BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER ELECTED EU PRESIDENT
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
20.11.2009 11:08 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Union has chosen the Belgian Prime
Minister, Herman Van Rompuy to become president of the European
Council. He is seen as a consensus-builder who would not upstage the
leaders of the big powers who call the shots in Europe. He has been
described as pragmatic rather than charismatic and was reportedly
backed by France and Germany. A Christian Democrat, he was appointed
prime minister of Belgium in December 2008, having held the position
of president of the lower house of parliament since July 2007. During
his time as budget minister in the Christian Democrat-led government,
he took a tough stance on balancing the economic books, drastically
reducing the country’s public debt.
Baroness Catherine Ashton was elected Foreign Affairs Chief. She has
been the EU’s trade commissioner for little more than a year. Before
being sent to Brussels, Baroness Ashton held a number of ministerial
posts, steadily rising through the Labor Party ranks. She served
in the department of education and the ministry of constitutional
affairs before Gordon Brown promoted her to Leader of the Lords when
he became prime minister in 2007, BBC reported.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
