THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL and the COUNCIL the House of the Member States Notice
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL AND THE COUNCIL The house of the member states Notice This publication is produced by the General Secretariat of the Council and is intended for information purposes only. It does not involve the responsibility of the EU institutions or the member states. Notice HOW TO OBTAIN EU PUBLICATIONS This publication is produced by the General Secretariat of the Council and is intended For further information on the European Councilfor inandforma thetion p uCouncil,rposes only. seeIt doe sthe not i nwebsite:volve the responsibility of the EU ins-titu Free publications: www.consilium.europa.eu tions or the member states. • one copy: via EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu); or contact the Public Information Service of theFor General further info rSecretariatmation on the Eu rofop ethean Co Council:uncil and the Council, see the website: www.consilium.europa.eu • more than one copy or posters/maps: Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175 or contact the Public Information Service of the General Secretariat of the Council: from the European Union’s representations (http://ec.europa.eu/represent_en.htm); from the delegations in non-EU countries (http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/index_en.htm); Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175 1048 Bruxelles/Brussel by contacting the Europe Direct service (http://europa.eu/europedirect/index_en.htm) or 1048 Bruxelles/Brussel calling 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (freephone number from anywhere in the EU) (*). BELGIQUE/BELGIË BELGIQUE/BELGIË Tel. +32 (0)2 281 56 50 (*) The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone boxes or hotels may charge you). Tel. +32 (0)2 281 56 50 Fax +32 (0)2 281 49 77 Fax +32 (0)2 281 49 77 [email protected] Priced publications: www.consilium.europa.eu/infopublic www.consilium.europa.eu/infopublic • via EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu). Visit our website:website: www.consilium.europa.eu More information on the European Union is available on the internet (www.europa.eu). Luxembourg: Publications Oce of the European Union, 2015 More information on the European Union is available on www.europa.eu. Print ISBN 978-92-824-5283 -7 doi:10.2860/73053 7 QC-04-15-219-EN-C PDF ISBN 978-92-824-5272 -1 doi:10.2860/1065 1 QC-04-15-219-EN-N Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European© Europ eaUnion,n Union, 22018015 Reuse is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Print QC-06-16-343-EN-C ISBN 978-92-824-6011-5© Archives nat ionales (Fdoi:10.2860/742879rance); © Photothèque de la V ille de Luxembourg. Photo: Batty Fischer; © Photothèque de la Ville de Luxembourg. Photo: Théo Mey PDF QC-06-16-343-EN-N ISBN 978-92-824-6044-3For any reuse of this madoi:10.2860/2849terial, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holder. Cover page: Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, Portugal, on 13 December 2007, the day the Lisbon Treaty was signed there © European Union, 2018 Printed in in Luxembourg Reuse is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.PRINTED ON ECOLOGICAL PAPER Credits: Europa building: © Philippe Samyn and Partners architects and engineers - lead and Traités_Test.indd 1-3 23/11/2015 12:23 design partner, Studio Valle Progettazioni architects, Buro Happold engineers; colour compositions: © Georges Meurant, 2016 Page 46/47, from above, left to right: © Philippe Leridon/Fotolia.com, bidaya/ Fotolia.com, Nolan/Fotolia.com, matteosan/Fotolia.com, Dusan Kostic/Fotolia.com, Countrypixel/Fotolia.com Page 52: Škofja Loka bypass: © Črt Slavec - Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, Slovenia Page 56: © François Walschaerts, European Union, 2018 For any reuse of this material, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holder. Printed in Luxembourg, 2018 THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL AND THE COUNCIL The house of the member states CONTENT Five minute overview guide ........................................................ 4 Introduction ....................................................................... 5 Factsheet 1 – The European Council ............................................... 11 Factsheet 2 – The Council ......................................................... 15 Factsheet 3 – Who attends the summits and the Councils ......................... 19 Factsheet 4 – The president and the presidency ...................................23 Factsheet 5 – The permanent representatives and Coreper ........................27 Factsheet 6 – The Council working parties......................................... 31 Factsheet 7 – The Council secretariat ..............................................35 Factsheet 8 – How decisions are taken.............................................39 Factsheet 9 – How the Union makes law (and why) ................................43 Factsheet 10 – How the Union decides policy (and why) ........................... 47 Factsheet 11 – How the member states plan and decide the Union’s budget....... 51 Factsheet 12 – External relations...................................................55 Factsheet 13 – Following the work of the Council ..................................59 January 2018 | EN | THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL AND THE COUNCIL 3 THE FIVE-MINUTE OVERVIEW GUIDE Reader’s guide In less than 5 minutes, you can read how the European Council and the Council work. Key ideas are marked in bold text and are explained in more detail in linked factsheets. You can read whatever factsheets you want, in any order you want. No factsheet takes longer than 5 minutes to read. The factsheets have links to other explanations and galleries. Pick and choose what you want to look at. 4 THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL AND THE COUNCIL | EN | January 2018 INTRODUCTION How national governments guide and decide what happens in Brussels – the tasks of the ‘European Council’ and the ‘Council’ What is ‘Brussels’? It is the popular term for the EU – the European Union. Working together can solve problems that cannot be solved alone. It is also the best way to build a common future. When problems run across borders, solutions agreed together make more sense than different national solutions. This way of problem-solving helps keep peace in Europe. European countries fought each other in two World Wars in the 20th century. From death, destruction, chaos and dictatorship, the Union provided a pathway to peace, stability, democracy and prosperity. For those reasons, the Union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 for its work as a successful peace process for more than sixty years. The EU received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 for advancing the causes of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe and for the stabilising role it has played in transforming a region torn by war into one of peace. The Union has its origins in the 1950s when six countries, devastated by the war, committed to work together to build their joint future in a radically new way. The treaties, especially the Treaty of Rome (1957), set down the goals, the scope and the method of the cooperation. The method meant creating new European bodies (or ‘institutions’). Each body has a special task and membership. To solve any problem, or to launch any project, these bodies must all work closely together using their different powers. ‘Why does the Union need different bodies to function - is one not enough?’ Different bodies represent different views. Firstly, in order to have citizens’ views, there is a European Parliament that is directly elected by citizens of all Union countries every 5 years. January 2018 | EN | THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL AND THE COUNCIL 5 On 26 June 2014, the European Council met in Ypres, Belgium, to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of World War I Secondly, in order to have the views of the governments, there are two bodies – the European Council and the Council. They meet and work in Brussels in what is, in effect, the ‘house of the member states’. Thirdly, in order to have non-national, ‘European’ viewpoints, there is the European Commission. The discussions within and between these four main bodies determine the shape of European projects. This booklet describes how national governments work within and through the European Council and the Council. On most issues the European Council and Council cannot act alone – they have to work together with the Commission and the European Parliament before anything is agreed. ‘Why do national governments meet in two different bodies with almost the same name?’ Firstly, the Union needs to identify and agree the big questions that need European solutions rather than national or local solutions. Setting the Union’s direction and priorities is the task of the presidents and prime ministers meeting in ‘summits’ called the European Council. Secondly, to achieve these European solutions, the Union must agree laws and policies. National governments discuss and negotiate these laws and policies in the body called the Council. In practice, government ministers travel from their capitals to Brussels or Luxembourg for about 75 meetings annually to take decisions in the Council. 6 THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL AND THE COUNCIL | EN | January 2018 EUROPEAN EUROPEAN COUNCIL/ COMMISSION PARLIAMENT COUNCIL The Union works by ‘working together’. Meetings of the European Council are prepared and chaired by its president and take place with the president of the European Commission. Meetings of the European Council usually begin by leaders listening to the views of the president of the European Parliament on their agenda. In the Council, on the other hand, most of the work is law-making and policy- making in