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
President of the European Commission When President Romano Prodi took office with the new powers of the Treaty of Amsterdam, he was dubbed by the press as Europe's first Prime Minister. President Delors' work had increased the powers of Parliament, whose support he had enjoyed. However, later Commissions did not enjoy the same support, and in 1999, the European Parliament used its powers to force the Santer Commission to resign. Historically, the Council appointed the Commission President and the whole body by unanimity without input from Parliament. However, with the Treaty on European Union in 1993, the European Parliament, the body elected directly by the