EU President Is A Catholic

Well, the waiting is over and the EU has picked its first President -- and it's not Tony Blair. Sorry, Tony, that's gotta smart. (But then again, we weren't pulling for you.)

[WSJ] BRUSSELS -- European Union leaders picked the low-key prime minister of Belgium and a British trade representative who has never held elected office as the bloc's first president and foreign minister.

Reuters

Herman Van Rompuy became prime minister after a tenuous coalition between Belgium's French and Dutch speakers fell apart.

There had been weeks of horse trading, but the heads of the 27 EU nations settled quickly and unanimously on Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton over dinner here Thursday after former British Prime Minister Tony Blair -- who had been hoping for a political revival -- lost the backing of his government.

Mr. Van Rompuy, a Christian Democrat from Belgium's Dutch-speaking north, belongs to the largest party in Belgium's fragmented politics. A devout Catholic and a conservative, he has a graduate degree in economics and spent several years as Belgium's budget minister.

He is seen as a quiet figure but a forceful negotiator and a keen seeker of compromise.

I wish them all the best of luck; but as regards the EU as currently constituted, the saying applies, "this can only end in tears".