The EU summit in Brussels has handed out key EU jobs after four and a half years of institutional crisis. Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy was named President of the EU. Olga Potemkina, an expert with the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has this to say. "As a politician Herman van Rompuy has a low profile worldwide but boasts a strong following at home. His duties will be to strike a balance between the interests of the EU as a whole and the interests of some countries within it. In a word, Herman van Rompuy is to set the EU domestic and foreign policy guidelines in the next two and a half years".
The Belgian PM won a top EU job for a reason. Belgium is among countries consistently in favor of European integration. In 1957 it signed an integration promoting treaty in Rome along with West Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxemburg. Other hopefuls to the EU presidency included Britain’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair. But Britain was not quick to join the EU, enjoys a special status within it, is not part of the euro zone and did not join the Schengen Treaty. On top of it all, it has special relations with the US, which made it a highly unlikely candidate.
The newly appointed EU president is to assume duties from early next year. He is to preside at EU Council sessions and provide mediation in case of dispute. And he will represent the EU at top level abroad. Herman van Rompuy has already signaled readiness to search for a compromise in all European affairs. He praised the Lisbon Treaty and changes to the EU. From now on, instead of a six-month rotating presidency the EU will have a permanent president who would be able to work uninterruptedly with partners from the US, Russia and China, countries the EU has first on its priority list.
Olga Potemkina 
