Chapitres d'ouvrages hors IFRI - The Rotating Presidency under the Lisbon Treaty: From Political Leader to Middle Manager? in Peter Bursens et Steven Van Hecke (dir.), "Readjusting the Council Presidency. Belgian Leadership in the EU", Academic and Scientific Publishers, 2011

The introduction of the Lisbon Treaty entailed the most fundamental changes to the rotating presidency to date. This contribution analyses the institutional framework under which the 2010 Belgian Presidency of the Council of Ministers operated. It examines the changes and tries to assess to what extent they have affected the roles, functions, and modus operandi of the Belgian Presidency.

The evolutions introduced by the Lisbon Treaty fundamentally changed the political power and agenda-setting capacity of the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers. The latter looks more like a service provider to the European Council or middle manager now, than a source of political leadership.