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DeutschPresident of the European Council - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 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.
On 2 July 2019, the European Council elected 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.[1]
List of president[change | change source]
Rotating presidents (1975–2009)[change | change source]
Permanent presidents (since 2009)[change | change source]
| Nº | Portrait | Name (birth–death) | Country | Term of office | European political party | National political party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Herman Van Rompuy (born 1947) |  Belgium | 1 December 2009 | 30 November 2014[2] | EPP | CD&V |
| Previously Prime Minister of Belgium (2008–2009), Van Rompuy was the first permanent officeholder, chosen as a low profile consensus builder. He led a task force on reforming the EU's economic governance, drafting the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) treaty and amendment. He is a supporter of greater economic integration but against the accession of Turkey to the EU. | |||||||
| 2 | .jpg) | Donald Tusk (born 1957) |  Poland | 1 December 2014[3] | 30 November 2019 | EPP | PO |
| Previously Prime Minister of Poland (2007–2014), he is the longest serving head of government of the Third Republic of Poland. Tusk's Civic Platform won a plurality of seats in the 2011 parliamentary election, meaning that he became the first Polish Prime Minister to be reelected since the fall of communism. | |||||||
| 3 | .jpg) | Charles Michel (born 1975) | Belgium | 1 December 2019 | ALDE | MR | |
| Prime Minister of Belgium (since 2014). | |||||||
References[change | change source]
- ↑ Special meeting of the European Council (30 June, 1 and 2 July 2019) – Conclusions
- ↑ "Herman Van Rompuy re-elected president" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
- ↑ "Poland's Donald Tusk takes over as EU Council president". Deutsche Welle. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.