Didier Seeuws Seeuws was appointed as a special counsellor to Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the European Council. This role also effectively made him "the right-hand man to Frans Van Daele", who headed Van Rompuy's private office. Olivier Belle was appointed to succeed Seeuws as the Deputy Permanent Representative of Belgium. In 2012, Seeuws took over from Van Daele as the Chief of Staff ("chef de cabinet") of the private office of the President of the European Council, Van Rompuy. On 1 December 2014, Seeuws was appointed as the Director of Transport, Telecommunications and Energy in the General Secretariat of the
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy the Ukrainian crisis was considered to be too soft. Nonetheless, on 2 August 2014, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi formally nominated her by letter to EC President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker, as Italy's official candidate for EU Commissioner. On 30 August, Europe's socialist Prime Ministers met prior to the convening of the European Council, at which she received the approval of the Party of European Socialists. On the same day the President Herman Van Rompuy announced that the European Council had decided to appoint the Italian Minister as its new High Representative, effective from 1 November 2014. At her first press conference