President of the European Council

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

It's a very diplomatic figure, and it is 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. However, 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.

### Rotating presidents (1975–2009)

|Year|Period|Office Holder|colspan=2|European party|State|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Liam Cosgrave|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Aldo Moro|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Gaston Thorn|style="background-color:||Liberal and Democratic Group|||
|Joop den Uyl|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|James Callaghan|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Leo Tindemans|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Anker Jørgensen|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Helmut Schmidt|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Valéry Giscard d'Estaing|style="background-color:||European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party|||
|Jack Lynch|style="background-color:||European Progressive Democrats|rowspan=2||
|Charles Haughey|style="background-color:||European Progressive Democrats|||
|Francesco Cossiga|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Pierre Werner|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Dries van Agt|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Margaret Thatcher|style="background-color:||Independent|||
|Wilfried Martens|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Anker Jørgensen|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|rowspan=2||
|Poul Schlüter|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Helmut Kohl|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Andreas Papandreou|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|François Mitterrand|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Garret FitzGerald|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Bettino Craxi|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Jacques Santer|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Ruud Lubbers|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Margaret Thatcher|style="background-color:||Independent|||
|Wilfried Martens|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Poul Schlüter|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Helmut Kohl|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Andreas Papandreou|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Felipe González|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|François Mitterrand|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Charles Haughey|style="background-color:||European Democratic Alliance|||
|Giulio Andreotti|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Jacques Santer|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Ruud Lubbers|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Aníbal Cavaco Silva|style="background-color:||European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party|||
|John Major|style="background-color:||Independent|||
|Poul Schlüter|style="background-color:||European People's Party|rowspan=2||
|Poul Nyrup Rasmussen|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Jean-Luc Dehaene|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Andreas Papandreou|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Helmut Kohl|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|François Mitterrand|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|rowspan=2||
|Jacques Chirac|style="background-color:||Independent|||
|Felipe González|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Lamberto Dini|style="background-color:||European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party|rowspan=2||
|Romano Prodi|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|John Bruton|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Wim Kok|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Jean-Claude Juncker|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Tony Blair|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Viktor Klima|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Gerhard Schröder|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Paavo Lipponen|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|António Guterres|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Jacques Chirac|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Göran Persson|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Guy Verhofstadt|style="background-color:||European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party|||
|José María Aznar|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Anders Fogh Rasmussen|style="background-color:||European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party|||
|Costas Simitis|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Silvio Berlusconi|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Bertie Ahern|style="background-color:||Union for Europe of the Nations|||
|Jan Peter Balkenende|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Jean-Claude Juncker|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Tony Blair|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Wolfgang Schüssel|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Matti Vanhanen|style="background-color:||European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party|||
|Angela Merkel|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|José Sócrates|style="background-color:||Party of European Socialists|||
|Janez Janša|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Nicolas Sarkozy|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||
|Mirek Topolánek|style="background-color:||Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists|rowspan=2||
|Jan Fischer|style="background-color:||Independent|||
|Fredrik Reinfeldt|style="background-color:||European People's Party|||

### Permanent presidents (since 2009)

|width=1%|N.|width=10%|Portrait|width=15%|President|width=8%|State|width=12%|Took office|width=12%|Left office|width=8%|Party|widht=15% colspan=2|European party|width=5%|Refs|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Herman Van Rompuy** <small>(born 1947)</small>|rowspan=2||1 December 2009|30 November 2014|rowspan=2|CD&V|||||||||
|rowspan=2|European People's Party|rowspan=2||||||||||||||||
|colspan=2 bgcolor=#EEEEEE|5 years|||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Donald Tusk** <small>(born 1957)</small>|rowspan=2||1 December 2014|30 November 2019|rowspan=2|PO|||||||||
|rowspan=2|European People's Party|rowspan=2||||||||||||||||
|colspan=2 bgcolor=#EEEEEE|5 years|||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**Charles Michel** <small>(born 1975)</small>|rowspan=2||1 December 2019|30 November 2024|rowspan=2|MR|||||||||
|rowspan=2|Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe|rowspan=2||||||||||||||||
|colspan=2 bgcolor=#EEEEEE|5 years|||||||||||||||||
|rowspan=2||rowspan=2|**António Costa** <small>(born 1961)</small>|rowspan=2||1 December 2024|_Incumbent_|rowspan=2|PS|||||||||
|rowspan=2|Party of European Socialists|rowspan=2||||||||||||||||
|colspan=2 bgcolor=#EEEEEE||||||||||||||||||

## Infobox (official post)

- **post**: President
- **body**: the European Council
- **insignia**: Council of the EU and European Council.svg
- **insigniacaption**: Emblem of European Council
- **flag**: Flag of Europe.svg
- **flagsize**: 130
- **flagcaption**: Flag of Europe
- **image**: Antonio Costa Portrait 2024 (cropped).jpg
- **incumbent**: António Costa
- **incumbentsince**: 1 December 2024
- **department**: European Council
- **style**: Mr. President (title), Mr. President
- **status**: Presiding and chief administrative officer
- **member of**: European Council (non-voting)
- **residence**: Europa building
- **seat**: Brussels, Belgium
- **appointer**: European Council
- **appointer qualified**: by Qualified Majority Voting, qualified majority
- **termlength**: 2.5 years, renewable once
- **constituting instrument**: Treaties of the European Union
- **precursor**: Chairman of the European Council
- **formation**: 1 December 2009
- **first**: Herman Van Rompuy