The President of the European Council

Résumé du document

After years of ongoing debate over the need or not of a European presidency, on November 19th, the European Union Heads of States and Governments elected unanimously the first stable and permanent President of the European Council under the Treaty of Lisbon, entering into force two weeks later. On the website of the European Council, an animation video is available to everyone in order to make the functions of the President clear publicly. This animation states that the President of the Council convenes the European Council, he is elected for a term of two and a half years, renewable once. He chairs and drives forward the work of the European Council, he facilitates cohesion and consensus within the European Council, without taking part in the votes, presents a report to the European parliament after each meeting of the European Council and he ensures the external representation of the Union together with the President of the Commission and the High Representative.

Extraits

[...] Also, the European Union has long suffered from a lack of visibility on the international scene, which had a negative effect on the leadership of the Union and on the communication with other world powers such as the United States. Indeed, we can recall Mr. Kissinger wondering about what Europe really is with his famous question I want to call Europe, who do I back when the European Union was made of much less Member States than it is nowadays. [...]

[...] Nevertheless, it can be said that Mr. Van Rompuy is in a better situation than Mr. Zapatero's because the latter has had to face many political problems concerning Spain's internal economy which gives the country a bad reputation within the EU. As a conclusion to this paper, it appears that the appointment of a President of the European Council brings about many latent issues pertaining to the clarity of the Lisbon Treaty on the matter, the -too- intergovernmental aspect of the European Union, and the visibility of the European Union in both the domestic and international spheres. [...]

[...] This is already an obstacle to one of Van Rompuy's goals, which is to get the European Council closer to its citizens. Also, it is important to note that the Treaty of Lisbon does not prevent the President of the European Council to be President of the European Commission as well, as it only forbids him from having a national occupation besides being President of the European Council. The eventuality of having the same person embodying the presidency of two different institutions is a threat to both the visibility of the institution and their effectiveness. [...]

[...] Bibliography Consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (2008/C 115/1), Official Journal of the European Union, Vol May 2008; General Secretariat of the Council of the EU, Background, President of the European Council, Brussells: November 2009 Le Monde, Europe: entre l'Espagne et Van Rompuy, une présidence délicate, January 8th 2010. Available on: http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/portfolio/2010/01/08/europe-une- presidence-bicephale-qui-pourrait-etre- delicate_1289367_3214.html#ens_id=1286065; European Council, Year of renewal. Available at: http://www.european- council.europa.eu/home-page/highlights/year-of- renewal.aspx?lang=en BELIGH Nabil, Le président du Conseil européen: un choix symbolique et stratégique, Analyse du jour, Affaires Stratégiques: November 2009. Available at: http://www.affaires- strategiques.info/spip.php?article2295 BELIGH Nabil, Le choix du président du Conseil européen; une “affaire d'Etats”, Analyse du Jour, Affaires Stratégiques; November 2009. Available at: http://www.affaires- strategiques.info/spip.php?article2351 CAZENAVE Fabien, Herman Van Rompuy nommé président du Conseil européen . [...]

[...] What are these obstacles and to what extent do they threaten the well-functionning of the European Institutions? First, the indirect obstacles have to do with the legitimacy and transparency of the election of the President. Indeed, the first thing one can notice is that, although it is stated in the Lisbon treaty, Article 15§5 that European Council shall elect its President, by a qualified majority”, in fact the President has rather been chosen by consensus by the different members after a certain period of negociations, where some heads of states or government like Merkel and Sarkozy tried to endorse him and convince others like the British head of government that Mr. [...]