My my, change may be afoot.

When Herman Van Rompuy became president of the European Council, his first act was to call an informal meeting of EU leaders. His second act may be to call many more.

Nothing is written in stone yet. It never is after these informal gatherings but Van Rompuy says he intends to propose that the 27 leaders meet once a month.

Following Thursday’s meeting he said there were so many topics that leaders wanted to talk about that he “drew the conclusion” they should meet more often.

This he noted, in what he is becoming his trademark self-deprecatory manner, would have the added benefit of meaning “there will be fewer complaints of my invisibility.”

This would be a very interesting development indeed.

At the moment, EU leaders meet four times a year formally. And every now and then for an extraordinary (informal) summit, such as the one that took place today, originally to discuss the Union’s longterm economic strategy, before Greek ‘events’ took over.

Regular gathering would have the simple effect of EU leaders getting to know each other better. The ceremony and sense of ‘occasion’ that normally surrounds these meetings would necessarily fall away as habit and regularity took over.

Potential lapses into protectionism, a political or economic problem, small bubbles of resentment – any such incidences in a particular EU corner would then only be one month away from being discussed at the highest political level.

The regular gatherings would have the potential to politicise Europe to a far greater degree. The pressure to have a result, if only a commitment to a future result, would likely lead to decisions being made more quickly. This could have important implications for the drive to further economic coordination.

According to Van Rompuy, the sour taste left by the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, where the EU did not feature in negotiations on the final deal, has focussed the minds. Economic power translates into global political power. Yes, it’s obvious. But sometimes such points need to be driven home.

For the European Commission the extra meetings would also be an interesting development.

For this meeting, the question of the EU’s future economic strategy was the subject of careful political choreography. The commission president is to oversee the content(fewer more differentiated goals); the EU president the governance of it (carrots are in, talk of sticks is out).

Future such meetings could change the political dynamics. On the one hand, commission president Jose Manuel Barroso could use the occasions to float legislative ideas and take soundings. On the other hand, it could be used by member states to sideline the commission further.

All of the above, of course, is based on the assumption that Van Rompuy drew the right conclusion today.