Luuk van Middelaar

(Eindhoven, NL, 1973) is a leading historian and political philosopher. From 2010 to 2015 he was the speechwriter and political advisor to the first chairman of the European council, Herman Van Rompuy. After his time in Brussels, he became Professor of Foundations and Practices of the EU and its Institutions at the University of Leiden. Van Middelaar is a political commentator for national newspaper NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands) and De Standaard (Belgium). His Passage to Europe, about the political developments in Europe of the last 50 years, has been multiply awarded and translated. His book De nieuwe politiek van Europa (The New European Politics) describes how European leaders are rushing from one incident to the next. Van Middelaar offers clarity and perspective.