EUROPEAN Union (EU) leaders met yesterday to pick the bloc’s new foreign policy chief after choosing Jean-Claude Juncker to head the executive European Commission, but it may take some weeks before other top EU jobs are finally carved up.

    The nominations, including other commission posts as well as the president of the European Council of EU leaders, will shape Europe’s response to challenges from the crisis in Ukraine to a stagnant economy and Britain’s wavering membership of the bloc.

    Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini, 41, is front-runner for the foreign policy post, although Poland and Baltic states have misgivings about her suitability, seeing her as inexperienced and too soft on Russia in the Ukraine crisis.

    The leaders are also likely to discuss further penalties against Russia for its role in Ukraine, although diplomats cautioned that any such measures were unlikely to extend to full economic sanctions.

    With Germany and others reluctant to go further, action may mostly involve extending asset freezes and visa bans to more Ukrainian rebels and Russians deemed responsible for destablizing eastern Ukraine.

    Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Bulgaria’s Kristalina Georgieva, the EU commissioner for development, are possible alternatives as foreign policy chief if Mogherini is blocked. Some west Europeans see Oxford-educated Sikorski, a respected strategic thinker, as too belligerent toward Moscow.

    While some countries wanted to finalize the selection in a package deal yesterday, officials cautioned that more talks lay ahead over jobs that may include an influential permanent head of the group of eurozone finance ministers.

    The jobs selection is delicate given the wide disparity of views across the 28 countries in the EU.(SD-Agencies)