Council of the European Union

The Council of the European Union (French: Le Conseil de l'Union Européenne, German: Rat der Europäischen Union) 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.

Working languages of the Council are English, French and German.
 

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 Council is assisted by 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.

• 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 and the European Parliament.
   
• 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.

  Voting

The Council votes either by unanimity or by Qualified Majority Voting. The voting system used for a given decision depends on the policy area to which that decision belongs; according to the founding treaties, some subjects require unanimity, while others require only a qualified majority. Even in those areas which require a qualified majority, the Council is required to try to reach a unanimous decision where possible.
 

Countries of the EU hold different numbers of votes in the Council. The number of votes held by each country is based indirectly on the size of the country's population, but smaller countries are granted a greater number of votes than their population would strictly merit. This concept is aimed at balancing the voices of larger countries with those of smaller countries.
 

On 1 November 2004, modified voting weights from the Treaty of Nice came into effect (this date was revised by the Treaty of Accession 2003 from the originally intended date of 1 January 2005). The Nice Treaty also provides for qualified majority voting to require a 'double majority' of both population and number of countries. Further revisions to the voting system are made in the proposed Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, which was signed on 29 October 2004 but has yet to be ratified by all member states.

 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, as of May 2006, in terms of the European political alliances with which the leader of each member state is indirectly associated.