|
Structure
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 institution.
Formations
The Justus Lipsius building, the Council of the European Union office in
Brussels. Legally speaking, the Council is a single entity, but it is in
practice divided into several different councils, each dealing with a
different functional area. Each council is attended by a different type of
minister. 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.
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 the 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 formal political groupings in the European Parliament. 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 Council, as of March 2005, in terms of the
European parliamentary alliances with which the leader of each member state
is indirectly associated.
Web-page: http://www.ue.eu.int
// Source: http://www.ue.eu.int
|
HOME
