Right. Let's get this over with. Don't look so hopeful; it's just an article. Try to keep up.
Not to be confused with the Presidency of the Council of the European Union or the President of the European Commission. If you can't tell the difference, you're already part of the problem.
President of the European Council
| Emblem of European Council |
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| Flag of Europe |
| Incumbent António Costa since 1 December 2024 |
| European Council |
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| Appointer |
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| Constituting instrument |
| Precursor |
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| Website |
The president of the European Council is the individual tasked with presiding over and attempting to drive forward the work of the European Council, both within the labyrinthine corridors of Brussels and on the world stage. This isn't a throne; it's a thankless task of corralling a room full of national egos. This particular institution is the college of heads of state or government from the European Union's (EU) member states, plus the president of the European Commission, and its purpose is to provide the overarching political direction for the EU. Or at least, that's the theory.
From 1975 until the grand bureaucratic reshuffle of 2009, the head of the European Council was an unofficial position, a kind of pass-the-parcel game often called the president-in-office. The chair was simply held by the head of state or head of government of whichever member state was holding the semi-annually rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. However, the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon, in a fit of structured thinking, decided this was inefficient. Article 15 of the Treaty on European Union now dictates that the European Council must appoint a full-time president for a two-and-a-half-year term, an arrangement that can be renewed once, and only once. Both the appointment and the removal of an incumbent require the backing of a double majority within the European Council, a mechanism designed to prevent any one faction from seizing control.
On 19 November 2009, the European Council decided its first guinea pig for this new role would be Herman Van Rompuy of the European People's Party, who at the time was the Belgian prime minister. Van Rompuy officially took the reins when the Lisbon Treaty activated on 1 December 2009, with an initial term set to expire on 31 May 2012. His term was, as expected, extended for a second period, concluding on 30 November 2014.
The second individual to occupy the chair was the then-Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk. He was first elected for a term running from 1 December 2014 to 31 May 2017, and was subsequently re-elected on 9 March 2017 for a second term that lasted from 1 June 2017 until 30 November 2019.
On 2 July 2019, the European Council selected another Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, to succeed Donald Tusk. Michel became the third President of the European Council, serving an initial term from 1 December 2019 to 31 May 2022. He was re-elected in March 2022 for a second term, which ran from 1 June 2022 to 30 November 2024.
Effective 1 December 2024, Michel was succeeded by António Costa, who had stepped down as Portuguese prime minister earlier in the year. He is the fourth and latest person to hold the title. Or so we're told. [ citation needed ]
History
Early form
Further information: List of European Councils
The first gathering of all European Communities heads of state or government was an informal summit in 1961, a casual affair that only gained formal status in 1974. It was then-French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing who dubbed it the "European Council." When the European Union was formally established in 1993, the presidency of this body was tethered to the presidency of the Council of the European Union. This meant the chair was hosted by whichever member state was holding the Council presidency, a role that rotated every six months. As the European Council is composed of national leaders, it was logically chaired by the head of state or government of that presiding state. Every six months, a new leader would get the keys, barely enough time to find the light switches before handing them over to the next in line.
Permanent post
The ill-fated European Constitution, meticulously drafted by the European Convention, was the first document to outline the "president of the European Council" as a full-time, long-term chairmanship. That constitution was, of course, rejected by voters in two Member States during ratification—a spectacular failure. But the idea of a permanent president was salvaged from the wreckage and incorporated into the Treaty of Lisbon, which finally came into force on 1 December 2009.
The first president was saddled with the unenviable task of defining the role, as no one had a particularly clear idea of how the post would, or should, evolve.
One school of thought was that the president would be little more than a quasi-administrative figure, a standard-bearer who would chair meetings, ensure the tea and coffee were served on time, and generally facilitate the smooth running of the institution and its policies. This model was expected to attract semi-retired leaders looking for a respectable capstone to their careers, leaving the real power and work to the Commission.
The opposing view envisioned a far more proactive and powerful President, one who would not only lead within the Union but also serve as its voice abroad. Promoters of this model saw the office quickly transforming into a de facto "president of Europe," a charismatic leader who would speak for the EU on the world stage. The appointment of the understated Herman Van Rompuy was a clear signal that, for the time being, the former, more modest vision had won out.
Regardless of the model, there were compelling practical reasons for the change. The old rotating presidency meant a new chairperson every second or third meeting, with no say in who it would be. The incumbent leaders had precious little time to devote to preparing for EU summits, as they were also running their own national governments—a problem that only grew as EU enlargement expanded the number of members to negotiate with. Furthermore, when representing the EU at G7 or G20 summits, they were often simultaneously representing their own country, a conflict of interest so obvious it's a wonder it took them this long to address it. A full-time, longer-term President, unburdened by national office, was designed to solve these issues.
The Treaty of Lisbon conveniently omitted any clear nomination process, leading to a flurry of speculation. At the final European Council meeting on the treaty in Lisbon on 19 November 2007, French president Nicolas Sarkozy publicly floated the names of Tony Blair, Felipe González, and Jean-Claude Juncker, praising them as worthy candidates. Blair, in particular, was a long-time front-runner. However, he faced significant opposition. He hailed from a large state that had always kept the EU at arm's length, remaining outside both the eurozone and the Schengen Area. More damagingly, he was a chief architect of the Iraq War, an adventure that had split Europe more deeply than any treaty. A unifying figure, he was not. Minor opposition to other leaders like Juncker also contributed to their candidacies fading.
Full-time president
On 19 November 2009, Herman Van Rompuy, then the Prime Minister of Belgium, was named the first full-time president of the European Council. The formal decision was made after the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009. The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, reported that Van Rompuy had received unanimous backing from the 27 EU leaders at the summit in Brussels. Brown praised him as "a consensus builder" who had "brought a period of political stability to his country after months of uncertainty"—faint praise, perhaps, but praise nonetheless.
At a press conference following his appointment, Van Rompuy offered his philosophy: "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." A noble sentiment, suggesting a future of compromise rather than conquest. Time would tell if that was naivety or strategy.
Van Rompuy's first council meeting was an informal gathering held not in the sterile, imposing Justus Lipsius building, but in the Solvay Library in Leopold Park. The meeting was intended to be a high-minded reflection on Europe's long-term structural economic problems. The universe, however, has a dark sense of humor, and the agenda was immediately hijacked by the burgeoning Greek economic crisis.
Duties and powers
Pre-2009
The role of President-in-Office was performed by the head of state or government of the member state holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. This presidency changed hands every six months, installing a new European Council president twice a year. The role was merely that of a primus inter pares—first among equals, which is a polite way of saying they had the honor of speaking first and last but held little real power in between. The president-in-office did, however, represent the European Council externally and was responsible for reporting to the European Parliament after its meetings, as well as at the beginning and end of their six-month term.
Post-2009
The president's role is now largely political. The job description includes preparing the work of the European Council, organizing and chairing its meetings, attempting to broker consensus among its members, and reporting to the European Parliament after each summit. 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." The treaty, in its infinite wisdom, created a Venn diagram of responsibilities with the President of the Commission and the High Representative, ensuring a permanent state of turf warfare over who gets to speak for the Union on the world stage. This ambiguity leaves a great deal of uncertainty about how much influence the President of the European Council can actually acquire. There are also persistent concerns that the president, lacking a dedicated ministry and sufficient resources, might become a "play ball" tossed between powerful EU leaders.
With the reorganization of EU top jobs under the Lisbon Treaty, there was widespread criticism of the vague responsibilities assigned to each post. Ukraine's ambassador to the EU, Andriy Veselovsky, praised the framework and attempted to clarify 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 specializes in "bilateral relations," while the European commissioner for enlargement and European neighbourhood policy handles technical matters like free trade agreements. Meanwhile, the president of the European Parliament articulates the EU's values. It's all very clear, isn't it?
The European Council president has also managed to extend his influence into financial policy, the most significant area previously left to the rotating Council presidency, which has seen its power diminish more than originally planned. Many of the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty require clarification through practical application by those in power. The Spanish presidency in the first half of 2010 unsuccessfully tried to challenge the prominence of the European Council president. The second half of the year saw a Belgian rotating presidency, conveniently weakened by a caretaker government, which posed no challenge to Herman van Rompuy, himself a Belgian politician. The Belgian presidency announced it was taking a "backseat," ceding the stage to both the European Council president and the high representative, which fueled both hopes and fears for a more centralized, communitarian approach to the council and foreign policy.
Privileges of office
Now for the part you actually care about: the compensation for this Sisyphean task. Formal negotiations on the salary and privileges of the permanent presidency began in April 2008 as part of the draft 2009 EU budget. The result was that the president would enjoy the same conditions as the president of the Commission. This includes a basic salary set at 138% of the highest civil service grade, not including various allowances for family and other expenses. This translates to a monthly salary of €31,200.
The president is also provided with a chauffeured car and a dedicated staff of around 20 people. There is a housing allowance, but no official residence, which was considered "too symbolic." In the same vein, the idea of a private jet was rejected, also for being too symbolic. As one diplomat noted, a discrepancy in perks between the European Council and Commission presidents would only fuel the inevitable rivalry between the two.
The prospect of greater perks for the European Council president than for the Commission president prompted the Parliament to threaten a rejection of the 2009 budget. MEPs saw a large salary and lavish extras as a symbolic signal that the post was intended to become more powerful, thereby increasing intergovernmentalism at the Parliament's expense. With some in the Council suggesting a staff of up to 60, one MEP argued in 2008 that the Committee on Constitutional Affairs should abandon the gentlemen's agreement that Parliament and Council will not interfere in each other's budgets. A classic institutional turf war, fought with spreadsheets and expense reports.
President's office
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Although the European Council is, under the Lisbon treaty, a separate EU institution, it doesn't have its own sprawling administration. It has to borrow one. 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, however, have a private office, or cabinet, staffed with close advisers—the inner circle who actually run the show. Van Rompuy chose as his first chief of staff (chef de cabinet) Baron Frans van Daele, a formidable figure who had formerly been Belgian ambassador to the US, the UN, the EU, and NATO, and had served as chief of staff for several Belgian foreign ministers. When he retired in autumn 2012, Didier Seeuws, former Deputy Permanent Representative of Belgium to the EU and a former spokesman for Belgian PM Verhofstadt, took his place. Also on the team were former UK Labour MEP Richard Corbett and Van Rompuy's long-serving 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. The term is two and a half years and is renewable once. Article 15 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) outlines the duties. The votes are cast by the Heads of State or Government.
This lack of accountability to either MEPs or national parliamentarians has cast doubt on whether national leaders will, in practice, stand behind the president on major issues. Under the old rotational system, the presidents simply had the mandate of their own member states. The new permanent president, however, is chosen by and accountable to the collective of the European Council members.
Some have suggested the radical idea of letting the public choose. Figures such as former German interior minister and former head of the Bundestag Wolfgang Schäuble have called for direct elections to give the President a popular mandate. This would undeniably strengthen the post and address questions of democratic legitimacy in the EU. It would also, of course, throw the entire institutional balance into chaos, pitting a directly elected President against a directly elected Parliament and an appointed Commission. Such a move would signify a fundamental shift in the Union's governance away from its current hybrid parliamentary system and towards a more American-style presidential system. A fascinating, and terrifying, prospect.
Relationship with Commission
See also: President of the European Commission
The vague language of the treaty guaranteed a rivalry. There was persistent disagreement and concern over the competition between the former president of the European Council, Van Rompuy, and the former Commission president, Barroso. Think of it as a political sitcom: some saw Van Rompuy as the quiet "strategist" and Barroso as the boisterous head of government. In economic policy, Van Rompuy viewed the European Council's role as setting the overall strategy, while the Commission handled the implementation. Despite having weekly breakfasts together, presumably to coordinate their messaging and subtly undermine one another, a clear rivalry existed between the two ill-defined posts.
Although the president of the European Council may not hold a national office, like being prime minister of a member state, there is no such restriction on holding other European offices. For instance, the president could theoretically be an MEP, or, more significantly, also be the Commission president (who already sits in the European Council). This loophole would allow the European Council to appoint one person to both roles, effectively creating a single, powerful presidential position for the entire union. A move that would streamline things immensely, and also concentrate a terrifying amount of power in one office.
Since the creation of the European Council presidency, Van Rompuy and Barroso competed for influence. Van Rompuy benefited from a general power shift from the Commission to the European Council, yet Barroso still held the real institutional machinery. At international summits, they continued the previous, slightly awkward practice of both attending. This complicated dynamic renewed some calls to merge the posts, possibly at the end of Barroso's term in 2014. However, some member states were, and remain, expected to oppose the creation of such a high-profile, powerful office.
If the posts are not combined, this dual-presidential system could lead to a permanent state of "cohabitation" and infighting. While it draws comparisons to the French political model, where a president (the Council president) coexists with a prime minister (the Commission president), there's a crucial difference. The Council president lacks formal powers like the ability to directly appoint and sack the Commission president, or the power to dissolve Parliament. The European Council president has prestige but lacks direct power. The Commission president has power but lacks the top-tier political prestige of the Council president. It's a recipe for elegant, bureaucratic gridlock. This problem would only be amplified if the Council president were ever to be strengthened by a direct democratic mandate, as mentioned above.
List of presidents of the European Council
Rotating presidency
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 | [42] | |
| 5 years | ||||||||
| 2 | Donald Tusk (born 1957) |
Poland | 1 December 2014 |
30 November 2019 |
PO | European People's Party | [43] | |
| 5 years | ||||||||
| 3 | Charles Michel (born 1975) |
Belgium | 1 December 2019 |
30 November 2024 |
MR | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe | [44] | |
| 5 years | ||||||||
| 4 | António Costa (born 1961) |
Portugal | 1 December 2024 |
Incumbent | PS | Party of European Socialists | [45] | |
| 350 days |
Timeline
(A timeline graphic is present in the original article, detailing the tenures of the permanent presidents.)