国际英语新闻：EU to appoint president, foreign policy chief

BRUSSELS, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) said Wednesday that it will hold a special summit Nov. 19 to decide the appointees as EU president and foreign policy chief.

    "After an introductory round of consultations with his fellow heads of state and government, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has decided to convene an extra informal summit on 19 November," the EU presidency said in a statement.

    At the summit, the heads of state and government from 27 EU member states were expected to appoint president of the European Council, high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and secretary-general for the Council Secretariat.

    These are three new top EU posts regulated in the Lisbon Treaty, which is expected to come into force on Dec. 1, 2009, to increase the 27-nation bloc's influence on the international stage.

    Reinfeldt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said earlier that the posts may be filled by sitting or former heads of government.

    Diplomats said Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy is one of the front-runners for the post of president as EU member countries prefer a low-profile candidate for it.

    The other two candidates are Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

    Despite difficulties in securing unanimous support for one person, the EU hopes to find a "majority candidate" not a "consensus candidate," diplomats said.

    Even though British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was backed to become EU foreign policy chief, he said he was not available.

    It then gave possibility to three potential candidates, former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, Finnish EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and former Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt (R), whose country holds the rotating European Union (EU) presidency, attends a news conference at the European Parliament building in Brussels, capital of Belgium, on Nov. 11, 2009