Herman Van Rompuy Herman Van Rompuy Herman Achille, Count Van Rompuy (, ; born 31 October 1947) is a Belgian politician, who formerly served as Prime Minister of Belgium and then as the first President of the European Council. A politician from Belgium's Christian Democratic and Flemish party, Van Rompuy served as the 49th prime minister of Belgium from 30 December 2008 until Yves Leterme (who was also his predecessor) succeeded him on 25 November 2009. On 19 November 2009 Van Rompuy was selected by the members of the European Council, which is the institution of the European Union (EU) comprising the heads
President of the European Council facing Europe, but was overtaken by the Greek economic crisis. The role of "President-in-Office" of the assembled European Council was performed by the head of state or government of the member state currently holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This presidency rotated every six months, meaning there was a new President of the European Council twice a year. The role as President-in-Office was merely a "primus inter pares" role among other European heads of state or government. Being primarily responsible for preparing and chairing the meetings of the European Council, the role had no executive powers