John Bruton for Education and Skills. On 29 October 2009, it was announced that he had written to the Ambassadors to the United States of the 27 members of the European Union expressing his interest in applying for the position of President of the European Council following implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. Bruton was very much an outside shot for the position as EU leaders firmly indicated they want a chairman-style president rather than a high-profile figurehead to fill the post. Herman Van Rompuy, the then Belgian Prime Minister, was appointed President of the European Council on 19 November 2009 and took
Herman Van Rompuy and bilateral summits, such as the tense 5 October 2010 EU-China summit. He called a special European Council at short notice in early 2011 on the emerging Libya crisis, which, in agreeing conditions for military intervention, made it impossible for Germany to oppose such intervention once the conditions were fulfilled. On 1 March 2012 Herman Van Rompuy was re-elected unanimously as President of the European Council by the heads of state or government of the 27 EU member states. President Van Rompuy's second term has lasted for two and a half years, from 1 June 2012 to 30 November 2014.