At yesterday’s extraordinary summit meeting, the EU heads of state and government appointed Herman Van Rompuy as President of the European Council and Catherine Ashton as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. These two posts will be created on the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009.

Today (20 November), during his visit to Moscow, Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle issued the following statement on these appointments:

”Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton are two competent figures completing Europe’s new leadership team. I am sure they will carry out their tasks with vigour. Given that as yet there is no experience of how the Lisbon Treaty’s new division of responsibilities will work, both Mr Van Rompuy and Baroness Ashton are facing major challenges; they can count on Germany’s support in tackling them.“