EU President to be chosen

At today’s summit in Brussels, the European Union is set to decide on its first EU President who is expected to chair EU summits and represent the bloc on the world stage. The ‘President of the European Council’ is elected by EU leaders for two and a half year term but can only serve a maximum of two terms.

There are six main candidates for the position. Herman Van Rompuy (62, Belgium), Tony Blair (56, UK), Jean-Claude Junker, (54, Luxembourg), Jan-Peter Balkenende (53, Netherlands), Vaira Vike-Freiberga (71, Latvia), and Wolfgang Schuessel (64, Austria).