Misplaced Pages

List of presidents of the institutions of the European Union

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from List of presidents of European Union institutions)

Part of a series on the
History of the
European Union
Timeline
Organisation
European Communities (1958–2009)
European Coal and Steel Community (1952–2002)
European Economic Community (1958–1993)
European Atomic Energy Community (1958–present)
European Community (1993–2009)
Justice and Home Affairs (1993–2003)
Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (2003–2009)
Common Foreign and Security Policy pillar (1993–2009)
Western European Union (1954–2011)
Western Union (1948–1954)
Treaties
Treaty of Paris 1951
Treaty of Rome 1957
Merger Treaty 1965
Single European Act 1986
Maastricht Treaty 1992
Treaty of Amsterdam 1997
Treaty of Nice 2001
Treaty of Lisbon 2007
Commissions
Hallstein Commission 1958
Rey Commission 1967
Malfatti Commission 1970
Mansholt Commission 1972
Ortoli Commission 1973
Jenkins Commission 1977
Thorn Commission 1981
Delors Commissions I–III 1985
Santer Commission 1994
Prodi Commission 1999
Barroso Commission I & II 2004
Juncker Commission 2014
Von der Leyen Commission I 2019
Von der Leyen Commission II 2024
Topics
flag European Union portal

This is a list of presidents of the institutions of the European Union (EU). Each of the institutions is headed by a president or a presidency, with some being more prominent than others. Both the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission are sometimes wrongly termed the President of the European Union. Most go back to 1957 but others, such as the Presidents of the Auditors or the European Central Bank have been created recently. Currently (2024), the President of the European Commission is Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council is Charles Michel.

Current officeholders

President of the European Council
António Costa Institution European Council The duty of the European Council president is primarily that of preparing and chairing the meetings of the European Council. The position became 30-month appointed position, elected by the members of the European Council, in 2009 by virtue of the Treaty of Lisbon. Before, it rotated around between the head of state or government of the country holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (see below). This longer term President of the European Council has been described directly by some as a new "President of the European Union". According to the Financial Times, "the president would have few formal powers, but would give the EU strategic leadership and represent the bloc on the world stage on issues such as climate change, bilateral relations and development."
Current holder António Costa
Member State  Portugal
Party Party of European Socialists
Since 1 December 2024
Presidency of the Council of the European Union
Institution Council of the EU The Presidency of the Council of the European Union (Council of Ministers) is rotated between member states every 6 months. The council is composed of the relevant national ministers depending on the topic being discussed with minister from the state holding the presidency chairing. The country holding the Presidency is able to affect the overall policy direction for the six months. Since 2007, the Presidency has been co-ordinated every 18 months by three countries (a "triplet"), though one still takes a lead position every 6 months.
Current holder  Hungary
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
Party Patriots.eu
Since 1 July 2024
President of the European Commission
Ursula von der Leyen Institution European Commission The President of the European Commission is head of the 27-member college of commissioners. The commission's responsibilities include drafting legislative proposals and managing the day-to-day running of the EU. It is also responsible for a degree of the EU's external representation, for example attending G8 meetings. The commission president is proposed by the European Council, who take account of the previous European Elections, before being elected by the European Parliament for a five-year mandate. It has been described by some as the "President of the European Union" but a more common analogy is "Prime Minister of the European Union" given the style of position over a cabinet government.
Current holder Ursula von der Leyen
Member State  Germany
Party European People's Party
Since 1 December 2019
President of the European Parliament
Roberta Metsola Institution European Parliament The President of the European Parliament presides over the plenary of the Parliament, which is one-half of the legislative branch of the Union. The President also chairs the Bureau and Conference of Presidents as well as representing the Parliament. The President's role is similar to that of a speaker in a national parliament, but also represents the Parliament externally and vis a vis the other institutions, which is a more political role.
Current holder Roberta Metsola
Member State  Malta
Party European People's Party
Since 11 January 2022
President of the Court of Justice
Institution Court of Justice of the European Union (Court of Justice) The President of the Court of Justice is elected from and by the judges for a renewable term of three years. The President presides over hearings and deliberations, directing both judicial business and administration. The European Court of Justice is the highest court in the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union it is tasked with interpreting EU law and ensuring its equal application across all EU member states. The Court is based in Luxembourg and is composed of one judge per member state – currently 27 – although it normally hears cases in panels of three, five or thirteen judges.
Current holder Koen Lenaerts
Member State  Belgium
Party None
Since 8 October 2015
President of the General Court
Institution Court of Justice of the European Union (General Court) The President of the General Court is elected from and by the judges for a renewable term of three years. The President presides over hearings and deliberations, directing both judicial business and administration.General Court is the second (unofficially lower) court of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It is responsible for cases in the fields of environment and consumers, freedom to provide services, law on the EU institutions, trade marks and intellectual and industrial property, competition, state aid, agriculture, public health, EU external relations, economic policy and access to documents. The Court is based in Luxembourg and is composed of two judges from each EU Member state. Cases are heard by the chambers of 5 or 3 judges, presidents of which are elected for a term of three years.Unlike the Court of Justice, the General Court does not have Advocates General, but similar tasks can occasionally be performed by a judge of the General Court.
Current holder Marc van der Woude
Member State  Netherlands
Party None
Since 27 September 2019
President of the European Central Bank
Christine Lagarde Institution European Central Bank The President of the European Central Bank is the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), the institution responsible for the management of the euro and monetary policy in the Eurozone of the European Union. The President heads the executive board, governing council and general council of the ECB and represents the bank abroad, for example at the G20. The President is appointed by majority in the European Council, de facto by those who have adopted the euro, for an eight-year non-renewable term. The primary objective of the European Central Bank, as mandated in Article 2 of the Statute of the ECB, is to maintain price stability within the Eurozone.
Current holder Christine Lagarde
Member State  France
Party European People's Party
Since 1 November 2019
President of the European Court of Auditors
Institution European Court of Auditors The duties of the President of the European Court of Auditors (which may be delegated) are to convene and chair the meetings of the Court, ensuring that decisions are implemented and the departments (and other activities) are soundly managed. Despite its name, the Court has no judicial functions. It is rather a professional external investigatory audit agency. The primary role of the court is to externally check if the budget of the European Union has been implemented correctly, in that EU funds have been spent legally and with sound management.
Current holder Tony Murphy
Member State  Ireland
Party None
Since 1 October 2022

Historic officeholders

Conservative/Christian democrat Socialist Liberal/Centrist Communist Independent
Year President of the
European Commission 		President of the
European Council 		President of the
European Parliament 		Presidency of the
Council of the European Union 		President of the
European Court of Justice
1958 1: Walter Hallstein (I)   1: Robert Schuman  Belgium 1: André Donner
 Belgium
 West Germany
1959  France
 Italy
1960 2: Hans Furler  Luxembourg
 Netherlands
1961  Belgium
 West Germany
1962 1: Walter Hallstein (II) 3: Gaetano Martino  France
 Italy
1963  Luxembourg
 Netherlands
1964 4: Jean Duvieusart  Belgium 2: Charles Léon Hammes
 West Germany
1965 5: Victor Leemans  France
 Italy
1966 6: Alain Poher  Luxembourg
 Netherlands
1967  Belgium 3: Robert Lecourt
2: Jean Rey  West Germany
1968  France
 Italy
1969 7: Mario Scelba  Luxembourg
 Netherlands
1970  Belgium
3: Franco Maria Malfatti  West Germany
1971 8: Walter Behrendt  France
 Italy
1972 4: Sicco Mansholt  Luxembourg
 Netherlands
1973 5: François-Xavier Ortoli 9: Cornelis Berkhouwer  Belgium
 Belgium
 Denmark
 Denmark
1974  West Germany
 France
1975 Liam Cosgrave 10: Georges Spénale  Ireland
Aldo Moro  Italy
1976 Gaston Thorn  Luxembourg 4: Hans Kutscher
Joop den Uyl  Netherlands
1977 6: Roy Jenkins James Callaghan 11: Emilio Colombo  United Kingdom
Leo Tindemans  Belgium
1978 Anker Jørgensen  Denmark
Helmut Schmidt  West Germany
1979 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing  France
Jack Lynch 1: Simone Veil  Ireland
Charles Haughey  Ireland
1980 Francesco Cossiga  Italy 5: Josse Mertens de Wilmars
Pierre Werner  Luxembourg
1981 7: Gaston Thorn Dries van Agt  Netherlands
Margaret Thatcher  United Kingdom
1982 Wilfried Martens 2: Piet Dankert  Belgium
Anker Jørgensen  Denmark
Poul Schlüter  Denmark
1983 Helmut Kohl  West Germany
Andreas Papandreou  Greece
1984 François Mitterrand 3: Pierre Pflimlin  France 6: Alexander Mackenzie Stuart
Garret FitzGerald  Ireland
1985 Bettino Craxi  Italy
Jacques Santer  Luxembourg
1986 8: Jacques Delors (I) Ruud Lubbers  Netherlands
Margaret Thatcher  United Kingdom
1987 Wilfried Martens 4: Henry Plumb  Belgium
Poul Schlüter  Denmark
1988 Helmut Kohl  West Germany 7: Ole Due
Andreas Papandreou  Greece
1989 8: Jacques Delors (II) Felipe González  Spain
François Mitterrand 5: Enrique Barón Crespo  France
1990 Charles Haughey  Ireland
Giulio Andreotti  Italy
1991 Jacques Santer  Luxembourg
Ruud Lubbers  Netherlands
1992 Aníbal Cavaco Silva 6: Egon Klepsch  Portugal
John Major  United Kingdom
1993 8: Jacques Delors (III) Poul Schlüter  Denmark
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen  Denmark
Jean-Luc Dehaene  Belgium
1994 Andreas Papandreou  Greece 8: Gil Carlos Rodríguez Iglesias
Helmut Kohl 7: Klaus Hänsch  Germany
1995 9: Jacques Santer François Mitterrand  France
Jacques Chirac  France
Felipe González  Spain
1996 Lamberto Dini  Italy
Romano Prodi  Italy
John Bruton  Ireland
1997 Wim Kok 8: José María Gil-Robles  Netherlands
Jean-Claude Juncker  Luxembourg
1998 Tony Blair  United Kingdom
Viktor Klima  Austria
1999 Gerhard Schröder  Germany
Manuel Marín (acting)
10: Romano Prodi Paavo Lipponen 9: Nicole Fontaine  Finland
2000 António Guterres  Portugal
Jacques Chirac  France
2001 Göran Persson  Sweden
Guy Verhofstadt  Belgium
2002 José María Aznar López 10: Pat Cox  Spain
Anders Fogh Rasmussen  Denmark
2003 Costas Simitis  Greece 9: Vassilios Skouris
Silvio Berlusconi  Italy
2004 Bertie Ahern  Ireland
11: José Manuel Barroso (I) Jan Peter Balkenende 11: Josep Borrell  Netherlands
2005 Jean-Claude Juncker  Luxembourg
Tony Blair  United Kingdom
2006 Wolfgang Schüssel  Austria
Matti Vanhanen  Finland
2007 Angela Merkel 12: Hans-Gert Pöttering T1  Germany
José Sócrates  Portugal
2008 Janez Janša  Slovenia
Nicolas Sarkozy T2  France
2009 Mirek Topolánek  Czechia
Jan Fischer  Czechia
Fredrik Reinfeldt 13: Jerzy Buzek  Sweden
2010 11: José Manuel Barroso (II) 1. Herman Van Rompuy T3  Spain
 Belgium
2011  Hungary
T4  Poland
2012 14: Martin Schulz  Denmark
 Cyprus
2013 T5  Ireland
 Lithuania
2014  Greece
T6  Italy
2015 12: Jean-Claude Juncker 2. Donald Tusk  Latvia
 Luxembourg
2016 T7  Netherlands 10: Koen Lenaerts
Term expires 6 Oct 2024
15: Antonio Tajani  Slovakia
2017  Malta
T8  Estonia
2018  Bulgaria
 Austria
2019 T9  Romania
16: David Sassoli  Finland
2020 13: Ursula von der Leyen
Term expires 31 Oct 2024 		3. Charles Michel
Term expires 30 November 2024 		 Croatia
T10  Germany
2021  Portugal
 Slovenia
2022 T11  France
17: Roberta Metsola
 Czechia
2023  Sweden
T12  Spain
2024  Belgium
 Hungary

See also

References

  1. Push for Blair as new EU president Financial Times 16 June 2007
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 January 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "The Court of Justice". Europa (web portal). Archived from the original on 8 July 2007. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
  5. Statute of the ECB

External links

European Union Presidents of the European Commission
High Authority of the Coal and Steel Community
(1952–1967)
Commission of the Atomic Energy Community
(1958–1967)
Commission of the Economic Community
(1958–1967)
Commission of the Communities
(1967–2009)
Commission (2009–present)
European Union Presidents of the European Parliament
Common Assembly: 1952–1958
Parliamentary Assembly: 1958–1962
European Parliament (appointed): 1962–1979
European Parliament (elected): 1979–present
Category: