Council of the European Union

The Council of the European Union (German: Rat der Europäischen Union, French: Le Conseil de l'Union européenne), is a governing body that forms, along with the European Parliament, the legislative arm of the European Union (EU).

The Council of the European Union contains ministers of the governments of each of the European Union member states. It is sometimes referred to in official European Union documents simply as the Council or the Council of Ministers.

The Council is based in Brussels, housed in the Justus Lipsius building and its Working languages are English, French and German^{[citation needed]}.

The Council has a President and a Secretary-General. The President of the Council is a Minister of the state currently holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union; while the Secretary-General is the head of the Council Secretariat, chosen by the member states by unanimity. The Secretary-General also serves as the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The Secretary-General is supported by a Deputy Secretary-General, responsible for the day-to-day running of the Council.

The Council is assisted by the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) , which consists of the ambassadors or their deputies from the diplomatic representations of the Member States to the European Communities. COREPER generally prepares the Council agenda, and negotiates minor and non-controversial matters, leaving controversial issues for discussion, and other issues for formal agreement, by the Council. Below COREPER, civil servants from the member states negotiate in Council working groups, often reaching de facto agreement which is formalised through COREPER and the Council of Ministers. The Council and its preparatory bodies are supported by European career civil servants (approximately three thousand as of July 2005) providing general advice, qualified legal advice, translation services and impartial negotiation assistance.

The Council of the European Union should be distinguished from the European Council, which meets four times a year in what is informally known as the 'European Summit' (EU summit), and is a closely related but separate body, made up with the heads of state and government of the member states, whose mission is to provide guidance and high level policy to the Council. It is also to be distinguished from the Council of Europe which is a completely separate international organisation (at present 46 states), not a European Union institution.

Role

The Council of the European Union is the main legislative institution of the EU. According to Article 202 of the Maastricht Treaty: to ensure that the objectives set out in this Treaty are attained the Council shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Treaty:.

ensure coordination of the general economic policies of the Member States,
have power to take decisions,
confer on the Commission, in the acts which the Council adopts, powers for the implementation of the rules which the Council lays down. The Council may impose certain requirements in respect of the exercise of these powers. The Council may also reserve the right, in specific cases, to exercise directly implementing powers itself. The procedures referred to above must be consonant with principles and rules to be laid down in advance by the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after obtaining the opinion of the European Parliament.

In effect, the Council performs the following functions:

Legislation - the Council passes EU law on the recommendations of the European Commission together with the European Parliament using the Codecision procedure.
Approval of the EU budget - the Council and the Parliament must agree on the budget.
Foreign and defence policy - while each member state is free to develop its own foreign and defence policy, the Council seeks to achieve a common foreign and defence policy for the member states.
Economic policy - the Council also seeks to achieve a common economic policy for the member states.
Justice - the Council seeks to co-ordinate the justice system of the member states, especially in areas such as terrorism.

Formations

Legally speaking, the Council is a single entity, but it is in practice divided into several different councils that meet in Brussels, each dealing with a different functional area. Each council is attended by a different type of minister. Thus, for example, meetings of the Council in its Agriculture and Fisheries formation are attended by the agriculture ministers of each member state. There are currently nine formations:

General Affairs and External Relations (GAERC): The most important of the formations, GAERC is composed of ministers for foreign affairs and meets once a month. Since June 2002 it has held separate meetings on general affairs and external relations.
- The GAERC also coordinates preparation for and follow-up to meetings of the European Council.
- At its sessions on External Relations, under the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy also takes part.
Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecofin): Composed of economics and finance ministers of the member states.
Agriculture and Fisheries: One of the oldest configurations, this brings together once a month the ministers for agriculture and fisheries, and the commissioners responsible for agriculture, fisheries, food safety, veterinary questions and public health matters.
Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA): This configuration brings together Justice ministers and Interior Ministers of the Member States.
Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO): Composed of employment, social protection, consumer protection, health and equal opportunities ministers.
Competitiveness: Created in June 2002 through the merging of three previous configurations (Internal Market, Industry and Research). Depending on the items on the agenda, this formation is composed of ministers responsible for areas such as European affairs, industry and scientific research.
Transport, Telecommunications and Energy: Also created in June 2002, through the merging of three policies under one configuration, and with a composition also varying according to the specific items on its agenda. This formation meets approximately once every two months.
Environment: Composed of environment ministers, who meet about four times a year.
Education, Youth and Culture (EYC): Composed of education, culture, youth and communications ministers, who meet around three or four times a year.

Political parties

Almost all of the leaders and ministers of each member state belong to political parties at the national level. Many of these national parties belong to pan-European political parties. However there are no formal political groups or alliances in the Council, and countries led by similar political parties are often not in agreement on questions that come before the body.

Nonetheless the table below describes the current breakdown of party affiliations in the European Council in terms of the European political alliances with which the leader of each member state is indirectly associated.

Template:European Council standings

Name of the Council in some of the official EU languages

Language	Name of the Council in that language
Bulgarian	Съвет на Европейския Съюз
Czech	Rada Evropské unie
English	Council of the European Union
Finnish	Euroopan unionin neuvosto
French	Le Conseil de l'Union européenne
German	Rat der Europäischen Union
Latvian	Eiropas Savienības padome
Polish	Rada Unii Europejskiej
Italian	Consiglio dell'Unione Europea
Spanish	Consejo de la Unión Europea
Maltese	Il-Kunsill ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea
Slovak	Rada Európskej únie
Greek	Συμβούλιο της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης
Swedish	Europeiska unionens råd

External links

Council of the European Union
- about itself (includes info on voting weights)
- Council configurations
UK bid to end secret EU debates
Council of the european union European NAvigator
Reports from the UK Committee on European Scrutiny about the Council and Openness

Role

Formations

Political parties

Name of the Council in some of the official EU languages

See also

External links