Van Rompay appointed as first President of EU

(Herman van Rompay)

By the unanimous decision of the EU leaders, Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompay is appointed as the first President of the Union, while Catherine Ashton from Great Britain is now the EU Foreign Affairs Chief.

The appointment of the two of them has been made possible after all the members of the Union voted for the Lisbon Agreement, which will be put in effect on December 1st and serve as the base for new organization within European Union. Herman van Rompay from Belgium has been appointed as the President of EU at the suggestion of Sweden, which assumed the Presidency of the European Union in July 2009, and his appointment has also been backed by Germans and the French.

In the race for the historical position of the first President of European Union, Mr. Rompay was better than former British Prime Minister Tony Blaire and Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.

In his first addressing to the public, Mr. Rompay mentioned that he would strive to continue the enlargement of European Union, which should be joined by all the countries that met the conditions for that.