President of the European Council also led to their rejection. On 19 November 2009, Herman Van Rompuy, at that time Prime Minister of Belgium, was appointed the first full-time President of the European Council. The formal decision on the appointment was made after the Treaty of Lisbon came into force on 1 December 2009. The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said that he had unanimous backing from the 27 EU leaders at the summit in Brussels on the evening of 19 November 2009. Brown praised Van Rompuy as "a consensus builder" who had "brought a period of political stability to his country after months of
Eric Van Rompuy of his party. Since 1999, he has been MP in the Flemish Parliament. He is married to Viviane Geuffens. Eric Van Rompuy Eric Karel Paul Van Rompuy (born 23 November 1949 in Uccle) is a Flemish politician. He is the son of the later Prof. em. dr. Vic Van Rompuy and brother of Herman Van Rompuy and Christine Van Rompuy. After obtaining his licentiate degree in economics, he obtained a baccalaureate degree in philosophy (1971). In 1975, he obtained a PhD in economics at the KU Leuven. From 1976 till 1981, he worked at the Kredietbank as economist. In the