Who Are You? I Have Never Heard Of You...
The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, will be reappointed for another two and a half years during next summit of Heads of State and Government in Brussels. Van Rompuy, who reaches the end of his term on May 31, will be appointed again by the European leaders.
He will also assume a new function; he will chair the summits of the seventeen countries of the euro that will be held twice a year, starting on 2nd of March at the end of the next European Council meeting. It is expected that after the meeting, the leaders from seventeen countries sharing the euro will have a lunch during which Van Rompuy will be "elected" as the president of the Eurozone.
The decision to increase the number of Eurozone summits was adopted during the European Council last October with the “need to strengthen coordination and monitoring of economic policies in the Eurozone to improve the efficiency of decision making and ensure consistent communication”, as highlighted then by EU leaders. They agreed to meet “at least twice a year”, at key moments of the annual cycle of economic governance”, usually after a European Council meeting.
Even today, two years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Union’s new faces are looking totally inadequate. The text promised to give simplicity, efficiency and visibility but it clearly failed. Maybe two years are not enough to strike a balance? Unlikely.
According to Article 9b of the Lisbon Treaty, Herman Van Rompuy must encourage and ensure the continuity of work and preparation of the European Council, to facilitate cohesion and consensus; he should be accountable to the Parliament and “represent foreign and common security policy, without prejudice to the powers of the High Representative". This has clearly created a clash of powers with Ms Ashton, who was thought of having an independent position on her own.
Perhaps, one of the reasons why Member States want once again Herman Van Rompuy is that he is extremely weak.
"Whoever is able to govern Belgium will be able to rule anybody”. But in times of crisis we need to be more ambitious and look for someone with more charisma, someone capable to tackle the difficult times we still have to face. That person must be strong enough not to be overshadowed by the decisions of France and Germany and should never just be their spokesman.
It is indeed difficult to imagine how Van Rompuy, who was appointed with the explicit "placet" from Merkozy, could not please his "great electors".
In a European Union that has chosen an "intergovernmental" approach, the role of the "President" will become more and more blunt.
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