EU picks women for top jobs after marathon negotiations

German defense minister Ursula Von Der Leyen has been proposed as candidate for president of the European Commission, and International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde has been nominated for the presidency of the European Central Bank.Outgoing European Council president Donald Tusk called the appointments “a perfect gender balance.”Von Der Leyen’s role must be confirmed by a vote in the European Parliament. If elected, she would be the first woman to lead the European Commission. Lagarde will be the first woman to head the bloc’s central bank.Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel has been elected as the new president of the European Council, to replace Tusk.Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell Fontelles has been selected as candidate for high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.”The European Council has agreed on the future leadership of the EU institutions,” Tusk said on Tuesday evening. “We have chosen two women and two men for the four key positions — a perfect gender balance,” Tusk added. “I am really happy about it, after all Europe is a woman. I think it was worth waiting for such an outcome.”Tusk said Michel’s experience in his current role made him “ideal for finding consensus and building unity among member states.”Borrell would be “a strong representative and defender of the European Union’s interests and values in the world,” Tusk said.The appointments followed a tense series of negotiations. A summit broke up Monday after all-night talks failed to reach an agreement. France, Germany and Spain had proposed Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans as the next European Commission president but Italy and eastern European nations blocked the appointment, Reuters reported.France, Germany and Spain proposed Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans as the next head of the European Union executive, but as diplomats signalled he was close to getting the nod, Italy and eastern European nations turned him down.Lagarde, who is French, said she would temporarily relinquish her duties as managing director of the IMF during the nomination period.