Council

The Council is the EU's main decision-making body.

Like the European Parliament, the European Council was set up by the founding treaties in the 1950s. It represents the member states, and its meetings are attended by one minister from each of the EU’s national governments.

Which ministers attend which meeting depends on what subjects are on the agenda. If, for example, the Council is to discuss environmental issues, the meeting will be attended by the Environment Minister from each EU country and it will be known as the ‘Environment Council’.

The EU’s relations with the rest of the world are dealt with by the ‘General Affairs and External Relations Council’. But this Council configuration also has wider responsibility for general policy issues, so its meetings are attended by whichever Minister or State Secretary each government chooses.

A General Affairs and External Relations Council in progress

Altogether there are nine different Council configurations:

• General Affairs and External Relations

• Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN)

• Justice and Home Affairs (JHA)

• Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs

• Competitiveness

• Transport, Telecommunications and Energy

• Agriculture and Fisheries

• Environment

• Education, Youth and Culture

Each minister in the Council is empowered to commit his or her government. In other words, the minister’s signature is the signature of the whole government. Moreover, each minister in the Council is answerable to his or her national parliament and to the citizens that parliament represents. This ensures the democratic legitimacy of the Council’s decisions.

Up to four times a year the presidents and/or prime ministers of the member states, together with the President of the European Commission, meet as the “European Council”. These ‘summit’ meetings set overall EU policy and resolve issues that could not be settled at a lower level (i.e. by the ministers at normal Council meetings). Given the importance of European Council discussions, they often continue late into the night and attract a lot of media attention.