Low-profile EU leaders mirror feeble global role

• With selection of van Rompuy and Lady Ashton, we are in danger of making Europe politically irrelevant

The selection of Herman van Rompuy as President of the European Union’s Council of Ministers, and of Lady Catherine Ashton as the EU’s foreign policy chief, surely underlines the extent to which member states are in the driver’s seat in the EU.

They manage its institutions in their own interest.

The EU is no super-state striding bravely into a bright new dawn.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will not have to compete for the global limelight with any Brussels supremos.

Germany will not be challenged to break out of its increasing introversion, no longer obliged to demonstrate its democratic post-war credentials by embracing the European cause at every turn.

Britain can rest easy that its world role will remain the aspiring Jeeves of the White House.

The best that could come from the appointment of Europe’s two new low-profile leaders is that it leads to better and more coherent management of the EU’s business.

Van Rompuy will be able to offer a longer view than that of a six-month national presidency.

Lady Ashton should be able to tie together the political and resource arms of Europe’s external policies.

But it is not yet clear, whatever the Lisbon Treaty says, that Ashton has full control of either the EU external budget or of appointments to the new diplomatic service.

But foreign ministers will be deeply suspicious if they think that the Commission is taking over foreign policy.

Past experience suggests that there are five guidelines to follow if we want a more effective European presence on the world stage whenever foreign and security policy are at the top of the agenda.

First, we should dare to believe that what most suits Europe’s interests might also be best for our relationship with our closest ally, the United States.

We should, for example, want to prevent the militarisation of nuclear energy in Iran precisely because of our concern as Europeans, not because we are allies of the US.

Second, our rhetoric about our role as America’s international partners for peace should not stray too far from reality.