Information
The Council of the European Union is the main decision making body in the EU. With the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, it has become an official EU institution.
The Council consists of one Government Minister from every Member State. Although there is just one Council, different groups of Ministers meet depending on what topic is being discussed at the weekly meeting. For example, if the issue to be discussed at the Council is agriculture, the Ministers for Agriculture from each Member State will attend and sit as the Council.
The Council of the European Union has three essential functions:
- The power to legislate. The Council shares this power with the European Parliament. In most situations, European laws are made by a co-decision procedure. This means that the Council and the Parliament jointly adopt proposals for legislation that have come from the European Commission. The Council and the Parliament can make amendments to the legislation under this procedure. However, there are certain important areas, for example, tax legislation, where the Parliament may only give an opinion as to whether a proposed piece of legislation can become law.
- Co-ordination of the economic policies of Member States. Every year, the Council drafts guidelines for the economic policies of Member States. These are then made into a recommendation and their implementation by Member States is supervised by the Council.
- The power to approve the budget of the EU. This power is shared with the Parliament. The Parliament supervises spending by the EU and it also adopts the annual budget for the EU. It has the last word on spending on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, cultural and educational programmes, humanitarian aid and refugee programmes. However, when it comes to spending on agriculture and spending arising from international agreements, the Parliament can propose modifications but the Council has the final say.
The power to legislate
Ordinary legislative procedure
The usual method of making European Union (EU) decisions is as follows:
- The Commission makes a proposal
- The Council and the Parliament discuss it and each may make changes
- The final decision is made by the Council and the Parliament jointly (this is known at present as the co-decision procedure).
The Treaty of Lisbon calls this the ordinary legislative procedure and extends it to a number of new areas.
Special legislative procedures
There are specific decision-making procedures (called special legislative procedures in the Treaty of Lisbon) in relation to 2 areas:
- Common foreign and security policy - decisions are made by the Council
- Area of freedom, security and justice – some decisions are made as under the ordinary legislative procedure while others are made by the Council.
Voting in the Council
There are different ways that the Council makes its decisions. A unanimous decision is required in important areas, for example, defence and taxation. This means that each Member State has a veto in those areas.
In other areas, the Council makes its decisions by Qualified Majority Voting. Each Member State has a specific number of votes, which is related to the size of its population.
From 1 January 2007, the number of votes each country can cast (including the new Member States) is as follows:
- Germany, France, Italy and the UK: 29
- Spain and Poland: 27
- Romania: 14
- Netherlands: 13
- Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary and Portugal: 12
- Austria, Bulgaria and Sweden: 10
- Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Finland: 7
- Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovenia: 4
- Malta: 3
- Total number of votes: 345
A qualified majority will be reached:
- If a majority of Member States approve and
- If a minimum of 73.9% of votes is cast in favour.
In addition, a Member State may ask for confirmation that the votes in favour represent at least 62% of the total population of the European Union. If this is found not to be the case, the decision will not be adopted.
Changes to the voting system
The Treaty of Lisbon will:
- Increase the number of areas where QMV will apply and
- Change the voting system within the Council from 2014.
From 2014, a qualified majority (also to be known as a double majority) will require that decisions must meet 2 conditions:
- 55% of the member states must agree: that means at least 15 member states while there are 27 member states and
- Those supporting must represent 65% of the EU population
In order to prevent a decision being made, a blocking minority will have to include at least 4 member states. If there are less than 4 member states opposed to a decision then the qualified majority will be deemed to have been reached even if the population criterion is not met. In certain circumstances, if there are less than 4 states opposed to a decision, they may temporarily suspend a decision of the Council.
There are transitional arrangements in place for the period 2014–2017; during that time, a member state may ask for the application of the current system rather than the new system.
