President of the European Council the member state holding the semiannually rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union at any given time. However, since the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon, article 15 of Treaty on European Union states that the European Council appoints a full-time president for a two-and-a-half-year term, with the possibility of renewal once. Appointments, as well as the removal of incumbents, require a double majority support in the European Council. On 19 November 2009, the European Council agreed that its first president under the Lisbon Treaty would be Herman Van Rompuy (European People's Party, Belgium). Van Rompuy took office when the
Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, 2009 Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, 2009 Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union (short:Czech Presidency of EU) occurred in the first half of 2009. On 1 January 2009, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek became the President of the Council of the European Union. When Topolánek's cabinet lost a vote of no-confidence, he was replaced by Jan Fischer on 8 May 2009. Presidency went over to Sweden on 1 July 2009. Priorities had been formulated since 2007. It included Energetics, countries of Easter Europe and elections of European offices. Important priorities were three Big E