The
Council of the European Union is the principal
decision making institution in the
European Union (EU). It is often informally called the
Council of Ministers or just the
Council, the name used in the
treaties; it is also called
Consilium as a
Latin-language compromise. Within the competencies of the
Community pillar, it is the more powerful of the two
legislative chambers, the other being the
European Parliament. This Council should be distinguished from the
European Council, which is an assembly of EU heads of state or government, and the
Council of Europe, which is a non-EU organisation of 47 states dealing with human rights.
The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers (one per state). However the exact membership depends upon the topic being discussed, for example; when discussing the agricultural policy the twenty-seven national agriculture ministers form the Council. The Union's law is limited to specific policy areas, however it does override national law. As the Union operates on supranational and intergovernmental platforms, in some areas the Council is superior to the Parliament, having only to consult to get assent from the body. In many areas, however, the Union uses the legislative process of codecision procedure, in which the two bodies are equal in power.[1]
The Council does not have a single president in the traditional sense, but the role is rotated between each member state every 6 months (known as the "Presidency"), with the minister from that state then able to set the agenda. Another powerful position is the Secretary General who is also the representative of the Union's foreign policy.[1]
The Council first appeared in the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) as the "Special Council of Ministers", set up to counterbalance the High Authority (the supranational executive, now the Commission). The original Council had limited powers as issues relating only to coal and steel were in the Authority's domain, whereas the Council only had to give its consent to decisions outside coal and steel. As a whole, it only scrutinised the executive. In 1957, the Treaties of Rome established two new communities, and with them two new Councils the Council of the European Atomic Energy Community and the Council of the European Economic Community. However due to objections over the supranational power of the Authority, their Councils had more executive powers with the new executive bodies being known as "Commissions".[2]
