ABSTRACT
Institutions are designed as responses to diagnosis of problems and/or requirements in specific political and institutional contexts. Differently from other institutional innovations in the EU, the Permanent Presidency of the European Council established by the Treaty of Lisbon did not have a long process of gestation, discussion and negotiation. In formal terms, the relation of the Permanent Presidency vis-a-vis the European Parliament (EP) has not changed much in relation to that of former rotating presidencies. Institutional coordination affects two different levels: one is the coordination with national administration in charge of the rotating presidency of the several Councils. The second level is the EU one, and it affects the coordination with the Commission and the High Representative (HR). Evidence so far shows that Van Rompuy has mastered environmental demands and has also shown his ambition to equip the European Council with a long-term agenda. He has developed a model of entrepreneurial leadership based in framing an issue.
