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
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Prime Minister to direct other ministers on the costs of the Royal House, which are covered by several ministries. , there are three Prime Ministers of the Netherlands currently living, the oldest being Dries van Agt. The most recent former Prime Minister to die was Wim Kok who served 1994–2002 and died on 20 October 2018 at the age of . The Prime Minister is also Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and therefore also deals with matters affecting the other countries Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten in the Kingdom. The independent cabinets of