The European Union"s new foreign policy supremo, Catherine Ashton of Britain, will assume office on December 1, earlier than had been anticipated, dpa quoted officials in Brussels as saying today. Ashton received the unanimous backing of the EU"s 27 leaders at a summit in Brussels on Thursday that also saw heads of state and government pick Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as their new council president. The two posts were created by the Lisbon Treaty, which comes into force on December 1. Ashton"s job merges two existing EU posts: that of High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, currently held by Javier Solana of Spain; and that of External Relations Commissioner, now in the hands of Benita Ferrero-Waldner of Austria. Since Ashton will also be a prominent figure within the next European Commission, the EU"s executive arm in Brussels, it had been thought that she would only assume office once the European Parliament had vetted all of its proposed members - a process that is due to start on January 11. But commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen said Friday that parliament would now hold a hearing with Ashton by the end of this month, thereby allowing her to assume office at the beginning of December. Van Rompuy, by contrast, said Thursday that he would only start his new job on January 1.
