Council
The Council of Ministers is often simply called 'the Council'. It is distinct from the European Council – which is the name for the meetings, within the framework of the EU, of the heads of state and government of member states.
The Council is the law-making body of the EU. Laws are proposed by the Commission, the Council may then approve or reject these proposals. In an increasing number of cases it must approve legislation jointly with the European Parliament through the process of co-decision.
Ministers also meet informally. At such meetings they are able to negotiate more freely, but cannot formally take decisions. The Council is led by a six-month rotating presidency and is serviced by a Brussels-based secretary general and secretariat.
The Council decides procedural matters by majority of its members which is 14 of 27. The Council decides on most policy matters, directives and regulations by weighted and qualified majority voting, each country having a particular number of votes. Certain key decisions require unanimity, for example, the admission of new member states, tax matters and major foreign and security issues.
Meetings of the Council of Ministers are composed of ministers from each of the member states. The type of ministers present depends upon the policy area under discussion. Agriculture ministers meet in the Agriculture Council, transport ministers in the Transport Council, and so on. Ministers are often represented at Council meetings by an ambassador of state or other civil servant.
Notes
- Some 70% of all EU laws are decided in Council working groups and 15% in COREPER. Only 15% are negotiated in Councils of Ministers.
- There are around 300 working groups under the Council - and 3000 under the EU Commission.
- Shares joint responsibility for the EU budget with the European Parliament. The Council has the final say on ‘compulsory expenditure’; the Parliament on ‘non-compulsory’ expenditure.
The future
The Lisbon Treaty propose three big reforms:
- A permanent President to chair the European Council for a 2½ year renewable period. The President is to represent the EU in international affairs.
- From 2009 onwards, the qualified majority will represent a so-called "double majority". This may require 55% of the Member States representing 65% of the population.
- A system of team precidencies are introduced meaning that 3 countries will chair all council compositions for 18 months together. But they will all get to chair each council for 6 months.
From 2014 the qualified majority will represent a so-called “double majority”. The first vote requires the support from 55% of the member states. The next and more difficult vote requires support from member states with a total amounting to 65% of the EU population, and cast from at least fifteen member states. In the existing EU with 27 countries it will allow three big member states and a small one to block a decision wanted by the remaining 23 countries.
Links
website of the Council http://ue.eu.int/
See also Luxembourg compromise and Voting in the Council.
