President of the European Union

Politics of the European Union
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President of the European Union (or President of Europe) could be an incorrect reference to any of:

President of the European Council (since 1 December 2009, Herman Van Rompuy)
President of the European Commission (since 22 November 2004, José Manuel Barroso)
Presidency of the Council of the European Union (since 1 January 2011, Hungary)

Among the cases presented above, referring to the President of the European Council as the President of the European Union (EU) is by far the most common modern error in the international media.^[1]^[2] This usage is misleading because the post presides over the European Council—an institution of the EU—rather than presiding over the EU as a whole.

Prior to the Treaty of Lisbon, each member state (in turn) took the responsibilities of both the Presidency of the European Council and the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The press frequently summarised these responsibilities to the shorthand tag "EU President", both for the country holding it or its political leader. Nevertheless, this, too, was a misnomer.

The Commission Presidency has had fewer mentions using this term, despite being the one with the most powers.

There are other EU institution Presidents, but they do not hold the profile to have had the title applied to them.

The question of whether the European Council or Commission President has higher status has been potent since the former's creation by Lisbon. Both attend international summits and since 2010 the Commission president has started to deliver State of the Union addresses, modelled after the US President's.

References

^ Waterfield, Bruno (2009-11-20). Profile: Herman Van Rompuy: EU's new president. The Telegraph, 20 November 2009. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6609924/Profile-Herman-Van-Rompuy-EUs-new-president.html.
^ Washington Post (2009-11-22). President Who? The Washington Post, 22 November 2009. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/21/AR2009112101941.html.

President of the European Union

See also

References

External links