de Boissieu, Pierre (1945 - )
Deputy Secretary General in the Council who leads the Council Secretariat and assists the shifting presidencies - at present the presidency changes every 6 months.Javier Solana is also the High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and has therefore no time for the ordinary Council work.
De Boissieu is a former permanent representative of France in Brussels and he is the grand-nephew of the former French president Charles de Gaulle.
Notes
De Boissieu was appointed as a result of a Franco-German deal. When he was elected 13 Member States preferred the Danish permanent representative, Poul Skytte Christoffersen. Only two, Germany and France, wanted de Boissieu. The Frenchman won the post with 2 supporters against 13.The future
This post may be appointed by a qualified majority in future.