EU leaders have chosen the Belgian Prime Minister, Herman van Rompuy, to be the first permanent European Council President.
The other top job created by the Lisbon Treaty - foreign affairs supremo - has gone to the EU Trade Commissioner, Baroness Catherine Ashton from the UK.
Both are seen as consensual politicians with limited foreign policy experience.
Herman Van Rompuy has called for new eco-taxes and levies on the financial sector to fund a more powerful European Union.
Belgium's prime minister made the controversial proposal, leaked to a Flemish newspaper, during a secret dinner to promote his candidacy hosted by the elite Bilderberg Group.
Italian MEP on Bilderberg and Trilateral nominations for EU President and foreign minister (Video)
The comments have added to a backlash against Mr Van Rompuy who, while still the favourite, has been identified as a federalist who is being championed as part of a Franco-German "stitch up" ahead a summit dinner that will appoint an EU President in Brussels on Thursday.