President of the European Council

Not to be confused with Presidency of the Council of the European Union or President of the European Commission.

President of the European Council
Emblem of European Council
Flag of Europe
Incumbent António Costa since 1 December 2024
European Council
Style	President [1]
Status	Presiding and chief administrative officer
Member of	European Council (non-voting)
Residence	Europa building
Seat	Brussels, Belgium
Appointer	European Council by qualified majority
Term length	2.5 years, renewable once
Constituting instrument	Treaties of the European Union
Precursor	Chairman of the European Council
Formation	1 December 2009
First holder	Herman Van Rompuy
Website	consilium.europa.eu

The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. ^[2] This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as the president of the European Commission, and provides political direction to the European Union (EU).

From 1975 to 2009, the chair of the European Council was an unofficial position (often referred to as the president-in-office) held by the head of state or government of the member state holding the semiannually rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union at any given time. However, since the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon, article 15 of Treaty on European Union states that the European Council appoints a full-time president for a two-and-a-half-year term, with the possibility of renewal once. Appointments, as well as the removal of incumbents, require a double majority support in the European Council.

On 19 November 2009, the European Council agreed that its first president under the Lisbon Treaty would be Herman Van Rompuy (European People's Party), until then the Belgian prime minister. Van Rompuy took office when the Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009 with a term stretching until 31 May 2012. ^[3] His term was later extended with a second period ending on 30 November 2014.

The second holder of the office was (until then) Polish prime minister Donald Tusk. He was originally elected to serve a term from 1 December 2014 to 31 May 2017, ^[4] and was re-elected on 9 March 2017 to a second term running from 1 June 2017 until 30 November 2019. ^[5]

On 2 July 2019 the European Council elected the until then Belgian prime minister Charles Michel as the successor to Donald Tusk as President of the European Council for the period from 1 December 2019 to 31 May 2022. ^[6] He was re-elected in March 2022 for a second term for period from 1 June 2022 to 30 November 2024. ^[7]

History

Further information: List of European Councils

The first meeting of all European Communities heads of state or government was held in 1961 as an informal summit, but only became formalised in 1974, when it was dubbed "European Council" by the then French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. With the establishment of the European Union in 1993, the presidency of the European Council was based on the presidency of the Council of the European Union, being hosted by the member state holding the Council presidency, rotating every six months. As the European Council is composed of national leaders, it was chaired by the head of state or government of the presidency state. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

Permanent post

The European Constitution, drafted by the European Convention, outlined the "president of the European Council" as a longer term and full-time chairmanship. ^[11] The Constitution was rejected by voters in two Member States during ratification but the changes envisaged to the European Council presidency were retained in the Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force on 1 December 2009.

The first president was expected to define the role for future office holders, as there was no clear idea of how the post would evolve. ^[12] One body of thought was that the president would stick to a quasi-administrative role, a standard bearer who would simply chair meetings and ensure the smooth running of the body and its policies. This would attract semi-retired leaders seeking a fitting climax to their career and would leave most work to the Commission rather than wield power within the institutions. ^[13] However another opinion envisaged a more pro-active President within the Union and speaking for it abroad. The office would hence be quickly fashioned, according to promoters, into a de facto "president of Europe" and, unlike the first model, would be seen on the world stage as speaking for the EU. Persons connected to this position would be more charismatic leaders. ^[11] The appointment of Herman Van Rompuy indicated a desire to see the former style of president.

There were in any case a number of practical reasons for having the new style President ^[14] The previous rotating presidency meant a new chair every second or third meeting. There was no choice as to who it would be. Incumbants had little time to devote to preparing meetings, as they had a national government to run (a growing problem as the number of members to negotiate with expanded with EU enlargement). And when representing the EU externally at G7 or G20 summits, they were often simultaneously representing their own country. Allowing the European Council to choose a full time, longer-term President who was not simultaneously a national head of government avoided these problems.

The Treaty of Lisbon does not define a nomination process for the president of the Council and initially several official and unofficial candidates were proposed. At the final European Council meeting on the treaty in Lisbon, on 19 November 2007, French president Nicolas Sarkozy set off public speculation on candidates by naming Tony Blair, Felipe González and Jean-Claude Juncker, and praising the three as worthy candidates ^[15] with Blair in particular being a long time front runner for the post. However, he faced large scale opposition for being from a large state outside the eurozone and the Schengen Area as well as being a leader who entered the Iraq War which had split Europe. Minor opposition to other leaders such as Juncker also led to their rejection.^{[ citation needed ]}

First full-time president

On 19 November 2009, Herman Van Rompuy, at that time Prime Minister of Belgium, was appointed the first full-time president of the European Council. The formal decision on the appointment was made after the Treaty of Lisbon came into force on 1 December 2009. ^[16] The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said that he had unanimous backing from the 27 EU leaders at the summit in Brussels on the evening of 19 November 2009. Brown praised Van Rompuy as "a consensus builder" who had "brought a period of political stability to his country after months of uncertainty". ^[17] At a press conference after his appointment, Van Rompuy commented: "Every country should emerge victorious from negotiations. A negotiation that ends with a defeated party is never a good negotiation. I will consider everyone's interests and sensitivities. Even if our unity remains our strength, our diversity remains our wealth", he said, stressing the individuality of EU member states. ^[18]

Van Rompuy's first council meeting was an informal gathering in the Solvay Library in Leopold Park, rather than the more usual formal gathering in the Justus Lipsius building nearby. The meeting was called to reflect on long term structural economic problems facing Europe, but was overtaken by the Greek economic crisis.

Duties and powers

Pre-2009

The role of President-in-Office of the assembled European Council was performed by the head of state or government of the member state currently holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union. This presidency rotated every six months, meaning there was a new president of the European Council twice a year.

The role as President-in-Office was merely a primus inter pares role among other European heads of state or government. However, the president-in-office represented the European Council externally and reported to the European Parliament after its meetings as well as at the beginning and at the end of the presidency. ^{[19] [20]}

Post-2009

President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy during a visit to the Paranal Observatory.

The president's role is largely political, preparing the work of the European Council, organising and chairing its meetings, seeking to find consensus among its members and reporting to the European Parliament after each meeting; the president will also "at his level and in that capacity, ensure the external representation of the Union on issues concerning its common foreign and security policy, without prejudice to the powers of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security". ^[22] Some overlap between the roles of the president of the European Council, the President of the Commission, and the High Representative—notably in foreign policy—leaves uncertainty about how much influence the President of the European Council will acquire. There is further concern over whether the president will have sufficient personnel and resources to fulfil the duties of the post effectively and that, in lacking a ministry, the president might become a "play ball" between EU leaders. ^[23]

With the reorganisation of leading EU posts under the Lisbon Treaty, there was some criticism of each post's vague responsibilities. Ukrainian ambassador to the EU Andriy Veselovsky praised the framework and clarified it in his own terms: The president of the European Commission speaks as the EU's "government" while the new president of the European Council is a "strategist". The High Representative specialises in "bilateral relations" while the European commissioner for enlargement and European neighbourhood policy deals in technical matters such as the free trade agreement with Ukraine. The president of the European Parliament meanwhile articulates the EU's values. ^[24]

The European Council president also extended his influence into financial policy, the most important area left to the rotating Council presidency, with the rotating presidency seeing a greater decrease in power than previously planned. ^[25] Many of the changes introduced with the Lisbon Treaty need concretion through practical implementation by the current actors. The Spanish presidency unsuccessfully tried to challenge the European Council president's prominent post during the first rotating presidency of 2010, ^[26] while the second half of the year saw a Belgian rotating presidency marked by a weakened caretaker government which did not challenge Herman van Rompuy, himself a Belgian politician. The Belgian rotating presidency announced it was taking a "backrow seat" ^[27] with regards to both the European Council president and the high representative, thus fuelling hopes as well as concerns for a more communitarian character in both the council and foreign policy.

Privileges of office

Formal negotiations on the salary and privileges of the permanent presidency began in April 2008 as part of the draft of the 2009 EU budget. The outcome was that the president should enjoy the same conditions as the president of the Commission, with a basic salary of 138% of the highest civil service grade: that would be €24,874.62 per month (not including family and other allowances). ^{[28] [29] [30] [ needs update ]}

The president receives a chauffeured car and around 20 dedicated staff members. He also has a housing allowance, rather than an official residence which was considered "too symbolic". Likewise, the idea of a private jet was also rejected for being symbolic and, as one diplomat pointed out, a discrepancy in privileges between the European Council and Commission presidents may only fuel rivalry between the two. ^[31]

The possibility of there being greater perks for the European Council president than Commission president prompted Parliament to threaten a rejection of the 2009 budget. It saw a large salary and extras as a symbolic signal that the post is intended to become more powerful, increasing intergovernmentalism at the Parliament's expense. With some in the Council suggesting a staff of up to 60, one MEP has argued in 2008 that the Committee on Constitutional Affairs ought to drop the gentlemen's agreement that Parliament and Council will not interfere in each other's budget. ^[32]

President's office

Although the European Council is, under the terms of the Lisbon treaty, a separate institution of the EU, it does not have its own administration. The administrative support for both the European Council and its President is provided by the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. The president does have, however, his own private office (cabinet) of close advisers. Van Rompuy chose as his first chief of staff (chef de cabinet) Baron Frans van Daele, formerly Belgian ambassador to, variously, the US, the UN, the EU and NATO and chief of staff of several Belgian foreign ministers. Upon his retirement in the autumn of 2012, Didier Seeuws, former Deputy Perm Rep of Belgium to the EU and former spokesman for Belgian PM Verhofstadt, replaced him. Also in his team were the former UK Labour MEP Richard Corbett and Van Rompuy's long standing press officer Dirk De Backer.

Democratic mandate

Election

The president of the European Council is elected by its members through a reinforced qualified majority vote for a once-renewable term of two and a half years. ^{[33] [34]} Article 15 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) identifies his duties. It is the Heads of State or Government who vote for this office. ^[35]

The lack of accountability to MEPs or national parliamentarians has also cast doubt as to whether national leaders will in practice stand behind the president on major issues. ^[23] Under the rotational system, the presidents simply had the mandate of their member states, while the new permanent president is chosen by the members of the European Council. ^[36]

There have been calls by some, such as former German interior minister and former head of the Bundestag Wolfgang Schäuble, ^[37] for direct elections to take place to give the President a mandate, this would strengthen the post within the European Council allowing for stronger leadership in addition to addressing the question of democratic legitimacy in the EU. However, this might cause conflict with Parliament's democratic mandate or a potential mandate for the Commission (see section below). To give a mandate to the European Council's president would signify a development of the Union's governance towards a presidential system, rather than a parliamentary system. ^[36]

Relationship with Commission

See also: President of the European Commission

There had been disagreement and concern over competition between the former president of the European Council Van Rompuy and the former Commission president Barroso, due to the vague language of the treaty. Some clarifications saw Van Rompuy as the "strategist" and Barroso as a head of government. In terms of economic policy, Van Rompuy saw the European Council as dealing with overall strategy and the Commission as dealing with the implementation. Despite weekly breakfasts together, there was a certain extent of rivalry between the two yet-defined posts. ^{[38] [24] [39]}

Although the president of the European Council may not hold a national office, such as a prime minister of a member state, there is no such restraint on European offices. For example, the president may be an MEP, or more significantly the Commission president (who already sits in the European Council). This would allow the European Council to concurrently appoint one person to the roles and powers of both president of the European Council and president of the European Commission, thus creating a single presidential position for the union as a whole. ^[11]

Since the creation of the European Council presidency, former president Van Rompuy and former Commission President Barroso had begun to compete with each other as Van Rompuy had benefited from the general shift in power from the Commission to the European Council yet with Barroso still holding the real powers. At international summits they continued previous practice of both going at the same time. The complicated situation had renewed some calls to merge the posts, possibly at the end of Barroso's term in 2014. However some member states had expected to oppose the creation of such a high-profile post. ^{[38] [39]}

If the posts are not to be combined, some believe that the dual-presidential system could lead to "cohabitation" and infighting between the two offices. While it is comparable to the French model, where there is a president (the European Council president) and prime minister (the Commission president), the Council president does not hold formal powers such as the ability to directly appoint and sack the Commission president, or the ability to dissolve Parliament. The European Council president has prestige, but lacks power. The Commission president has power, but lacks the prestige of the European Council president. ^[40] Some believe this problem would be increased further if the Council president were to be strengthened by a democratic mandate, as mentioned above. ^[36]

List of presidents of the European Council

Rotating presidency

Year	Period	President-in-Office	European party		Presidency
1975	Jan–Jun	Liam Cosgrave		European People's Party	Ireland
	Jul–Dec	Aldo Moro		European People's Party	Italy
1976	Jan–Jun	Gaston Thorn		Liberal and Democratic Group	Luxembourg
	Jul–Dec	Joop den Uyl		Party of European Socialists	Netherlands
1977	Jan–Jun	James Callaghan		Party of European Socialists	United Kingdom
	Jul–Dec	Leo Tindemans		European People's Party	Belgium
1978	Jan–Jun	Anker Jørgensen		Party of European Socialists	Denmark
	Jul–Dec	Helmut Schmidt		Party of European Socialists	West Germany
1979	Jan–Jun	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing		European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party	France
	Jul–Dec	Jack Lynch		European Progressive Democrats	Ireland
	Dec	Charles Haughey		European Progressive Democrats
1980	Jan–Jun	Francesco Cossiga		European People's Party	Italy
	Jul–Dec	Pierre Werner		European People's Party	Luxembourg
1981	Jan–Jun	Dries van Agt		European People's Party	Netherlands
	Jul–Dec	Margaret Thatcher		Independent	United Kingdom
1982	Jan–Jun	Wilfried Martens		European People's Party	Belgium
	Jul–Sep	Anker Jørgensen		Party of European Socialists	Denmark
	Sep–Dec	Poul Schlüter		European People's Party
1983	Jan–Jun	Helmut Kohl		European People's Party	West Germany
	Jul–Dec	Andreas Papandreou		Party of European Socialists	Greece
1984	Jan–Jun	François Mitterrand		Party of European Socialists	France
	Jul–Dec	Garret FitzGerald		European People's Party	Ireland
1985	Jan–Jun	Bettino Craxi		Party of European Socialists	Italy
	Jul–Dec	Jacques Santer		European People's Party	Luxembourg
1986	Jan–Jun	Ruud Lubbers		European People's Party	Netherlands
	Jul–Dec	Margaret Thatcher		Independent	United Kingdom
1987	Jan–Jun	Wilfried Martens		European People's Party	Belgium
	Jul–Dec	Poul Schlüter		European People's Party	Denmark
1988	Jan–Jun	Helmut Kohl		European People's Party	West Germany
	Jul–Dec	Andreas Papandreou		Party of European Socialists	Greece
1989	Jan–Jun	Felipe González		Party of European Socialists	Spain
	Jul–Dec	François Mitterrand		Party of European Socialists	France
1990	Jan–Jun	Charles Haughey		European Democratic Alliance	Ireland
	Jul–Dec	Giulio Andreotti		European People's Party	Italy
1991	Jan–Jun	Jacques Santer		European People's Party	Luxembourg
	Jul–Dec	Ruud Lubbers		European People's Party	Netherlands
1992	Jan–Jun	Aníbal Cavaco Silva		European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party	Portugal
	Jul–Dec	John Major		Independent	United Kingdom
1993	Jan	Poul Schlüter		European People's Party	Denmark
	Jan–Jun	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen		Party of European Socialists
	Jul–Dec	Jean-Luc Dehaene		European People's Party	Belgium
1994	Jan–Jun	Andreas Papandreou		Party of European Socialists	Greece
	Jul–Dec	Helmut Kohl		European People's Party	Germany
1995	Jan–May	François Mitterrand		Party of European Socialists	France
	May–Jun	Jacques Chirac		Independent
	Jul–Dec	Felipe González		Party of European Socialists	Spain
1996	Jan–May	Lamberto Dini		European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party	Italy
	May–Jun	Romano Prodi		European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
	Jul–Dec	John Bruton		European People's Party	Ireland
1997	Jan–Jun	Wim Kok		Party of European Socialists	Netherlands
	Jul–Dec	Jean-Claude Juncker		European People's Party	Luxembourg
1998	Jan–Jun	Tony Blair		Party of European Socialists	United Kingdom
	Jul–Dec	Viktor Klima		Party of European Socialists	Austria
1999	Jan–Jun	Gerhard Schröder		Party of European Socialists	Germany
	Jul–Dec	Paavo Lipponen		Party of European Socialists	Finland
2000	Jan–Jun	António Guterres		Party of European Socialists	Portugal
	Jul–Dec	Jacques Chirac		European People's Party	France
2001	Jan–Jun	Göran Persson		Party of European Socialists	Sweden
	Jul–Dec	Guy Verhofstadt		European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party	Belgium
2002	Jan–Jun	José María Aznar		European People's Party	Spain
	Jul–Dec	Anders Fogh Rasmussen		European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party	Denmark
2003	Jan–Jun	Costas Simitis		Party of European Socialists	Greece
	Jul–Dec	Silvio Berlusconi		European People's Party	Italy
2004	Jan–Jun	Bertie Ahern		Union for Europe of the Nations	Ireland
	Jul–Dec	Jan Peter Balkenende		European People's Party	Netherlands
2005	Jan–Jun	Jean-Claude Juncker		European People's Party	Luxembourg
	Jul–Dec	Tony Blair		Party of European Socialists	United Kingdom
2006	Jan–Jun	Wolfgang Schüssel		European People's Party	Austria
	Jul–Dec	Matti Vanhanen		European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party	Finland
2007	Jan–Jun	Angela Merkel		European People's Party	Germany
	Jul–Dec	José Sócrates		Party of European Socialists	Portugal
2008	Jan–Jun	Janez Janša		European People's Party	Slovenia
	Jul–Dec	Nicolas Sarkozy		European People's Party	France
2009	Jan–May	Mirek Topolánek		Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists	Czech Republic
	May–Jun	Jan Fischer		Independent
	Jul–Nov	Fredrik Reinfeldt		European People's Party	Sweden

Permanent presidents

N.	Portrait	President (Born–Died)	State	Took office	Left office	Party	European party		Refs
1		Herman Van Rompuy (born 1947)	Belgium	1 December 2009	30 November 2014	CD&V		European People's Party	[41]
				5 years
2		Donald Tusk (born 1957)	Poland	1 December 2014	30 November 2019	PO		European People's Party	[42]
				5 years
3		Charles Michel (born 1975)	Belgium	1 December 2019	30 November 2024	MR		Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe	[43]
				5 years
4		António Costa (born 1961)	Portugal	1 December 2024	Incumbent	PS		Party of European Socialists	[44]
				9 days

Timeline

See also

• List of presidents of EU institutions
  • President of the European Parliament
  • President of the European Commission
  • Presidency of the Council of the European Union
• President of the European Union

References

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16. "New leadership team for Europe". Council of the European Union . Retrieved 24 November 2009. The formal decisions on these appointments will be taken once the Treaty of Lisbon has entered into force, on 1 December 2009.
17. "Belgian PM Van Rompuy is named as new EU president". The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
18. Henry Chu: European Union settles on a Belgian and a Briton for top posts. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
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24. Rettman, Andrew, (15 March 2010) Ukraine gives positive appraisal of new-model EU, EU Observer
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26. "Spain ends invisible EU presidency". EUobserver. 30 June 2010.
27. "Belgian presidency sets parliament in its sights". EUobserver. July 2010.
28. "COUNCIL DECISION of 1 December 2009 laying down the conditions of employment of the President of the European Council" (PDF). EurLex. European Commission . Retrieved 20 June 2010. The basic monthly salary of the President of the European Council shall be equal to the amount resulting from application of 138% to the basic salary of an official of the European Union at grade 16 third step.
29. Basic salary of grade 16, third step is €18,025.09. 138% of €18,025.09 = €24,874,62
    "Table: officials, Article 66" (PDF). European Commission Civil Service. 1 July 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
30. "Regulation No 422/67/EEC, 5/67/Euratom of the Council" (pdf). EurLex. European Commission. 25 July 1967. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
31. Mahony, Honor (14 April 2008). "Member states consider perks and staff for new EU president". EU Observer. Retrieved 15 April 2008.
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33. "The role of the European Council in nominations and appointments". European Counil. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
34. "Qualified majority". European Counil. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
35. "European Council: The President's role" . Retrieved 21 March 2015. The President the European Council is elected by the European Council by a qualified majority. He is elected for a 2.5-year term, which is renewable once.
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38. Duff, Andrew (23 February 2010) Who is Herman Van Rompuy?
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40. Hix, Simon; Roland, Gérard. "Why the Franco-German Plan would institutionalise 'cohabitation' for Europe". Foreign Policy Centre . Retrieved 1 October 2007.
41. Former President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, European Council
42. Former President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, European Council
43. Charles Michel, President of the European Council, European Council
44. Von der Leyen, Costa and Kallas bag EU top jobs, Politico

External links

• Official Website
• A 'George Washington' for Europe – BBC News