Belgian prime minister named first EU president

Description: timesofearth.com BRUSSELS - Herman Van Rompuy, Belgium's prime minister, has become the first president of the European Council. Van Rompuy, largely unknown outside his native Belgium, was named after a consensus was reached at a meeting of the leaders of the 27-member European Union on Thursday. "I did not seek this high position, I didn't make any steps to achieve it, but from tonight I take on this task with conviction and enthusiasm," Van Rompuy told a news conference. The meeting also agreed to back the candidacy of Catherine Ashton, the British EU trade commissioner, for the foreign policy role. Britain dropped its bid to to get Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, appointed to the presidency earlier in the day after it became clear that centre-right countries, who dominate the EU, were determined that the role should go to someone from their group. "When it became clear that because of the various political considerations and varying views among the rest of the members, then the prime minister made the forceful step of proposing Catherine Ashton for the high representative's position," a spokesman for Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, said. Thursday's debate over the appointments had focused over what role the president of the European Council should play, with many arguing that the role should go to a technocrat who can build unity and consensus. The Lisbon Treaty which created the new post was vague on its powers and obligations, saying simply that