What is the world’s hardest political assignment? Being president of France these days is not much fun. Heading up the North Korean opposition is rarely a stepping stone to promotion. The role of “minister for Brexit opportunities” in London proved so hard it was scrapped in 2022 after just two years and few opportunities found. Of the jobs that endure, that of president of the European Council is perhaps the most confounding. As the chairman of the forum where the European Union’s 27 national leaders meet, the person in the role supposedly controls the room in which historic decisions are made (alongside many more humdrum ones). Yet finding common ground between the skinflint Dutch, hard-right Italians, sermonising Scandinavians and war-rattled Balts requires a deftness of touch few are blessed with. A competent power broker would go a long way to steering the EU through some choppy waters ahead.