BRUSSELS: EU leaders were making no progress on Wednesday as sharp differences surfaced over who should get the top jobs to steer the bloc over the next five years.
Looming ever larger at the summit, the Ukraine crisis was making the choice of a successor to Britain's Catherine Ashton as head of the EU's foreign affairs arm even more sensitive.
Without a deal on this key position, a decision about who should be president of the European Council, which represents the bloc's 28 leaders and sets overall EU policy, looked increasingly unlikely.
As the prospects of a package deal faded, diplomatic sources spoke of the possibility of another summit, perhaps later this month or at the end of August to settle the issue.
Originally set to start at 1600 GMT, the summit was put back to 1800 GMT as a flurry of possible candidates came and went in the Twittersphere.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel played down expectations any decisions on appointments would be made at all.
"It is very possible that there will only be an initial discussion," said Merkel, a key voice, as she arrived for the talks. "I don't think we will get there today but we will see."
The summit did agree to tougher sanctions against Moscow over Ukraine but stopped short of the much more punishing measures announced by Washington shortly beforehand.
Some EU member states such as Italy and Germany are fearful significant economic ties with Russia could suffer if relations break down completely but with Moscow showing no sign of reversing course in Ukraine, even Merkel felt something had to be done.
Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini was widely tipped to replace Ashton, who has become a high profile figure involved in the top international issues, from the Middle East to the Iran nuclear talks and Ukraine.
But critics say Mogherini is inexperienced and some states, notably the Baltic countries and Poland where bitter memories of Soviet rule run deep, feel Italy has been much too soft on Russia over Ukraine.
Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite was blunt, saying she could not accept a "pro-Kremlin" figure.
Diplomats said an alternative to Mogherini could be current EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva of Bulgaria, who is close to the centre-right European People's Party, the biggest single group in the European Parliament.
As Mogherini's chances appeared to be fading, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi tweeted: "What does Italy ask for? Not one post or another, it asks for respect."
For the European Council, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a Social Democrat, enjoys wide support, including from Britain, to replace Belgium's discreet but effective Herman Van Rompuy.
Denmark, however, is not a member of the eurozone, a drawback especially in the French view, but President Francois Hollande stressed that what counts "is less the person than the policy and it is such considerations which will determine my decision."
If Thorning-Schmidt misses out on the Council, other possibilities are conservatives Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and former Latvian premier Valdis Dombrovskis. Estonia's Andrus Ansip, who stepped down earlier this year, or Dutch Premier Mark Rutte would suit the centrist Liberals.
Kenny however dismissed the idea, saying: "I have enough on my plate already!" The summit may also recommend naming a permanent head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers which coordinates policy on the single currency.
Spain's Luis de Guindos is widely tipped to take over the Eurogroup job, currently held by Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, if it is made full-time.
Once the top jobs are settled, then the EU embarks on the next round, deciding who gets which portfolio in the new 28-seat European Commission to be headed by Jean-Claude Juncker.
On Tuesday, the European Parliament confirmed veteran EU insider Juncker as head of the bloc's executive arm.
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