ABSTRACT
The French President is a powerful political actor, particularly in the domain of high' politics. However, the Prime Minister also has remarkable powers. Therefore, an interesting situation in the French twin-headed executive is the so-called cohabitation'. In order to compare the powers of the President of the European Council with the powers of national presidencies, three presidential models will be looked at: Austria, Finland and France. The President of the European Council not have the powers of the national Presidents to influence the composition of other European Union (EU) bodies. Also the powers in legislation are limited to the role of the European Council as the super-legislator' and do not exist in traditional legislation. Presidential systems vary in accordance with the powers of the President between the purely presidential, in which the President possesses the executive powers, and the so-called semi-presidential system, in which the President shares these powers with the Prime Minister.
