European Union leaders will officially designate Javier Solana as the bloc's future first foreign minister when they reappoint him as foreign policy high representative on Tuesday, an EU source said on Monday.
The move means the former Spanish foreign minister and Nato secretary-general will automatically become vice-president of the European Commission and run its large external relations budget and staff once a new EU constitution is ratified.
"The decision will identify Solana as foreign minister-designate," the source said.
The source said the move was part of a package deal under which a special EU summit will nominate conservative Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso as European Commission president from November 1.
Frenchman Pierre de Boissieu will be re-appointed to the powerful post of deputy secretary-general of the EU Council, in charge of the secretariat that supports policy-setting meetings of ministers and national officials.
Solana, 61, a socialist, became the EU's first foreign policy chief in 1999 but has had to work with a puny budget in tandem with External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten, who controls most of the EU's resources and diplomatic personnel.