EU President to Be Decided at Special November 19 Summit
Bulgaria in EU | November 11, 2009, Wednesday
The Belgian Prime Minister, Herman van Rompuy, has emerged as a frontrunner for the post of EU president. Photo by wikimedia.org
The EU will hold a special summit on 19 November to decide the new top jobs of EU president and foreign policy chief.
"The extra informal summit... will take the form of a working dinner in Brussels," a spokesman for the Swedish EU presidency said, cited by the BBC.
The appointments will be made by the leaders of the 27 member states, by a qualified majority vote.
Belgium's Prime Minister, Herman van Rompuy, has emerged as a frontrunner for the post of EU president.
On Monday Sweden's PM Fredrik Reinfeldt said he was half-way through consultations with the governments on their preferred candidates.
Under Lisbon, the president of the European Council will be appointed by the governments for a term of two-and-a-half years, renewable once. The goal is to achieve more continuity and stability in major EU policy areas.
Besides Van Rompuy, leading candidates for the job are said to include Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and his Luxembourg counterpart Jean-Claude Juncker.
Tags: EU President, summit, Herman van Rompuy
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