Herman Van Rompuy He has another sister, Anita Van Rompuy, who is not politically active, married to Arne van der Graesen. Van Rompuy was the chairman of the national Christian People's Party's (CVP) youth council (1973–1977). From 1975 to 1980 he worked in the ministerial cabinets of and . In 1978 he was elected a member of the national CVP's bureau (1978–present). He first was elected to the Belgian Senate in 1988 and served until 1995. In 1988 he shortly served as Secretary of State for Finance and for Small and Medium Enterprises before becoming the national chairman of the CVP (1988–1993). Van
President of the European Council At international summits they continued previous practice of both going at the same time. The complicated situation had renewed some calls to merge the posts, possibly at the end of Barroso's term in 2014. However some member states had expected to oppose the creation of such a high-profile post. If the posts are not to be combined, some believe that the dual-presidential system could lead to "cohabitation" and infighting between the two offices. While it is comparable to the French model, where there is a President (the European Council president) and Prime Minister (the Commission President), the Council president does