EU Chooses Pragmatists

Yesterday, the 27 European Union (EU) government leaders who make up the European Council picked their first-ever president and foreign affairs high representative. Belgian prime minister Herman van Rompuy has been chosen as president, while British outgoing European trade commissioner Baroness Catherine Ashton will fill the latter role. Together, they will try to streamline the complex web of EU affairs and render the bloc more accessible to government members abroad. Van Rompuy's tenure runs until mid-2012, while Ashton will be in office until 2014/15. The European Parliament has the final say on the new appointments—it will vote on the matter, along with the new Commission line-up, by early January 2010. Criticism of the appointments has been swift and loud. Van Rompuy and Ashton have variously been described as "bland", "inexperienced" and "detrimental" to the EU's image and role on the global stage. It certainly did not help that in his post-appointment speech van Rompuy declared that he had not sought the post. Both he and Ashton took up their previous positions less than 12 months ago and had quietly but diligently worked towards progressing stalled policies.

More than Meets the Eye

It would be wrong to dismiss Ashton and van Rompuy before they have even started in their new jobs, however. Amid the frenzy, it is easy to forget that this is the first time that the EU is operating this new system. EU leaders had great difficulty in finding consensus candidates with clean sheets and strong, pro-EU credentials. Van Rompuy and Ashton are being parachuted into their posts to try to streamline affairs within thebloc. They must strike a careful balance between the national governments and the EU's supranational bodies. This will mean a lot of legwork behind the scenes, careful co-ordination with holders of established posts, endless negotiations, and a great deal of discretion. These are certainly not jobs for more outgoing, highly opinionated candidates with little patience or sympathy for the EU's notorious horse-trading. Van Rompuy ticks all of the boxes dear to most of the EU government leaders: like the majority of European Parliament members, he hails from the centre-right; he comes from a country that is a member of the Eurozone; Belgium was also a founding country of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the EU's predecessor; and van Rompuy is very familiar with French and German policy-making. Ashton meanwhile may be inexperienced at running a foreign affairs portfolio but she is highly familiar with EU affairs thanks to her current role; she and her team struck a long-overdue prestigious free-trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea in mid-October. The European Council wants to hit the ground running with the new system and is thus starting very prudently with two tried-and-tested candidates.

Fine Print

It is important to read the fine print of Ashton's and van Rompuy's job titles to assess their suitability for the roles. Van Rompuy has been appointed president of the European Council, a body consisting of 27 government leaders and the president of the European Commission, which meets at most a dozen times a year to devise the EU's strategy on pressing issues. Under the current system, the EU presidency is a rotating position that changes every six months and is held by a different member state. This rotating position will remain in place, but van Rompuy will now host the Council meetings, giving the holders of this role more scope to defend national interests at these get-togethers. Indeed, the titles "EU president" and "EU foreign affairs minister" for these new positions are misleading. Unlike in, say, the United States, the EU president is not the strongest member of the executive but rather chair of the EU's highest political body. If anything, van Rompuy can be compared to the speakers of national parliaments, except that he has not been elected directly by citizens to this post; nor does he have any veto rights as presidents usually do. Ashton is not a foreign affairs minister in the traditional sense, either. As "high representative of the [European] Union for foreign affairs and security policy", she is rather a member of the European Commission—a body often described as the government of the EU—and simultaneously the Council, which is the meeting ground of the EU's ministers.

Foreign Affairs Job Easier of the Two?

Ashton will set the benchmark for the next high representative for forign affairs. On paper, she is in a strong position: her tasks are more clear-cut than those of van Rompuy; as a member of the Commission she will be in power for five years—twice as long as van Rompuy; and she has true executive powers and—in theory at least—access to several billion euro of EU funds. However, Ashton has not held a senior government post before and is not an expert on foreign affairs. She has neither the sole nor the final say on foreign affairs—her wings are clipped by the powers wielded by her boss, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, by the 27 EU foreign ministers, and to a lesser degree by van Rompuy and the commissioner for development and aid. This could see her struggle initially with her multi-dimensional post. The danger is that she may initially settle for chairing the meetings of EU foreign ministers, leaving more room for the Commission president, the rotating presidencies, and even van Rompuy to devise the EU's foreign policy.

Outlook and Implications

Put simply, van Rompuy will mostly be in charge of greasing the EU machinery—getting the EU to speak with one voice, from the 27 Council members to Barroso and Ashton—while Ashton will become the face of the EU on foreign affairs. The great danger is that the Council will stick with this safe formula and appoint clones of van Rompuy and Ashton as their successors once their terms in office expire. A cautious approach to the new system is wise, but once the EU has settled into its new structure it should up the tempo and appoint more of a visionary as president and an experienced politician as high representative for foreign affairs.

For now, however, van Rompuy and Ashton are perfectly fine for the roles. They may appear unassuming, but there is far more to Herman von Rompuy and Baroness Catherine Ashton than meets the eye.

Global Insight (Reino Unido)