Q & AEurope

EU Leadership Faces Major Turnover With Coming Departures of Ashton, Van Rompuy

EU Leadership Faces Major Turnover With Coming Departures of Ashton, Van Rompuy

Last weekend, both Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, and Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, announced their plans to step down when their current terms end in 2014.

Van Rompuy, who will have served his maximum of two terms of two and a half years each, said he plans to retire from politics once his mandate expires. Ashton does not face term limits but said there is “no possibility” she will serve a second five-year term, partly because of the physical demands of the position.

Guillaume Xavier-Bender, a program officer for the German Marshall Fund, spoke with Trend Lines about the significance of the turnover.

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