President of the European Council the European Union. The President does have, however, his own private office ("cabinet") of close advisers. Van Rompuy chose as his first chief of staff ("chef de cabinet") Baron Frans van Daele, formerly Belgian ambassador to, variously, the USA, the UN, the EU and NATO and chief of staff of several Belgian foreign ministers. Upon his retirement in the autumn of 2012, Didier Seeuws, former Deputy Perm Rep of Belgium to the EU and former Spokesman for Belgian PM Verhofstadt, replaced him. Also in his team were the former UK Labour MEP Richard Corbett and Van Rompuy's long standing press
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