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
Herman Van Rompuy period of political stability to his country after months of uncertainty". This opinion is shared by others; he has been described as the painstaking builder of impossible compromises ("l'horloger des compromis impossibles") A statement made by Van Rompuy at a news conference after his selection illustrates his approach: Not all parties and fractions had positive words when Van Rompuy took office. Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party attacked the freshly appointed president by saying : "you have the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low grade bank clerk". He was fined 3000 Euros (ten days