Herman Van Rompuy head of the EU's economic & financial committee Odile Renaud-Basso, Luuk van Middelaar, his main speech writer, and Van Rompuy's long standing press officer Dirk De Backer. In 2013 Frans Van Daele retired both as a diplomat and as chief of Staff of Van Rompuy, and was appointed chief of staff to king Philippe. He was succeeded as chief of staff of Herman Van Rompuy by Didier Seeuws. Alongside with José Manuel Barroso 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
President of the European Union of the European Union, "President" of the European Council and "Prime Commissioner" would give a clearer indication of their respective roles. During the height of the Commission President's powers in the late-1980s and 1990s, the Commission President was sometimes referred to as the Europe's Prime Minister and the role of the President is similar to that of a national Prime Minister chairing a cabinet. The formulation of titles is not without precedent in Europe; for comparison, the title for the Prime Minister of Spain in Spanish is the "Presidente del Gobierno" ("President of the Government"), not Prime Minister. The Presidents