Limp waves of polite puzzlement circled the globe this weekend as leaders adjusted to the news that the much ballyhooed EU president would be a mild-mannered, competent manager rather than a charismatic new 'face' for Europe.

The US President, Barack Obama, said that he "looked forward to working closely" with both the new European Council president, Herman Van Rompuy, and the EU's first foreign minister, Catherine Ashton. He said the "two new positions" would make the European Union an "even stronger partner to the United States".

It was noticeable, however, that President Obama also declared that he intended to "work closely" with the European Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso – a tacit recognition that there had been no real landslip in power and influence in Brussels.

The Japanese government welcomed the fact that there had been "progress on the new EU structure" but said that it had "no view" on the new appointments. Off the record, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo said that the appointment of Tony Blair, would have been "interesting" because he was much better known in Japan.

Russia, China and India had no comment at all. The appointments received no space or air time in the Indian media.

The Europe spokesman for the pro-European, British foreign affairs think-tank, Chatham House, said that the new appointments were "boring" and "the dampest of squibs". Richard Whitman, associate fellow for Europe, said: "In Beijing, Moscow and Washington, policy-makers and analysts will be hard pressed to discern anything from these appointments. Neither seems to signal any clear intent for a new direction and character for the EU or the future direction of its foreign policy."

It had been clear for several days that EU heads of government would opt for a conciliator and fixer for their first European Council President – a permanent chairman for the permanent state of negotiations which exists between EU states in Brussels. News media around the globe have, nonetheless, got into the habit of referring to the job wrongly as the "president of Europe" – as if the new incumbent would be a leader and policy-maker like President Obama.

What began as an exercise in "clarifying" the EU and giving it a more human face has ended by confusing Europeans and non-Europeans alike. The head-scratching reaction of media across the 27 EU states can be fairly summarised by a headline on the website of the German magazine, Der Spiegel: "Europe goes for nobodies".

The man who created the idea of a 'European president', the former French president, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, took a philosophical view yesterday. He said that EU leaders had "not chosen a George Washington", who would have tried to make the job into something truly significant. Instead, they had gone for a president who would be "one of them rather than above them".

He suggested, however, that the post might develop in the future into "something much stronger".

According to a snap, EU-wide opinion poll, European citizens were nonplussed by, but largely indifferent to, the choice of Van Rompuy.

The international polling agency Proximity Panels, said that Van Rompuy's name rang a bell with only one in eight Europeans compared to seven in 10 for Blair.

One in three EU citizens would have favoured Blair for president of Europe, compared to one in 20 for Van Rompuy.

Van Rompuy (62) kept a low profile in the wake of the announcement, making no public comments about his appointment.