The ideal EU president

Thursday of next week the EU heads of state and government will elect an EU president for the first time. Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy has good prospects of winning the post. A wise choice, writes the liberal daily Mladá Fronta Dnes: "Particularly the small EU member states are very reluctant to have a president from a strong country, and would prefer a mediator instead. Someone who can negotiate at the highest level, and who understands how to come to terms with 27 heads of government. ... The 62-year-old Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, a Flemish Christian Democrat, has been at the top of the list of candidates for over a week, and it's no surprise. Who could be a better arbitrator than Van Rompuy, who took over the leadership of a drifting government at the height of the economic crisis and successfully negotiated between Flemish and Francophone Belgians?"

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