European Union President, Foreign Policy Chief selected

After weeks of speculation on who the top front-runners were for the top two posts in the European Union, officials made their final decision on who would be its President and Foreign Policy Chief.

Heads of 27 European Union member states came to their decision on Friday on who will occupy the two most powerful positions in the EU. Belgian Prime Minister Herman Von Rompuy was chosen to become the EU’s President, while Catherine Ashton, who is Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council in Gordon Brown's first cabinet, was selected to become the EU’s first Foreign Policy Chief, according to the Associated Press. The Telegraph notes Vom Rompuy will receive an annual salary of $528,000 and the Foreign Policy Chief will be given a salary of more than $300,000. Ashton will also be given an annual budget of $10.5 billion. The President will also be allocated a $6.6 million travel budget with a total office budget of $36.3 million and 60 staff members. Ashton is actually, according to Reuters, unknown in Great Britain because she never held a main cabinet post nor as an elected member of Parliament. Analysts and officials are slamming the EU for not making a better choice for their President. For weeks, as Digital Journal reported, speculations ran rampant that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was going to be chosen because of his leadership on pressing issues facing the globe such as terrorism, climate change and others. Rumors also floated that Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker would have been chosen. Richard Whitman, a Europe expert at London's Chatham House think tank., said after the announcement occurred, “The EU member states have talked themselves into choosing two very competent, able, and — frankly — rather boring choices for these two new roles.” As of December 1, the Lisbon Treaty will go into effect. As AFP reports, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao issued a message of congratulations as he called it a “step forward” for the EU, “The European Council has chosen a new president and a new high representative for foreign and security policy, and this marks another important step forward for European integration. We express our warm congratulations for this.” United States President Barack Obama also congratulated the EU’s decisions by stating it would make Europe a stronger partner for the US. On November 30, both the EU and China will hold an annual summit in Nanjing to discuss climate change, trade and the global economy.