ministers attend the meetings depending on the subjects on the agenda. If, for example, the Council is to discuss environmental issues, the meetings are attended by the Minister from each EU country and we talk about 'Environment Council'.
The EU's relations with the rest of the world are dealt with by the "General Affairs and External Relations. But, since such training is also responsible for policy issues, participate in its meetings any minister or secretary of state chosen by each government.
Altogether there are nine different Council configurations:
General Affairs and External Relations
Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN)
Justice and Home Affairs (GAI)
Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Protection
Competition
Transport, Telecommunications and Energy
Agriculture and fishing
Environment
Education, Youth and Culture
Each minister of the Council is empowered to commit their government. In other words, its signature is the signature of the whole the government. Moreover, each minister in the Council is responsible for its own national parliament and to the citizens that parliament represents. This ensures the democratic legitimacy of Council decisions.
presidents and / or prime ministers of the Member States, together with the President of the European Commission, meet in the European Council for up to four times a year. These leaders set the broad EU policy and resolve issues that could not be resolved at a lower level (ie by the ministers at normal Council meetings). Given their importance, the European Council's discussions often last until late at night and are given special attention by the media.
What does the Council
The Council has six key responsibilities:
1. approve laws, together with Parliament, in many areas;
2. coordinate the economic policies of the member states;
3. conclude international agreements between the EU and other States or international organizations;
4. approve the EU budget with the European Parliament;
5. develop the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP: for details, see the section on Common Foreign and Security Policy), based on guidelines set by the European Council.
6. coordinate cooperation between the courts and national police forces in criminal matters (see Section Freedom, Security and Justice).
Most of these responsibilities relate to the coveted "Community", ie those policy areas for which Member States have agreed to pool their sovereignty and delegate decision-making powers to EU institutions. This domain is the "first pillar" of the European Union. The last two liability, however, relate largely to areas in which Member States have not delegated their powers but are simply working together. This area is called "intergovernmental cooperation" and includes the second and third "pillar" of the European Union.
The Council's activities are described more fully below.
1. Legislation
Most EU legislation is adopted jointly by the Council and Parliament (see section: The EU decision-making).
a rule, the Council only acts on a proposal from the Commission while the latter it is, in principle, to ensure that, once adopted, the EU legislation is properly applied.
2. Coordination of Member States' policies
EU countries have agreed to an overall economic policy based on close coordination between their national economic policies. This coordination has been established by the Ministers of Economy and Finance, which together form the Council for Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN). Also
EU countries intend to create more jobs and improve the functioning of services for education, health and social security. While remaining responsible for policy implemented in their respective countries for these sectors, Member States may reach agreement on common goals and each can learn the best experience of others. This process is called "open method of coordination" and is implemented within the Council.
3. International agreements
Each year, the Council concludes that "(ie officially signs) a series of agreements between the EU, third countries and international organizations. Such agreements may cover broad areas such as trade, cooperation and development, or specific sectors such as textiles, fisheries, science and technology, transport, etc..
addition, the Council may conclude conventions between the EU Member States in areas such as taxation, law firms or consular protection. The agreements may also address the scope of cooperation on issues of freedom, security and justice.
4. Approving the EU budget
The EU's annual budget is decided jointly by the Council and European Parliament.
5. Common foreign and security policy
Member States shall cooperate in the development of a common foreign and security policy (CFSP). However, foreign policy, defense and security are issues on which each national government maintains an independent audit. In these areas, in fact, they have not pooled their national sovereignty, to which Parliament and the European Commission play in this context only a limited role. The EU countries can still benefit tremendously from working together on these issues and the Council is the main forum in which they are such "intergovernmental cooperation".
With the goal of making more effective the Council's response to international crises, the EU has created a "rapid reaction force", but not a European army. Its members, in fact, continue to be part of the national armed forces and remain under national command, also their role is limited to humanitarian, rescue operations, peacekeeping and other tasks related to the management of crisis. In 2003, for example, the EU conducted a military operation (code name Artemis) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in 2004 launched a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina (code name: Altea).
For these operations, the Council shall be assisted by the following organizations:
- the Political and Security Committee (PSC)
- the EU Military Committee (EUMC)
- the EU Military Staff (EUMS), consisting of military experts seconded to the Council Secretariat by the Member States.
6. Freedom, security and justice
EU citizens are free to live and work in any EU country wants to choose and be able to find anywhere equal access to civil justice. It is therefore necessary that the national courts to work together to ensure, for example, that a ruling issued by an EU country in divorce or child custody is recognized by all other member countries.
The free movement within the EU is a significant benefit to law-abiding citizens but also is beneficial to criminals and terrorists. The fight against the phenomenon of cross-border crime requires cross-border cooperation between judicial authorities, police, customs and immigration services of all EU countries.
They must ensure, for example:
- the EU's external borders are effectively policed;
- that the customs officers and police exchange information on the movements of suspected drug traffickers of criminal organizations and illegal immigration;
- that applicants are considered and treated in the same way throughout the EU, in order to avoid the phenomenon of movement of asylum seekers from one Member State to another in search of better conditions (the so-called "asylum shopping").
Issues such as these are matters of work of the Justice and Home Affairs, in other words, the Ministers of Justice and Interior. The goal is to create within the borders of the EU a common "area of \u200b\u200bfreedom, security and justice."
How is the Council's work
COREPER
Each EU Member State is in Brussels with a permanent team ('representation') that represents and defends the interests at EU level. The head of each representation is the ambassador of that country to the EU.
These ambassadors (known as 'permanent representatives') meet in the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) on a weekly basis. The committee's function is to prepare the work of the Council, with the exception of most agricultural issues, which deals with the Special Committee on Agriculture. COREPER is assisted by a series of working groups, made up of officials from national administrations.
The Presidency of the Council
The Council Presidency rotates every six months by the Member States. In other words, each EU country takes charge of the Council and presides over all meetings for a period of six months, promoting legislative and political decisions and brokering compromises between the Member States.
For example, if the Environment Council to meet during the second half of 2006 will be chaired by Finnish Minister of Environment since, at that time, it will be Finland will chair the Council.
The General Secretariat of the Presidency is assisted by the General Secretariat, which prepares and ensures the proper functioning of the Council's work at all levels.
In 2004 it was renamed Javier Solana Secretary General of the Council. He also holds the post of High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and in that capacity assists in the coordination of Community activities worldwide. In accordance with the new Lisbon Treaty, the High Representative will be replaced by an EU Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The Secretary General is assisted by a secretary general in charge of managing the Secretariat.
many votes per country?
Decisions in the Council are taken by vote.
The largest is the population of a country, the greater the number of votes which that country has, however, the figures are weighted in favor of countries with fewer inhabitants.
Qualified Majority Voting
In some particularly sensitive areas such as common foreign and security policy, taxation, asylum and immigration, the Council's decisions must be unanimous. In other words, in these areas each Member State has the right to veto.
For most issues, however, the Council shall take decisions with "vote qualified majority (QMV).
qualified majority occurs:
- if a majority of member states (in some cases, a two-thirds majority) approve and
- if there is a minimum of 255 votes , corresponding to 73.9% of the total.
In addition, each member state may ask for confirmation that the votes represent at least 62% of the total population of the Union. If this is not the case, the decision will not be adopted.
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