Tony Blair, Britain's former prime minister, dropped out of the race to become the European Union's first president last night as a division of spoils between Belgium and the UK shaped up as the way out of an impasse over the bloc's top jobs.
Under the compromise, Herman Van Rompuy, Belgium's prime minister, appeared set to be named as the EU's first full-time president, a choice that would uphold the majority view that the job should go to a low-profile, centre-right politician from a small member state.
Catherine Ashton, the UK's relatively unknown European Commissioner, was poised to grab the second new European post of foreign policy supremo at a summit in Brussels.
您已阅读41%（676字），剩余59%（966字）包含更多重要信息，订阅以继续探索完整内容，并享受更多专属服务。