John Bruton for Education and Skills. On 29 October 2009, it was announced that he had written to the Ambassadors to the United States of the 27 members of the European Union expressing his interest in applying for the position of President of the European Council following implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. Bruton was very much an outside shot for the position as EU leaders firmly indicated they want a chairman-style president rather than a high-profile figurehead to fill the post. Herman Van Rompuy, the then Belgian Prime Minister, was appointed President of the European Council on 19 November 2009 and took
Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement European Union, Russia, and Ukraine… this is our responsibility". President Viktor Yanukovych was removed from power by Ukrainian parliament majority vote after 2014 Ukrainian revolution and replaced by a new interim government in February 2014. At an EU summit in Brussels on 21 March 2014, the new Ukrainian Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatseniuk, and European Union leaders Herman Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso, along with the 28 national political leaders or heads of state on the European Council, signed in Brussels the political provisions of the AA, with the DCFTA to be signed after the presidential election in May 2014.