The top posts created by the Lisbon treaty will be filled on the basis of political agreement reached unanimously at the informal meeting of EU heads of state and government on 19 November in Brussels. Herman Van Rompuy will leave his post of Belgian Prime Minister to become the President of the European Council.

Herman Van Rompuy will be in charge of preparing and chairing the European Council’s meetings and assuring the continuity of its work. He will also represent the EU on the international stage. His mandate covers two and a half years, renewable once.

Catherine Ashton, currently in charge of trade in the European Commission, will take up the post of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. She will chair the meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and will hold the post of Vice-President of the European Commission.

French Pierre de Boissieu, the current Deputy Secretary General of the Council of the EU, will become its Secretary General.

The formal decisions on these appointments will be taken once the Treaty of Lisbon has entered into force, on 1 December 2009.