The appointment of Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as Europe's president and Britain's Catherine Ashton, the former EU Trade Commissioner, as its foreign policy supremo has provoked fierce debate in the media.

The fact that [British Prime Minister Gordon] Brown backed [former British Prime Minister Tony] Blair for so long has not done Europe any good. For too long, petty arguments dominated the debate. Too many byzantine-seeming intrigues were hatched to either get Blair into office or to keep him out of it. That prevented the Europeans from looking for the most competent and politically best-suited candidates for the two tasks.

A man of the right and a woman of the left. Both economists. Both unknown and lacking charisma. It is on actions that the choice of the 27... will be judged. Because treaties don't say everything and this is particularly true of Lisbon. It is policies that bring them to life. Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton will have to show that they are not just two more bureaucrats but a plus for Europe.

It's a great honour, something to be really proud of. A Belgian writing his name in the history books as the first president of this Europe that now stretches from Lisbon to Tallin is an unprecedented accomplishment by our country's measurements.

Mr Nobody at the head of Europe? The Belgians could have taken up the refrain that rang out yesterday in the capitals of Europe. For several months however they have adopted this Van Rompuy, a tactician, discreet, crafty and philosophical, who has restored their stability.

Will the Europeans make the same discovery? Herman Van Rompuy will have a great deal to do to be convincing this time. He is inheriting vague functions, flanked by a crowd of other presidents. He will have to challenge the will of the great powers that have chosen him so that he will stay where they envisage him - in the shadows. He will have to show that he's capable of creating a destiny where some expect only semi-lethargy.

It was clear even before yesterday's vote that no matter who becomes the first president and the foreign minister of the EU, Russia will now have to deal with a stronger and more unified Europe. Nevertheless, the EU reform may bring benefits to Moscow as well... The European Union will now become more predictable. Relations between Russia and the EU haven't been developing fast enough. One of the reasons for this is that the presidency of the union was held on a six-monthly basis... In addition, experts believe that Russia-EU summits will now probably play a more important role, as they will be held once a year rather than once in six months. Apart from that, one or two members of the EU will now be unable to prevent the discussion of the projects that are important for both Moscow and Brussels.

To play the British game is a bad signal because the UK is not part of the eurozone or the Schengen area. The prize also comes to London when the new Lisbon Treaty is about to enter into force - watered down for the UK in recent years. Thanks to the British, for example, there is no "European foreign minister", but the new high representative. On the positive side, you have to trust that London is more involved in the politics of security and defence, ensuring good transatlantic harmony.

From yesterday, the US president and the Chinese premier know who to phone when they want to speak to the EU. But there is a drawback . They've probably never seen these people in their lives before. And they're not the only ones - neither have hardly any of the 500 million citizens of the countries of the EU.

The old question Henry Kissinger used to ask, "Who should I call when I want to talk to Europe?" has not been answered . A Christian Democrat for the presidency and a Social Democrat for foreign relations could result in crossed wires. It remains to be seen who will occupy the three out of 26 EU commissioner posts which remain empty and belong to Greece, Netherlands and Denmark. This Brussels summit goes down as a victory for EU Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso - in view of the low profile of the new council president, the commission president will continue to answer the telephone when someone wants to speak to Europe.

Once again the Europe of petty national individualisms, incapable of launching itself on the world stage with ranking personalities, has won the day. It has fallen victim to Frau Merkel's and Monsieur Sarkozy's egotisms - they will find the stage clear again for their own national policies - and to the declining Gordon Brown, who can take home an important post. This Europe is fated to remain a minor player , not unlike the haiku, the short Japanese poems of which Van Rompuy is so enamoured.

Although [Baroness Catherine Ashton] has little experience of the world of international diplomacy, she takes on a task of mammoth complexity with responsibilities straddling global geopolitics, security and counter-terrorism and the battle against global warming. Not only has she no public profile to speak of, but she never served in a prime role in the British cabinet and had little experience of front-line politics. Therefore, her appointment to a job designed to strengthen the EU's influence in the global arena is nothing short of extraordinary.

Can these two new office holders embody the departure which those who govern us promised when they pushed through the EU reform in the face of all the criticism and lethargy in member states? The Lisbon Treaty is a somewhat curtailed version of what was initially held out as an EU constitution. That word was too big for the ambitions of the Europeans. The unofficial title of foreign minister and the title of EU president now seem rather big words, too.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.

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