The man who is now favourite for the job is a 63-year-old Belgian Prime Minister called Herman who has come to the fore because he is the man with the fewest enemies among his fellow EU leaders. Herman Van Rompuy is less federalist than the Luxemburg candidate. He is less linked with Afghanistan than the Dutch candidate. He is certainly less linked to Iraq than the British candidate and his country is more committed to the euro.
He is younger than one of the Finnish candidates and not paid by Gazprom like the other Finnish candidate. He is from the Christian Democrats on the Centre Right, unlike the Spanish candidate, which is important because the Party of European Socialists is trying to cook up a deal to take the EU foreign minister post and leave the presidency to the Right.
In short, Mr Van Rompuy has not been around long enough to do anything to upset anyone.
An Eastern European diplomat said yesterday said that Mr Van Rompuy was the name on everyone’s lips for President. “It is always a difficult game. If you serve too long a time in the circle, you risk having enemies. Herman Van Rompuy is a new face and he has not had a chance to get into a conflicting situation. The person who wins is the one who has the lowest negative electorate.”
Even Denis MacShane, the former Europe Minister who knows everything about the EU, does not know him. “I am sure he is a nice guy but, my goodness, you wonder why you bothered working so hard to get the Lisbon treaty through if we end up with senior figures who are virtually unknown,” he said.
Indeed, Mr Van Rompuy only reluctantly became Belgian Prime Minister. The country’s fractious politicians had spent the previous year tearing themselves apart, to the point where it looked as if Belgium could split into the French-speaking south and the Flemish north, from where Mr Van Rompuy hails.
There was only one thing for it. King Albert II sent for Herman. It worked. He has a well-deserved reputation as a consensus-builder and quietly-competent Economics Minister who helped to cut Belgium’s huge deficit. He also prepared the ground for Belgium to join the euro.
As Prime Minister he is also notable for what he has not done — precisely, to cause further political turmoil like his predecessor Yves Leterme, who forgot words to the national anthem.
Mr Van Rompuy has impressed fellow EU leaders with the quiet sense of purpose which he uses to create Japanese haiku poems, like the one he wrote about a fly:
A fly zooms, buzzes; Spins and is lost in the room; He does no one harm.
A bit like him, then.
By: N. Peter Kramer
