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
Luuk van Middelaar Luuk van Middelaar Luuk Johannes van Middelaar (born 9 May 1973 in Eindhoven) is a Dutch historian and political philosopher. From December 2009 to 2014 Van Middelaar was member of the cabinet of Herman Van Rompuy, the first President of the European Council. He is best known for his book "The Passage to Europe" (originally published in 2009; widely translated). Van Middelaar studied history and philosophy at the University of Groningen and the "Centre Raymond Aron" of the "École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales" in Paris. In 1999 his masters thesis ("doctoraalscriptie" in Dutch) "Politicide" was published and awarded