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 Commission the European Council. There has been disagreement and concern over competition between the President of the European Council Van Rompuy and the Commission President Barroso due to the vague language of the treaty. Some clarifications see Van Rompuy as the "strategist" and Barroso as a head of government. In terms of economic planning Van Rompuy saw the Commission as dealing with the content of the plan and the European Council as dealing with the means and implementing it. Despite weekly breakfasts together there was a certain extent of rivalry between the two, as well as with the High Representative. At