Teri Schultz's Notebook:

Herman van Rompuy, Catherine Ashton win EU leadership slots

Well, they did it! The EU now has a "permanent" president and a high representative (EU code for "foreign minister.")

Whether Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy and Baroness Catherine Ashton are inspired or inspiring choices is another matter, but there are many sighs of relief in Brussels (and Stockholm) that the current Swedish presidency managed to bring all 27 member states in line behind the decisions.

As he took questions from journalists immediately following the announcement of a decision, van Rompuy didn't appear eager to dispel any mystery about himself. A haiku poet who has insisted on reading his works at EU press conferences, he was asked how he felt about winning the landmark post. "I will answer that question in my memoirs," he said. "For the first time in my life, I feel like writing them! Up til now I felt like that would be a vain exercise."

British Baroness Catherine Ashton, currently the EU's trade commissioner, was somewhat of a surprise choice for the high representative's role, as most speculation had centered on other candidates, including her fellow Briton, Foreign Secretary David Miliband. But women, notably those in EU jobs, had led an increasingly vocal campaign to have a female named to one of the new jobs.

Asked whether she felt it diminished her appointment that she may have been chosen because she's a woman, Ashton scoffed at the suggestion, asking whether men have felt their positions tarnished since, she asserted, their gender had traditionally been a factor in holding more leadership roles than women.

The very process of choosing these new leaders, behind closed doors with no public input, has come under intense scrutiny. Open Europe, an EU-critical think tank in Brussels, called it "EU politics at its very worst."

Lorraine Mullally, director of Open Europe, said "Neither candidate has explained to the public why they should get these jobs. And most people in Europe have never even heard of Herman van Rompuy or Catherine Ashton, yet here they are to represent us in the global arena. Surely Europe can do better than this?"

But at a concluding press conference late tonight no criticism could dampen the obvious high spirits of the new appointees and their colleagues. Asked by a reporter whether this does in fact finally answer the age-old "Kissinger question" — whom the U.S. government should call to "talk to Europe" — European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso suggested Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could now give Ashton a ring.

Choosing an EU president, after years of contemplation, should be easy. Should.

Update: EU leaders have chosen Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy for the position of president and Britain's Catherine Ashton as foreign affairs chief, Reuters reports.

The European Union has been talking for many years about creating a position for an "EU president," a singular human being rather than the six-month rotating presidencies held by member states. Now full ratification of the Lisbon Treaty has made the post — along with a "high representative" who'll function as a foreign minister.

One might think the years of contemplation would have given EU leaders enough time to decide who they'd like to see as their first president, or at least what kind of person they'd like him or her to be.

Not a chance.

The current EU president under the old system, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, is responsible for finding a consensus candidate. He thought he'd be able to find one by now, so he set a decision-making dinner for Thursday night.

But Reinfeldt's many hours on the phone to 26 other governments over the last weeks has failed to produce agreement. He heads into tonight's summit meeting determined to emerge victorious.

“It might take a few hours — it might take all night," Reinfeldt acknowledged last night before yet another round of phone calls.

Early front runner Tony Blair, a former British prime minister, is the best known contender but that very quality is one of the reasons he’s now considered a long shot, as other heads of state don’t want to be upstaged.

Now the most likely pick is Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy… who isn’t expected to... umm, cause that kind of a problem.

But it's far from certain that van Rompuy can win everyone's vote. Women are furious that no female candidate is being seriously discussed.

Reinfeldt is threatening to use another Lisbon tool — decision-making without unanimity.

In any case, the ever-practical Swedes have made arrangements for breakfast — possibly even lunch — to be delivered to the summit site tomorrow morning.
 

A chat with the swashbuckling members of EUNAVFOR, the EU anti-piracy team.

It is a coincidence that our counter-piracy feature is running just as news broke that the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama has suffered a second attack in the Gulf of Aden. That name is probably familiar to many readers as its last encounter with Somali pirates became a highly televised event when the hijackers succeeded in getting aboard, took Capt. Richard Phillips hostage and held him five days before Navy Seals rescued him, killing three of the four captors. (The fourth was arrested and transferred to New York, where he's now under indictment.)

What happened this time, however, illustrates how wise shipping companies are adapting to the threat in the Gulf of Aden and, increasingly beyond. Now the Maersk Alabama travels with its own armed security force (which is very controversial tactic — one I might write about separately, if there's interest!), so when pirates tried to board the ship again early this morning, they were repelled with small-arms fire and acoustic devices that emit an ear-piercing noise.

EUNAVFOR Cmdr John Harbour called it "pure chance" the Maersk Alabama was attacked twice, but said it was not the only ship to have been targeted more than once. A ship and helicopter were immediately dispatched to try to find the group of four pirates who staged the attack.

I thought readers might be interested in hearing how the EUNAVFOR team in Northwood reacts when it gets word — or rather a call — that a suspected hijacking is taking place. Here's part of a conversation I had with Cmdr Adam Peters when I visited EUNAVFOR's operations center.

GlobalPost: What's a typical story you hear from ships calling in?

Cmdr Adam Peters: "They’ve got a skiff that’s approaching them, firing shots at them possibly, or that they’re actually trying to get up the side with a ladder or grappling hooks or whatever. In that situation, we can advise them on what kinds of maneuvers they can take — though they should already know that — and we can also alert any naval vessels that we’ve got in the area that might be able to go and render assistance.

"Typically, the fastest way for a ship to render assistance is to launch its helicopter so they can get there very rapidly, depending on the distance of course, and do whatever’s required to deter the pirates."

By the time the pirates are alongside the ship, isn't it kind of late?

"It depends. It’s possible for a well-handled merchant ship to make it so difficult for the pirates to get on board that they actually give up. Typically, if they haven’t managed to get on board within 30 to 35 minutes from the start of their attack, they’ll give up.

"In successful attacks, they’re usually on board within about five to 10 minutes of actually making their approach and it all depends on the type of the vessel, the size of the vessel and the speed of the vessel."

And do the pirates only decide once they get on board whether this will be a ship they try to keep or just take the loot?

"It’s in their interest to take the ship and hold it for ransom because that way they make big money. What they would be able to take off the ship itself and put into a small vessel at sea would be so small that it’s really not worth their while doing it, frankly. But if that’s all they can get, that’s what they do. But typically, they will take the vessel, control it and then they’ll take it off to their various anchorages off the coast of Somalia where they’ll hold it until such a time as they can negotiate a decent ransom.

"It doesn’t mean they won’t rifle the ship... "

How does everyone here in the ops center get notified that something's happening?

"You see the guy sitting over there? He’ll be the first one to find out, either from a phone call or from something that’s appeared on his internet screen and he will just bring it to the attention of his assistant who sits over there... also the coordinator who sits behind him and anyone else who’s around to just be aware there’s an attack going on and then go into action and start collecting information, alerting the ships at sea if they need to be and making sure that everyone who needs to know knows and that we’ve got the newest information we can get from our sources."

 Funny that you do this from here.

"It’s not a lot like being at sea, is it. And the weather’s a lot better in the Gulf of Aden…"

Will revelations about Iran's nuclear program lead to new sanctions?

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who visited a newly disclosed nuclear facility in Iran found operations much further along than Tehran admitted when it revealed the plant’s existence in September.

In their internal report — which didn't remain "internal" for long — the inspectors relate how they told Iranian authorities of satellite pictures showing the new Fordow plant near the city of Qom has been under construction for several years, while Iran only admits to beginning in late 2007. The inspectors estimate the new plant will be able to produce about a ton of enriched uranium per year — enough for a nuclear warhead — starting in 2011.

This lack of transparency, the IAEA says, "reduces the level of confidence in the absence of other nuclear facilities under construction and gives rise to questions about whether there were any other nuclear facilities in Iran which had not been declared to the Agency" as Iran is required to do by the United Nations.

The report says Iran denied the existence of any other sites — but the IAEA has asked for reconfirmation of that.

At the moment stories about the report started breaking, I happened to be having coffee with Paris-based foreign-policy analyst Olivier Guitta, who specializes in Iran. Guitta says the new information should convince the reluctant governments in Russia and China to support the U.S. and Europe’s tougher line against Tehran at the U.N. Security Council.

“At this point nobody can deny that Iran is on a path to a nuclear bomb," he said. And because the new criticism comes from the IAEA, which is seen as objective and usually very cautious in its conclusions, Guitta believes it will have a big impact on attitudes toward Tehran. “The Russians can’t say it’s a U.S. or an EU body that is pushing their agenda," he explained.

He predicts a new round of sanctions against Tehran — with Russian and Chinese approval — by the end of the year.

The EU's new beginning

The Czech president — the sole remaining holdout of 27 heads of state — has finally given his long-awaited signature to the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty, clearing away the last obstacle for reforms the bloc believes will increase its efficiency and its international clout.

Vaclav Klaus didn’t want to sign the Lisbon Treaty. He's openly against closer unification of the European bloc, which is one of the main purposes of the document that also streamlines bureaucracy and creates the high-profile posts of EU president and foreign minister. 

But just hours after a Czech court threw out the last legal challenge by opponents of the treaty on Tuesday, Klaus signed it. Not even his own cabinet had predicted he would move that quickly.

The treaty will now come into force on Dec. 1. The Swedish presidency of the EU, currently in Washington for the two-day EU-U.S summit, plans to call leaders together within the next couple of weeks to consider nominees for the new top jobs. 

The bloc’s current chief diplomat, High Representative Javier Solana, says the Lisbon Treaty will “open a new era for the European Union.”

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