Council of ministers

The Council of Ministers, typically referred to as just 'the Council', is the EU's main decision-making and legislative body. In conjunction with the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers forms the EU's legislature.

The Council of Ministers should not be confused either with the European or the Council of Europe. The former is a distinct EU institution that is discussed under below. The latter is an international body, completely separate from the EU, set up in 1949 with the aim of promoting democracy, human rights and the rule of law within its 40 member states.

The Council of Ministers comprises ministers from each member state with responsibility for the policy area under discussion. As such, the Council of Ministers is not a body that has a fixed membership - rather it is a legislative concept that is given expression at any given time in one of nine distinct 'councils'.

1. General affairs and external relations Council
2. Economic and financial affairs council (ECOFIN)
3. Justice and home affairs council
4. Employment, social policy, health and consumer affairs council
5. Competitiveness (internal market, industry and research) council
6. Transport, telecommunications and energy council
7. Agriculture and fisheries council
8. Environment council
9. Education, youth and culture council

The general affairs council (GAC) discusses international policy and general policy matters - it is comprised of member states' foreign ministers or ministers with responsibility for EU matters. The GAC and ECOFIN are regarded as the most 'senior' Councils. The GAC, ECOFIN and the agriculture council meet every month, while the other councils meet between twice and four times per year.

Between actual meetings of the Council of Ministers, the work of the councils is carried on by a set of national delegations or 'permanent representations'. They interact with one another in a body called the committee of permanent representatives, or COREPER, which meets around once a week.

There are in fact a number of bodies under the COREPER heading.

COREPER 2 - the senior body, comprising the permanent representatives and their staffs, which typically works primarily for the GAC and ECOFIN.

Special committee on agriculture (SCA) - this comprises senior staff from the permanent representations and national agriculture ministry staff, and deals with the work of the agriculture council

COREPER 1 - the junior body, comprising deputy permanent representatives and their staffs, which typically deals with the work of the other councils

COREPER, by virtue of its permanence, tends to function as the commission's main channel of communication with the Council of Ministers, as well as between the EU and member states' national governments. It tends to decide on non-controversial and technical matters on behalf of the council, leaving the more political and contentious matters to the full councils.

Member states take it in turns to assume the presidency of the Council of Ministers for six months at a time in accordance with a pre-established rota. In the context of May 2004's enlargement, it was decided that the previous six months rotation between the 15 pre-enlargement member states would continue until 2006.

The calendar of council presidency between 2005 and 2006 is:

2005 first half-year: Luxembourg

2005 second half-year: United Kingdom

2006 first half-year: Austria

2006 second half-year: Finland

2007 first half-year: Germany

2007 second half-year: Portugal

2008 first half-year: Slovenia

2008 second half-year: France

2009 first half-year: Czech Republic

2009 second half-year: Sweden

2010 first half-year: Spain

2010 second half-year: Belgium

2011 first half-year: Hungary

2011 second half-year: Poland

2012 first half-year: Denmark

2012 second half-year: Cyprus

2013 first half-year: Ireland

2013 second half-year: Lithuania

2014 first half-year: Greece

2014 second half-year: Italy

2015 first half-year: Latvia

2015 second half-year: Luxembourg

2016 first half-year: Netherlands

2016 second half-year: Slovakia

2017 first half-year: Malta

2017 second half-year: United Kingdom

2018 first half-year: Estonia

2018 second half-year: Bulgaria

2019 first half-year: Austria

2019 second half-year: Romania

2020 first half-year: Finland

During a member state's presidency, the ministerial representatives of that member state chair the council meetings.

Presidency of the council gives a member state substantial influence over the conduct of EU business during that six months (which run from January to June and from June to December each year).

1. The presidency represents the council in dealings with outside bodies, including other EU bodies.
2. The presidency and the council's general secretariat (the council's own civil service) set the agendas of meetings, the terms of meetings, and the frequency and location of meetings.
3. The presidency has responsibility for launching and building consensuses on initiatives - ie it takes the lead in promoting negotiations and agreement.

The Council of Ministers exercises the following functions.

1. The Council of Ministers is the EU's principal legislative body, with the unique power to make legislation in some areas. In others, this is exercised in conjunction with the European parliament.
2. The Council of Ministers (through ECOFIN) co-ordinates the domestic economic policies of member states.
3. The Council of Ministers concludes international agreements, negotiated by the Commission.
4. Along with the European parliament, the Council of Ministers authorises the budget proposed by the commission. The council has the final word in relation to 'compulsory' expenditure (eg CAP spending).
5. The Council of Ministers is the sole decision-making authority in respect of common foreign and security policy proposals, within the framework set by the European Council.
6. The Council of Ministers co-ordinates the activities of member states and adopts measures in relation to justice and home affairs policy.

The council votes either by unanimity of by qualified majority voting (QMV). The voting system used for a given decision depends on the policy area to which that decision belongs. According to the treaties, some subjects require unanimity, while others require only a qualified majority.

Under QMV each member state has a fixed (weighted) number of votes. The total number of votes is 321 and a qualified majority will be obtained if the decision receives at least 232 votes (the qualified majority threshold) and the decision is approved by a majority of the member states.

Where the council is required to act by a qualified majority, the votes of its members are weighted as follows:

Germany - 29

United Kingdom - 29

France - 29

Italy - 29

Spain - 27

Poland - 27

Romania - 14

Netherlands - 13

Greece - 12

Czech Republic - 12

Belgium - 12

Hungary - 12

Portugal - 12

Sweden - 10

Austria - 10

Bulgaria - 10

Slovakia - 7

Denmark - 7

Finland - 7

Ireland - 7

Lithuania - 7

Latvia - 4

Slovenia - 4

Estonia - 4

Cyprus - 4

Luxembourg - 4

Malta - 3