Didier seeuws biography

Head of the European Council

Not to be confused with Presidency of the Council of the European Union or President of the European Commission.

The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as the president of the European Commission, and provides political direction to the European Union (EU).

From 1975 to 2009, the chair of the European Council was an unofficial position (often referred to as the president-in-office) held by the head of state or government of the member state holding the semiannually rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union at any given time. However, since the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon, article 15 of Treaty on European Union states that the European Council appoints a full-time president for a two-and-a-half-year term, with the possibility of renewal once. Appointments, as well as the removal of incumbents, require a double majority support in the European Council.

On 19 November 2009, the European Council agreed that its first president under the Lisbon Treaty would be Herman Van Rompuy (European People's Party), until then the Belgian prime minister. Van Rompuy took office when the Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009 with a term stretching until 31 May 2012. His term was later extended with a second period ending on 30 November 2014.

The second holder of the office was (until then) Polish prime minister Donald Tusk. He was originally elected to serve a term from 1 December 2014 to 31 May 2017, and was re-elected on 9 March 2017 to a second term running from 1 June 2017 until 30 November 2019.

On 2 July 2019 the European Council elected the until then Belgian prime minister Charles Michel as the successor to Donald Tusk as President

Didier Seeuws, a hard-working diplomat with an eye for detail, was quickly tapped by Donald Tusk to head the Council's task force for the Brexit negotiations.

While the Barnier-Weyand Commission task force will do the "heavy lifting" in the negotiations - dealing with the technical detail of Britain's exit from the EU - the Council team will be tasked with keeping the remaining 27 national governments happy and shaping the EU's longer term strategic relationship with the UK.

Mr Seeuws will also have to bear in mind the views of MEPs - the European Parliament will have to approve the final deal.

Mr Seeuws's team is said to have been meeting twice a week in preparation for negotiations - prompting unhappy comparisons with the UK side's state of preparation in some of the media.

Mr Seeuws is respected for his role in handling the Greek debt negotiations - working through the night until dawn and overcoming divisions between heads of state to achieve a deal.

From 2007 to 2010, the 51-year-old technocrat from the Flemish city of Ghent was Belgium's deputy ambassador to the EU, where he is said to have negotiated a breakthrough on the European patent system - following a 30-year deadlock.

The ambassador he served under, Jean De Ruyt, told the BBC his political instincts were "always spot on" and that he "trusted his judgement and recommendations completely".

"Apparently modest and obliging, he is capable of mastering the most complex of technical issues and understanding immediately the political stakes, but at the same time able to explain in simple words what has been discussed or decided.

"I have no doubt that Didier will often be able to reach a fair compromise when, as expected, difficult negotiations will reach a stalemate."

Prior to this, Mr Seeuws served for several years as spokesman for the Belgian prime minister, none other than G

Belgian civil servant and diplomat

Didier Seeuws (born 1 August 1965) is a Belgian civil servant and diplomat who has been appointed by the European Union (EU) to lead a special internal task force in connection with the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU.

Early life and education

Seeuws was born in Sint-Amandsberg, Ghent, and studied diplomatic sciences and European law.

Career

Seeuws joined the Belgian civil service in 1989, and remained as a trainee diplomat until 1991. From July 1991 to July 1995, he was an economic and trade attaché to the Belgian embassy in Washington, D.C. He was an attaché to the trade minister from August 1995 to July 1998, responsible for investment and bilateral relations with North America and Asia. From August 1998 to July 2002, he worked as an adviser to the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the European Union (EU), in charge of relations with the European Parliament. He returned to Belgium in 2002, and from August 2002 to July 2003 worked as the spokesperson for the foreign ministry. From August 2003 to July 2007, he served as the spokesperson for the Prime Minister of Belgium, then Guy Verhofstadt.

On 1 August 2007, he assumed the role of Deputy Permanent Representative of Belgium to the EU, succeeding Louis Mouraux. He was the deputy to Jean de Ruyt, appointed a few days later. Notably, Seeuws held this role in 2010, when Belgium held the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers. According to The Guardian, he has been "credited with negotiating a breakthrough on the European patent system, an issue that had been deadlocked for more than 30 years."

In June 2011, Dirk Wouters was appointed as the Permanent Representative of Belgium to the EU, replacing de Ruyt. As Belgian custom did not allow both roles in the representation to be held by Flemings, Seeuws was appointed as a special counsellor to Herman Van Rompuy, the