Herman Van Rompuy does not have its own administration. The administrative support for both the European Council and its president is provided by the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. The president does have, however, his own private office ("cabinet") of close advisers. Van Rompuy chose as his 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. Also in his team are the former UK Labour MEP Richard Corbett, former Hungarian Ambassador to NATO Zoltan Martinusz, former
Aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami organizations had offered assistance to Japan. The EU has also been more than ready to offer its support to them: "An earthquake powerful enough to make the world wobble on its axis, a massive tsunami, an emergency in nuclear power stations. Any one of these would be a tragedy. Thousands of people have died and this has turned this tragedy into a catastrophe," said Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council. Twenty Member States have offered assistance through the European Civil Protection Mechanism. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was the first foreign leader to visit the earthquake site The