"Under art 202 EC treaty, the functions of the Council are stated as being to ensure that the objectives of the EC treaty are attained, and to ensure the co-ordination of economic policies of member states".

Since the Council is not a permanent body and only meeting only a few days a month, and the members have full time responsibilities at home as a minister or Civil Servant, much of its work is taken over by the Committee of Permanent Representatives known as COREPER. They examine and sift commission proposals before the Council makes the final decision. COREPER 1 is made up of deputy permanent representatives which concentrate just on the technical issues. COREPER 2 focuses on the general and political issues. They may create a specialist community and working groups who will research the matter and then report back to COREPER.

The Council has three main functions, which are set out in Article 145 EC:

• Power to legislate – here the council shares its power with European Parliament and in most circumstances the European laws are made by a co-decision procedure, meaning the Council and the Parliament sort out the proposals for legislation on a joint basis.
• They co-ordinate the general economic policies of the member states every year. These are then made into a recommendation and the council supervises their implementations by member states.
• The power of the purse - shared by parliament. Parliament supervises spending by the European Union and also adopts the annual budget for the EU. When it comes to spending on Agriculture and spending arising from international agreements, Parliament can add modifications, but the Council always has the final say.

The number of council meetings held varies according to the urgency of the subjects dealt with. The General affairs, Economic and financial affairs and Agriculture Councils meet once a month, while the transport, Environment or Industry Councils meet two to four times a year.

The Council sessions are often very long and frequent. Only the members of the Commission have access and the right to speak. To ensure transparency, the Edinburgh Summit of 11th – 12th December 1992, introduced the possibility of public debates. The Council then changed its rules of procedure and now certain sessions are open and available to the public and could be broadcasted. In 1994, the Council held around roughly 100 formal ministerial sessions, during which it adopted about 300 regulations, 50 directives and 160 decisions.

There are three different ways of voting. Simple Majority, qualified majority or unanimity. There is no set way of voting as it all depends upon what the legal basis of the act in question is. Qualified majority voting has over the years become the most used way of voting within the Council.  Qualified voting involves a system of weighted voting; this is related to the size of the member states. The four biggest member states are the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, where they each have ten votes, whereas the smaller states such as Luxembourg only has two votes.  A qualified majority requires 62 of the total of 87 votes.

Below is a table of Qualified Majority Voting:

• Austria                4
• Belgium                5
• Denmark                3
• Finland                3
• France                10
• Germany                10
• Greece                5
• Ireland                3
• Italy                10
• Luxembourg        2
• Netherlands        5
• Portugal                5
• Spain                8
• Sweden                4
• UK                10
• TOTAL                87

When it comes to the decision making, a unanimous decision is required in the important areas. I.e. Common Foreign and Security Policy and Taxation. In other areas qualified majority voting makes decisions. Five member states and twenty-five votes are necessary for a blocking minority. Article 148 EC provides for Simple Majority voting, unless the Treaty provides otherwise. A Simple Majority is done by votes of 8 countries out of 15.

A vote made within the Council is personal, but under the Council Rules of Procedure a member of the Council can arrange to become their representative at a meeting which they are unable to attend. Under Art 206 EC someone else from the Council acts on behalf of the absent member because their replacement hasn’t got the right to take their vote.

The main powers that the Council holds are defined in art 202 as economic policy co-ordination, decision making and conferment of implementing powers on the commission.

In the context of the Treaties of Rome, the council is the ultimate legislative body. But under the CS Treaty, it is mainly known as a consultative body.

In some ways the Council acts in the same way as a government, as it authorises negotiations to take place, confers on the commission the power to sort out international agreements and decides if they need to be concluded or not.

In art 208 EC it states that the Council may ask the Commission to do any issues that the Council thinks is worth for the attainment of the common objectives and submit it in suitable proposals. The council also fixes the wages of the commissions, judges and registrars of the ECJ. 

The role of the Council of the European Union under pillar 3 has diminished as a result of the transfer of visa, asylum, immigration and other policies which are incorporated into the free movement of people necessary to the area of freedom, security and justice from pillar 3 to the EC Treaty.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• E.C Institutions and Legislation - John A.U Usher – European Law series
• Case & Materials on EC Law – Stephen Weatherill – 5th Edition
• Law of the European Union – Jo Shaw – 2nd Edition
• Textbook on EC Law – Josephine Steiner & Lorna Woods – 6th Edition
• EU for today’s Lawyers – Dr Alina Kaczorowska – Old Bailey Press

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