In Brussels, EU heads of state and governments have sat down for a working dinner to discuss who will be given the EU’s new top jobs. Three names and a new working procedures for the European Council have to be decided upon. It is hoped that the discussions will be brought to a successful conclusion in a few hours time.

Over the past few weeks, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has been calling the 26 heads of state and government to consult them about which individuals they would like to see leading the EU.Speculations on names have been rampant in the media, and sometimes it sounds like it is a European Barack Obama who is to be appointed.But this is not the case.Instead it is about a permanent President of the European Council, a High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and a Secretary-General of the Council Secretariat.

A more stable Union

The objective of these changes is to give the EU cooperation more stability. The President will be appointed for a term of two and a half years, with the possibility of a second term for the same period of time. The High Representative, or the Minister for Foreign Affairs as the post is often called, will also hold the post of Vice President of the European Commission and will hold it for a term of five years – the same period as the other Commissioners. In addition to having the support of the EU’s heads of state and government, the candidate must be approved by President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso. He or she will then be interviewed by the European Parliament, just like other Commissioners.

Forms of cooperation discussed

The Secretary-General and the permanent President will take up their respective posts on 1 December, when the Treaty of Lisbon enters into force. In practice, this would mean that the last EU summit during the Swedish EU Presidency, taking place on 10–11 December, would have two Presidents. But at the EU summit in December last year, it was agreed that the new President would not preside over the European Council’s meetings until after the conclusion of the Swedish EU Presidency. The task of designing the format for the cooperation between the rotating Presidency’s head of state or government and the permanent President, thereby falls on the Spanish Presidency.
 
This very cooperation is something that will be discussed at the dinner table tonight. It is important to quickly establish functioning working procedures between the rotating Presidency and the permanent President of the European Council under the Treaty of Lisbon.

Agreement the ambition

Fredrik Reinfeldt has repeatedly pointed out that he in his consultations has received more suggestions for names than he has jobs to offer and that it is not an easy task to get all 27 countries to agree. The ambition is to find three names that everybody can support, even if the Treaty of Lisbon states that it is enough if the decisions are reached using qualified majority voting.
 
The next step after the evening’s long-awaited announcement is a formal, written decision-making procedure, which can take place on 1 December at the earliest; the day the Treaty of Lisbon enters into force.
 
Facts: Under qualified majority voting, each of the EU's Member States is given a different number of votes weighted according to its population. The countries with the most inhabitants have the most votes and the smallest countries have the fewest votes. For a decision to be valid, 255 of the total 345 votes must in support of the decision.