foto: Jakub Stadler

Both figures are almost unknown outside their own countries. This fact has divided politicians, analysts and commentators in their opinions so far. While some think that Van Rompuy (pictured, left) in particular is a master of compromise and can contribute to better cooperation and communication among the 27 EU Member States, others claim that by choosing unknowns the EU has missed a chance to speak with a stronger and more authoritative voice. Critics also think that this leaves a big space for the strongest countries, France and Germany, to promote their own interests both within and outside the EU.

Representatives of the EU 27 made a surprisingly quick unanimous decision on the two important chairs behind closed doors during an EU summit on Nov. 19. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt welcomed the verdict. “What we were seeking were people to create continuity and to be voice and face of Europe throughout the world,” he said.

Watchmaker of compromises and a baroness

Van Rompuy is a center-right politician, a trained economist and has been prime minister of Belgium for almost a year. He is also known as an author of Japanese Haiku poems, for self-deprecating humor and for the fact that he likes to spend his holidays with his family in a travel trailer. “I think that in my 61 years I can afford a little madness,” he said about his summer holiday in a travel trailer in Australia.

He is a member of the Belgian Christian Democratic and Flemish Party and is known as a politician who is able to reach compromises in the ethnically divided Belgium. That is why he is called the “watchmaker” or “master craftsman” of compromises. Rompuy intends to keep a low key approach in leading the European Council. He has said that he would “put forward the positions that the council has approved” at international meetings.

Catherine Ashton (pictured, right), who is a baroness, appeared quite late on the list of possible candidates for the post of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. She has no foreign policy experience and has never held a senior ministerial post. Since October 2008 she has been the European Commissioner for Trade. Ashton, who is a member of the British Labor Party, was appointed Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Queen’s Privy Council in Gordon Brown’s first Cabinet in June 2007. She took responsibility in the House of Lords for equalities issues. She also took the Lisbon Treaty through the British upper chamber.

U.S. President Barrack Obama was quoted as saying that the new EU positions and the election of Van Rompuy and Ashton to fill them would “strengthen the EU and enable it to be an even stronger partner to the United States.”

“The United States has no stronger partner than Europe in advancing security and prosperity around the world,” Obama said Nov. 19 in a brief statement, adding that Washington is looking forward to working with the two newly elected officials, as well as the EU Commissioner President José Manuel Barroso and his new cabinet.

Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer was also positive in his evaluation and said that it was a good choice for the EU leaders. “These names fully suit us. These are people who have very close relations to us. I’m totally persuaded that they have the potential and qualifications to hold their offices very well,” Fischer said. He added that Ashton especially has helped the Czech Republic conclude a free trade treaty with Canada during the British Presidency of the EU.

Former Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic Karel Schwarzenberg was slightly more reserved in his evaluation. According to him Ashton is a logical choice, as she represents one of the EU’s bigger countries. “We shall see how she does in this difficult role, as it is something else to be a commissioner than to be the EU foreign minister,” Schwarzenberg stated.

EU’s lost chance

Unlike politicians, much of the world media provided frank comments that represent the general opinion that these two unknown and inexpressive people will not be very strong representatives of the EU and that the EU has lost its chance to become a more expressive partner of the United States.

“After the European Union’s eight year battle to rewrite its internal rules and to pass the Lisbon Treaty that created these two new jobs, the selection of such low profile figures seemed to highlight Europe’s problems instead of its readiness to take a more united and forceful place in world affairs,” U.S. daily The New York Times wrote. The paper also cited Olivier Ferrand, president of Terra Nova, a center-left research institute in France. “It is jaw-dropping. It is the end of ambition for the EU—really disappointing,” Ferrand is quoted as saying by the daily.

“Europe counts on nobodies,” German news server Spiegel Online claimed, noting that the EU heads of states have reconfirmed the clichés about giving top jobs only to people who are less prominent than themselves. “German Chancellor Angela Merkel said generously that the two will still grow in their functions. Indeed, the expectations are so low that Mr. Van Rompuy and Ms. Ashton can only be a positive surprise. No wonder there is no enthusiasm about Europe,” the server stated.

There are also some voices from Turkey aimed against Van Rompuy, who is known as an opponent of the acceptance of Turkey into the EU. “We are not very optimistic about the future of our relations during his presidency,” Turkish MP Onur Oymen told public broadcaster BBC.

This choice of EU leaders was neither all good nor all bad, according to political scientist Jiří Pehe from New York University in Prague. He said he thinks that it is rather somewhere in between. “I think that it would be more risky for the EU to have more expressive personalities in these posts, as these personalities could lead the EU in a direction that the EU is not prepared for yet. For example [former British Prime Minister] Tony Blair is a politician who would more likely promote his own views and competencies,” Pehe told CBW.

Pehe said he thinks that every office has its dynamics and that it is probable that both politicians will gradually grow into their offices. He rejects the comments of foreign media which highlight the fact that Europe has lost the chance to have that one strong politician the U.S. President can call in a moment of crisis. “Commentators of the U.S. papers often see the situation of Europe in a simplified way. The EU is not as federal a system as the U.S. is,” Pehe concluded.