President of the European Council
| President of the European Council | |
|---|---|
 Emblem of European Council | |
 | |
| European Council | |
| Style | Mr. President |
| 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 a position that was created by the Treaty of Lisbon. The President is the chairman of the European Council, which is the meeting of the leaders of all the member states.
Background
[change | change source]It's a very diplomatic figure, and it's not like a head of state: the President does not have any power to make decisions about the European Union. The Union has several other presidents, such as the president of the European Parliament and the president of the European Commission. But the President of the European Council, casually but wrongly known as The President of Europe, is the face by which the European Union is known to the rest of the world. The more practical aspects of this task are the responsibility of the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, the Commissioner responsible for external affairs.
List of president
[change | change source]Rotating presidents (1975–2009)
[change | change source]
Permanent presidents (since 2009)
[change | change source]| 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 | [1] | |
| 5 years | |||||||||
| 2 | 
|
Donald Tusk (born 1957) |
 Poland
|
1 December 2014 |
30 November 2019 |
PO | European People's Party | [2] | |
| 5 years | |||||||||
| 3 | .jpg)
|
Charles Michel (born 1975) |
Belgium
|
1 December 2019 |
30 November 2024 |
MR | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe | [3] | |
| 5 years | |||||||||
| 4 | .jpg)
|
António Costa (born 1961) |
 Portugal
|
1 December 2024 |
Incumbent | PS | Party of European Socialists | [4] | |
| 11 days | |||||||||
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Former President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy Archived 2023-10-28 at the Wayback Machine, European Council
- ↑ Former President of the European Council, Donald Tusk Archived 2021-09-08 at the Wayback Machine, European Council
- ↑ Charles Michel, President of the European Council, European Council
- ↑ Von der Leyen, Costa and Kallas bag EU top jobs, Politico