President of the European Council, a useless and expensive job – Editorial

By announcing his candidacy for the European elections in June, the current president of the European Council drew strong criticism from the 27 countries. But his choice should be an opportunity to open a discussion about this position, whose powers are so limited under the treaties that he cannot impose himself and be effective.

The decision taken by Charles Michel, President of the European Council of Heads of State and Government, to relinquish his post eleven months before the natural end of his second two-and-a-half-year term, is a thunderbolt of how this position has not attracted, to put it mildly, neither its holders nor the States. Members. In fact, the former Belgian Prime Minister announced last weekend that he will head the list of the Reform Movement, his family of origin, during the European elections next June.

Even if he says he wants to stay in office until he is sworn in as an MEP in mid-July, after his election is confirmed, it is doubtful that he will be able to do so because he would have to step down during the elections. Election campaign, in May, and then we see him badly directing the work of the twenty-seven when he won't actually be there. One might even wonder whether he should resign immediately, because it is not clear how he can maintain his position as a neutral arbiter, which he is supposed to be, while returning to the arena of national politics.

Contempt of nations

The third holder of this position, created by the 2007 Lisbon Treaty (which entered into force on 1 December 2009), is Charles Michel, the first