In an attempt to live down to already low expectations, European officials selected Herman Van Rompuy as the EU's first president and Lady Catherine Ashton as its first foreign policy chief. Van Rompuy and Lady Ashton are underwhelming choices at best, preposterous at worst.

Europe now has a president with lower name recognition than most members of the US Congress and a foreign minister with no foreign policy experience. Just as Sarah Palin serves as a base caricature of American political life, Van Rompuy and Lady Ashton embody the most frustrating elements of European politics.

Their qualifications for the new positions seem to be almost entirely derived from their banality. And while some apparently believe this is a positive, the issues facing Europe today are far too pressing for these sort of carefully manicured, technocratic choices.

As Martin Kettle at the Guardian puts it: "The choices of Van Rompuy and Ashton suggest that the EU remains in thrall to the lowest common denominator politics of deals made behind closed doors and, by the same token, is collectively averse to taking risky or difficult decisions that threaten the EU's comfort zone, even when such decisions are in Europe's longer term interests."

If anything, the move is indicative that Europe's national leaders, despite their acquiescence to the Lisbon Treaty, are not ready to give up real power any time soon.