European Council:
According to Chalmers etal (2006, pp.108) ‘the European Council comprises the Heads of Government of the Member States and the President of the Commission’. In Bonn 1961, it was agreed that the Heads of Government should meet regularly, however, this was institutionalised only in 1974 when it was agreed that they should meet at least three times a year. The European Council was recognised only by the time the Single European Act took place and its tasks where articulated after the TEU (Chalmers etal, 2006, pp.108). Although the TEU provides that the European Council is only to meet twice a year, since an agreement in 2002 it would meet at least four times a year, and even more if necessary.
EUROPEAN COUNCIL’S RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Council’s responsibilities can be understood through four main duties. Firstly, the European Council is making the decisions about the future institutional shape and new tasks of the European Union. It is basically the defining body on questions about whether to initiate or conclude treaty reforms or enlargement. Secondly, it plays a significant role in developing the Community policy. Heads of government have the domestic authority to resolve issues where progress is not possible within the Council of Ministers. The role is mainly an agenda setting one, and the European Council will often agree programmes of legislation that must be agreed within a set time frame. Thirdly, the European Council plays a significant role in the second pillar, the one of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Apart from being responsible for the CFSP, the European Council decides on common strategies to be pursued in areas where Member States have important interests in common. Lastly, the European Council has the institutional role in the ‘Lisbon process’. The European Council has four annual meetings, where one of them – the spring meeting - is fully dedicated to the ‘Lisbon process’. In order to become ‘the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion’, the European Union created a new form of legislative procedure – the Open Method of Cooperation (OMC). The European Council is at the centre of this procedure and is responsible for policy formulation and policy monitoring. Among other duties it sets guidelines and specific timetables for achieving short and long-term goals in each field of the OMC and it reviews the progress of individual MS towards these goals.
It is not very clear whether the European Council can fulfil the responsibilities demanded by the CFSP and the Lisbon Treaty, although it has the resources to set the European Union priorities. In 2002, it was agreed that the General Affairs and External Relations Council would play a similar role with the COREPER. As the General Affairs and External Relations Council comprises Foreign Ministers, it cannot be expected to manage matters outside the foreign policy well. This put pressure on the General Affairs and External Relations Council that was recognised in the Constitutional Treaty, however it would continue to prepare the work of the European Council. Furthermore, the European Council would elect a President by qualified majority. The main responsibilities of the President would be to manage the business of the European Council, he/she would chair and lead its work, ensure that meetings were prepared and ensure consensus between its members (Chalmers etal, 2006, pp.110).
INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS BROUGHT BY THE LISBON TREATY:
Lisbon Treaty has brought an amount of institutional reforms, most of them identical to the ones proposed by the Constitutional Treaty that have failed. Lisbon Treaty brings increased powers for the European Council, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice. Moreover, LT seeks for more efficient, transparent and accountable institutions. The Lisbon Treaty brings a big change for the European Council, as it is formally recognised as an institution of the Union for the first time. Moreover, its agenda powers have become more prescriptive and it is provided with better mechanism in realising these. Thus, the main role of the European Council now is to define the directions and priorities of the European Union, rather than just setting out its guidelines.
As we see, the European Council cannot trespass on the Commission’s prerogatives for proposing legislation, however, the European Council will now direct and control the course of the European Union more actively than it did before. In order to achieve this, new mechanisms were established.
NEW MECHANISMS OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL:
An elected President of the European Council position - voted by qualified majority - was established. The President would be elected for a two and a half year term, renewable once, and would sit as an extra member of the European Council. Among others, the President’s tasks are to chair and lead the work of the European Council while facilitating consensus and cohesion within it, to ensure the preparation and continuity of the work of the European Council in coordination with the President of the Commission, and on the basis of the work of the General Affairs Council, and present a report to the European Parliament after each of the meetings of the European Council. One issue of the Presidency of the European Council is the President’s relationship with other supranational institutions, especially the Commission. Although, it is expected that the European Council and the Commission should cooperate with each other, the structure of their relationship is basically a competitive one. Both of them have the role of the agenda setter and both try to make their preferences and prerogatives more recognised. According to a Report by the House of Lords European Union Committee ‘the European Parliamentary Labor Party agreed, and the National Farmers’ Union considered that the “additional stability” provided by the President “will provide the continuity to the policy agenda necessary to tackle some of the challenges facing the EU”’ (House of Lords, EU Committee Report).
The second mechanism is the formalisation of the General Affairs Council. According to Chalmers etal (2006, Updating Supplement, pp.21) ‘since 2002, the General Affairs and External Relations Council, comprised of national foreign ministers, has met alternative as the General Affairs Council and as the External Relations Council’. The External Relations Council is responsible for coordinating the work done by other Council configurations and for handling dossiers submitted by the European Council. Moreover, it considers matters that affect a number of Union policies. This has been formalised by the Lisbon Treaty which states that the External Relations Council shall make sure that consistency in the work of the different Council configurations was kept, and prepare the follow-up to meetings of the European Council in cooperation with the Presidents of the European Council and the Commission. However, this would shadow the President of the European Council in his/her task of preparing and implementing European Council decisions. There are few concerns regarding this mechanism. The original purpose was that the Foreign Ministers would meet every now and then in Brussels, however, they may not have the required level of expertise or interest to do what is expected from them to do. Another concern is whether the General Affairs Council will have the necessary authority to act.
The last issue regards the relationship between the system of rotating Presidencies and the new Presidency. Rotating Presidencies will continue to exist, however under different format (Chalmers etal, 2006, Updating Supplement, pp. 21). Pre-established groups of three Member States will hold the Presidency jointly for 18 months, while each MS will hold the chair for 6 months. There will be a rotation of the Presidency between all the Member States. The Presidency will chair all Council configurations, the COREPER and secure the continuity and smooth operation of the Council. This leads to the question of the division of duties, as both the rotating Presidency and the European Council Presidency seem responsible for steering the direction of the European Union. To be sure, they might liaise and row in the same direction, but there is also a danger of competition, with each pushing for different priorities. In this case, it is unclear who is to take the lead (Chalmers etal, 2006, updating supplement pp. 22).
CONCLUDING COMMENTS
As we have seen, the powers of the European Council have notably increased with the Lisbon Treaty institutional reforms. The establishment of the full-time European Council President is a crucial move that is most probably going to make the European Council more efficient in creating direction and action in the Union. However, these powers can be conflicting with the other senior leaders of the Union such as the President of the Council of Ministers and the President of the Commission, who will continue to have strong powers and influence in the EU. Thus, we certainly cannot say that the European Council is now the new leader of the European Union. The only certain thing we can say is that its powers have dramatically increased and now can be considered equal to the Commission and the Council of Ministers.
REFERENCES
Chalmers, D. etal (2006), EU Law Core Textbook and Updating Supplement, Cambridge, CUP.
Hix, S. (2005) The Political System of the European Union, London: Macmillan.
House of Lords European Union Committee, (2007-08, 10th Report, SO) 39-57.
Leonard, D. (2005). Guide to the European Union, 9th edition, The Economist.
. The Official Website of the European Union accessed online on 10th of November 2009.
