Didier Seeuws Seeuws was appointed as a special counsellor to Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the European Council. This role also effectively made him "the right-hand man to Frans Van Daele", who headed Van Rompuy's private office. Olivier Belle was appointed to succeed Seeuws as the Deputy Permanent Representative of Belgium. In 2012, Seeuws took over from Van Daele as the Chief of Staff ("chef de cabinet") of the private office of the President of the European Council, Van Rompuy. On 1 December 2014, Seeuws was appointed as the Director of Transport, Telecommunications and Energy in the General Secretariat of the
President of the European Council mandate, this would strengthen the post within the European Council allowing for stronger leadership in addition to addressing the question of democratic legitimacy in the EU. However, this might cause conflict with Parliament's democratic mandate or a potential mandate for the Commission (see section below). To give a mandate to the European Council's president would signify a development of the Union's governance towards a presidential system, rather than a parliamentary system. There had been disagreement and concern over competition between the former President of the European Council Van Rompuy and the former Commission President Barroso due to the vague language