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“Herman Van Rompuy is not the president of the European people," announces Le Soir. A year after his appointment as the first permanent President of the European Council, the Belgian daily assesses Van Rompuy’s performance. When the financial crisis was at its height, he used "all of his pragmatism to hammer out an agreement between Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy," writes Le Soir. But "he does not reach out to Europe’s citizens, and has no desire to be the face associated with European values.” As he has said himself, “I am not the president of the European people, but of the European Council.” Le Soir points out that today "the European Council carries more weight” than it did before his appointment, “which has developed the influence of European capitals and the intergovernmental approach."
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