19/12/2024 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 19 December in Brussels, the Heads of State or Government of European Union countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of the European Council. In attendance were two of António Costa’s former predecessors at the head of the European Council: Belgium’s Herman van Rompuy and Poland’s Donald Tusk, the latter having once again become Prime Minister. The European Council became a fully-fledged EU institution under the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon. It was originally set up as a summit forum for the leaders of the European Communities back in 1961. At the summit held on 9 and 10 December 1974 in Paris, at the headquarters of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European leaders decided, at the instigation of the then French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, to organise more regular meetings. See Agence Europe’s coverage of the 1974 summit: https://aeur.eu/f/EWE (MB)