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Mr Van Rompuy was widely tipped, but Baroness Ashton was not |
EU leaders have chosen the Belgian Prime Minister, Herman Van Rompuy, to be the first permanent European Council President.
The other top job created by the Lisbon Treaty - foreign affairs supremo - has gone to the EU Trade Commissioner, Baroness Catherine Ashton from the UK.
Both are seen as consensual politicians with limited foreign policy experience.
Both had unanimous backing from the 27 EU leaders at the summit in Brussels, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.
Earlier, the UK government had said it was no longer pushing for former PM Tony Blair to get the presidency post.
Mr Van Rompuy, 62, had crucial French and German support. He has a reputation as a coalition builder, having taken charge of the linguistically divided Belgian government and steered it out of a crisis.
BBC/VOVNews