Brussels - European Union socialist leaders Thursday proposed Britain's Catherine Ashton as their choice for the post of EU foreign policy chief, sources at a summit in Brussels said. An economist and Labour politician, Ashton currently acts as the bloc's trade commissioner.
The proposal, backed by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Spain's Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero among others, could help end a deadlock over the other new post being created by the Lisbon Treaty, that of EU council president, which would go to a conservative politician, such as Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy.
