24/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - Herman Van Rompuy considers the European Council and European Commission should not oppose each other when it is a matter of increasing coordination and economic governance. “Those who seek to make the Commission and member states clash are hardly doing the Union a favour”, he said, considering as over simplistic the equation consisting of placing the European Council and inter-governmentalism on one and the same level. “The task of the European Council is to determine the guidelines for all policies”, he told the European Parliament, underlining that the heads of government were capable of conducting a broader policy than that dictated solely by national interests. He went on to point out that the European Council, of which he is the president, includes the president of the Commission and does not represent a national or federal government. (A.B./transl.jl)