I.

Council of European Union

It is the representatives of ministerial level of member states.
Council of Europe != Council of Ministries
C.E.U. is not executive but legislative
Normally the General Council according to the resolution adopted at the Paris Summit of the
EC from 1974, the Council has to act as coordinator and initiator of community activities and
to ensure the continuity of work at the community level

Special Topic: the representatives of member state, ministries in charge at national level in the
field of activity of that sector, forming a specialized Council that has the ability to discuss all the
issues related to that field of activity (e.g. agriculture, transport)
The Councils can take place at the same time: the General Council and 1-2 other specialized
Councils.
The representatives of member states each have the right to a single vote because the
member states are equal from a juridical point of view.
The meetings of the Councils are held 5 days each month and are proposed by the President,
by the members or by the Commission.
When the Council is not in session a community Coreper is preparing the Council meetings.
The members of Coreper are representatives of member states at the highest level, but they are
not ministers.
Coreper has 2 levels of organization:
1. Ambassadors of member states near the EU.
2. Experts or high officials specialized in different fields of activity.
Within the Coreper the compromise between the interest of governments of member states is
reached; so the Coreper is a forum of debates between the representatives of member states
on one side, interest of the states against the other states
on the other, community interest as well as a compromise with the other states
The Council is lead by a President who has 6 months term of office and he holds the
presidency by automatic rotation provided by the Treaty (according to the alphabetical order of the
name of the country in its national language). It has a special juridical service and a special
secretary.
The Council has only those attributions provided by the Treaty (competence and limits of
competence of each institution).
Because the Council is a community institution, the acts adopted by it have legal form
provided by the treaty and consequently they do not have to be ratified.
If a member of a Council cant attend the meeting, he can be represented by a delegate that
may note only if he has a special proxy (procura) regarding the object of the note and the note.
The rule is that within the Council a majority takes the decision (within the E.P. an absolute
majority is necessary), only the conform opinion has to be taken with the votes by 2/3 and the
presence (has to be at least the absolute majority).
The Treaty organizes different types of majority which has to be used by the Council
depending on the decision or on the act. In only a few cases a valid decision with a simple majority
(50% + 1) can be taken.
The majority provided by the Treaty is called qualified majority. In precise cases it is done
unanimously.

The numbers provided by the Treaty have been adopted depending on the demographic
criteria and economic power of each member state. According to the Nice Treaty, beginning with
November 1st 2002 (?), the total number of votes within the Council is 321 and that can be
considered valid adopted if 232 favorable votes have been expressed by the majority of the members
of the Council when the act that the Council has to adopt is based on a Commission proposal. If not
then a valid vote is considered if 232 favorable votes have been expressed by 2/3 of the member
states representatives. The minority that can block the vote is considered at least 90 votes.
When the EU will be formed of 27 member states, and until October 31 st 2006 the number of
total qualified votes will be 345. From that, a favorable vote will be obtained with 258 votes and the
minority to block it will be of 91 votes.
Each member state can ask the President of the Council to verify that the qualified majority
has been reached by the vote of the member states that represent 62% of the population of the
Union.
acceptaccording
the amendment
of the E.P.
by the Commission; act adopted
Council attributions
to the Treaty
provisions:
with
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1. legislative power
the Commissions
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2. externalifrepresentation
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with
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with
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3. coordination of economic policy and/or
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ofacceptance
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amendments
in the second
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reject
the act that is sent to the Conciliatory Committee (formed by
4. budgetary
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equal number of representatives of the Council and Parliament, its
taskaccording
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forfrom
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1. legislative power:
to article
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(revised)
Nice Treaty,
Conciliatory
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may or or
may
not approve
a common
Commission can
adopt regulations,
directives
decisions
which
have compulsory juridical
position)
force and can issue recommendations or opinions which are not bounded. The Council
adopts the act based on the proposal coming from the Commission and having the opinion of
the E.P.
European
Council of
Commissionproposalproposal
Commission
E.U. Council

request request

E.P.

E.P.

opinion
opinion

after amendment

(1st lecture)

Act

common position
(2nd lecture)

send back

a) accept the common position => act adopted with

qualified majority
b) not take any action => automatically accepted
2. reject the common position => accepted with a higher
majority
3. amendment to the common position

3 months

1. if approved the proposal goes to the Council of the E.U. and Parliament
which have to approve the common position with the following options:
a) C.E.U. - adopts the act by qualified majority
- doesnt accept the common position, so the act isnt adopted
b) E.P.
- accepts by approval with a majority of votes => C.E.U. will
adopt the act with a qualified majority
- doesnt accept => the act cant be adopted and the entire
procedure will restart from the beginning
2. doesnt approve the common position => the act isnt adopted

Budgetary Procedures
It involves these institutions (the C.E.U. and E.P.) in another way.
Each institution has to present its proposal to the Commission on July 1 st regarding the
expenses for the next year. Then the Commission will draft the so called preliminary budget project
and will present it until the September 1 st. After meetings with members of each institution, the
Council will adopt the budget project with qualified majority, based on their estimations, until
October 5th and will send it to the Parliament. Then the E.P. has 45 days to take one of the following
decisions:
1. a) approve with a majority of votes
b) have no reaction to the project, the budget is considered adopted
2. the Parliament will reject the project; the Council cant adopt the budget and the new
proposal shall be presented; the procedure restarts, the Parliament can propose with a majority of
votes amendments and send them to the Council, excepting the case when the modifications
proposed regard only the compulsory expenses. In this case the E.P. can modify them directly
and approve them with 2/3 of its members. The budget is adopted.

The budget is considered adopted if the modifications regarding other expenses (the budget +
amendments) are sent back to the Council which has 15 days to take one of the following decisions:
1. accept the Parliaments amendments, the budget is adopted
2. reject the Parliaments amendments or modify them with a qualified majority
In both cases the project is sent back to the Parliament that has 15 days to decide:
accept the Councils position; the budget is considered adopted
the budget cant be adopted, the procedure will restart
To reject the Parliaments modifications the vote of its members majority (3/5 of votes cast)
is needed; the budget is considered adopted, otherwise if there are not enough votes to obtain a
majority, the budget is not adopted.
As soon as the budget is adopted, at the end of the year, and after the Commission was
discharged for the previous financial year, the budget can be implemented by the Commission or
under its surveillance.
The other attributions of the Council
1. External Representation:
- the Council, through its President, may represent the communities within external
relationships, concluded in 3rd countries or international economic organizations within the T.E.U.
The T.E.U. is viewed in order to be changed, because either the communities or Union cant
conclude treaties with international organizations and the communities do not have direct relation
with human rights organization.
- the Council has the power to delegate the negotiation process to the Commission and to
establish the Commissions powers and limits of negotiation, or, before approving the delegation, it
is compulsory for the Council to request the Parliaments conform opinion and also request
the opinion of the Court of Justice (it is related to the judicial effects of a new treaty over the E.U.
legal system).
New treaties cannot modify the structure of the Union of the Communitys acquis.
2. Conform Opinion:
It refers to the opportunity of a new treaty and its effects on the economic cooperation of
member states. If its opinion is negative, the President of the Council cant give the delegation to the
Commission to negotiate (not even under unanimous vote).
After the Commission has concluded the negotiations, it has to present a report regarding the
content of the new treaty, to the C.E.U. and E.P., which will be signed by the President in Office in
case of the Councils approval. The Council will approve it only with a unanimous vote and after a
positive second comfort opinion delivered by the Parliament. In case the second opinion is negative,
the treaty cannot be signed. After the signing of the Treaty, it enters into force after the ratification
period provided within the Treaty.
To coordinate the economical policy of member states means to coordinate the cooperation
of member states within the first period. There are two different levels within the framework of the
E.C. policy.
common policy
harmonization policy

The elaboration of a policy is a complex process. There are no limits provided by the treaty.
The member states are free to decide and establish new policies if they are related to the
achievement of the treatys objective within the first pillar. The treaty provisions regarding the
objectives stand before the legal basis of new policies. These policies have to take into account the
interaction between communities on one side and communities and the E.U. on the other side,
meaning the interaction between the internal and external policy of the Union and the interaction
between the sectorial policy and the interaction between the elements of the same policy.
The member states will debate the creation of new common policies within the framework of
the Council, but the treaties will not provide which institutions can provide the policy and which
will define a new policy.
It is considered that the Council has the attributions and within this framework this definition
and form of the act should be established.
The Maastricht Treaty classified the Community policies in 20 different fields, recognizing
the possibility to define them to the Council that imposes itself to propose the form of the act to be
used to adopt and define a common policy.
A new practice has been introduced in the last period of time (15 years) within the field of
new policies, meaning that the C.E.U. is used to wait until the European Council will adopt its
political strategies regarding new policies between member states and that is considered a negative
aspect of the European Community.
The coordination of the member states cooperation within the second and third pillar (by
definition cooperation pillars)
The Council can adopt only common actions or projects based on member states
proposals or the Commission proposal on the basis of these common actions.
The Council has the power to conclude the treaties within different international
organizations or 3rd countries, but only within the framework established by the European Council as
a common strategy. Also when a common action/project is submitted to the vote the Council is
requested to adopt these acts; one or more member states can make a formal declaration and refrain
themselves to sign the act.