Euro Summit President
The Euro Summit President convenes and chairs summit meetings of euro area leaders.
Herman Van Rompuy
The current Euro Summit President is Herman Van Rompuy, who is also President of the European Council. His term of office will run until 30 November 2014.
Role and responsibilities
The Euro Summit President has a number of other duties in addition to convening, chairing and steering Euro Summit meetings.
In order to prepare these meetings, the President discusses euro area matters with the President of the Commission and the President of the Eurogroup.
The President also keeps other EU member states (whose currency is not the euro) well informed about preparations for and outcomes of summits, and informs the European Parliament of summit outcomes.
Selecting the President of the Euro Summit
Euro area leaders elect the Euro Summit President by simple majority, at the same time as the European Council elects its President. The mandate for both roles is two and a half years.
Biography of Herman Van Rompuy
Elected as the first full-time President of the European Council in November 2009, Herman Van Rompuy took office when the Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009. In 2012, he was re-elected for a second term starting on 1 June 2012 and running until 30 November 2014.
At the time of his first election, Herman Van Rompuy was Prime Minister of Belgium. Prior to that he had served in Belgium as Speaker of the House of Representatives (2007-2008) and in several government positions, including as Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Budget (1993-1999), Minister of State (2004) and Secretary of State for Finance and Small Businesses (1988).
A former economist at the National Bank of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy began his political career in 1973 as national vice-president of his party’s youth council. He has held various responsibilities within his party and in the Belgian Parliament, serving in turn as Senator (1988-1995) and Member of Parliament (1995-2009).
Herman Van Rompuy holds a Bachelor in Philosophy, and a Master in Applied Economics from the university K.U. Leuven. he was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, on 31 October 1947, and is married with Geertrui Windels; they have four children and four grandchildren.