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I think one difference between the E.U. and U.S. is that specific EU institutions have presidents, whereas the US has just one overall.  There is the President of the European Council and the President of the European Parliament, and the President of the EU Commission. Each institution has a president presiding over it. Well, actually, the US Senate has a President (who is the VP of the U.S. Government). The President of the U.S. Senate is largely ceremonial, though he can break a tie. I do think that the term president is used differently as applied to the EU and US…which makes it interesting to study!

In terms of comparing the US and EU more specifically, I would say that Van Rompuy’s office—President of the European Council—is equivalent to the President of the U.S. Senate (though only roughly equivalent). The European Council is still intergovernmental because the state governments themselves sit on it, whereas since the 17th amendment wherein US Senators are popularly elected (rather than appointed by State legislatures) the US Senate has been less intergovernmental (though the Senate represents polities rather than the voters, and each polity has equal suffrage as per international law).  Even today, the U.S. Senate is technically an international body along the lines of international law because polities rather than individuals are represented (i.e., members). This was very much in the minds of the founders when the Senate was created. However, the election of the Senators by the people of the States makes the Senators accountable not to their state governments, but to the people of their state, and there is a difference with respect to the interests of the state governments in the U.S. federal system.  Specifically, the citizens may not want to protect the interests of their respective state governments, whereas the state officials would want to do so.

I hope the European Council stays intergovernmental, as the E.U.’s state governments should be directly involved in EU governance for the European federalism to remain viable…as per the theory at least.  In fact, just yesterday I told a friend that the E.U. is a stronger federal system than is the U.S.  The latter is heavily biased toward consolidation, which creates pressures because of the inherent diversity that exists when a polity is made out of large republics.