N. Nugent

The Government and Politics of the European Union2010

Chapter 9The Council of Ministers

Responsibilities and functions

• A three-fold function classification:– Policy and law maker– Executive– Mediator

Policy and law maker

• Shared responsibilities mainly with COM and EP• Limitations in two ways due to Community

method:– Council of Ministers is restricted to acting on the

basis of proposals made to it by the COM– EP has very important legislative powers

• In practice, ways have been found if not to circumvent COM entirely at least to allow the Council a significant policy-initiating role.

Executive• COM is the principal EU institution responsible for the

implementation of EU policies. • COM often has to work with and through comitology

committees composed of national government officials.

• These comitology committees are not formally part of the Council machinery but in some circumstances challenges to COM executive decisions result in references to the ministers for final resolution.

• Most obvious and direct Council executive activity in foreign and defense policy areas.

Mediator• Important responsibilities in mediation and consensus-

building.• As the forum where national representatives meet,

Council has served the function of developing mutual understanding between the m-s.

• As more difficult areas have come onto the agenda, mediation come to be ever more necessary: primary between different national and ideological interests in the Council, but also between the Council and the COM, the Council and the EP, and the Council and non-institutional interests.

Gains and losses• Council has both gained and lost responsibilities over

the years.• The most obvious gain has been the extended scope

of its policy interests.• However, in two respects Council has lost

responsibilities or have become obliged to share them:– The European Council has assumed increasingly greater

responsibility for taking the final political decisions in “history-making issues” as new accessions, institutional reform, launching of broader political initiatives, and the strategic direction of external relations.

– The powers of EP have greatly increased, especially in respect of the making of the legislation where the vast majority of COM proposal now need not only Council but also EP approval if they are to become law.

CompositionThe ministers

• Ministerial meetings are at the apex of the Council machinery.

• Legally there is only one Council of Ministers but in practice there are more since the Council meets in different formations or configurations to deal with different policy areas.

• Important formations: General Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecofin) after the EMU.

CompositionFormations of the Council

• Council used to meet in over 20 formations but reduced in 2002 at Seville summit.– General Affairs– Foreign Affairs– Economic and Financial Affairs– Justice and Home Affairs– Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs– Competitiveness– Transport, Telecommunications, Energy– Agriculture and Fisheries– Environment– Education, Youth and Culture

CompositionStatus and policy responsibilities

• National representatives at ministerial meetings can differ in terms of their status and/or policy responsibilities. This can inhibit decision-making.

• Level of seniority. Normally Council meetings are attended by ministers but sometimes delegations are headed by people at different levels of seniority. This may be because a relevant minister has pressing domestic business or because it is judged that an agenda does not warrant his attendance. Occasionally may be “unavoidably delayed” if a meeting is unwanted and/or has a political awkward issue on the agenda.

• Sectoral responsibility. Usually it is obvious which governments departments should be presented, but not always. Agenda items may straddle policy divisions, or m-s organise differently their central government departments.

CompositionNational delegations

• Whoever the representative is (minister, junior minister, Permanent Representative, senior diplomat etc.), care is always taken to ensure that national interests are defended by the attendance at all meetings of small national delegations.

• These delegations comprise national official and experts plus, at important meetings or meetings with a wide-ranging agenda, junior ministers to assist the senior ministers.

• Supporting teams are there to ensure that the head of the delegation is properly briefed, fully understands the implications of what is being discussed, and does not make negotiating mistakes.

• Normally four or five people support the “inner table team” but when very confidential matters are being discussed or when a meeting is deadlocked, the size may be reduced to “Ministers plus two”, “Ministers plus one”, or, exceptionally, “Ministers and Commission”.

Frequency and duration of meetings• Altogether there are usually around 100 formal Council meetings

in an average year.• Many of these are held towards the end of a country’s six-month

Presidency as an attempt to complete business and as some Councils have to assist in preparing the June and December European Council meetings.

• The regularity of the meetings reflects their importance and the extend to which there is EU policy interest and activity in their area. So Foreign Affairs and General Affairs Councils meet the most frequently (usually at least once a month), whilst others do not meet normally more than twice during each Presidency.

• Meetings do not normally last more than a day. Foreign Ministers and Ecofin Ministers are the most likely two meet over two days.

• Outside the formal Council framework, ministers, particularly Foreign and Ecofin Ministers, have periodic weekend gatherings, usually in the country of the Presidency to discuss matters on an informal basis without the pressure of having to take decisions.

Committee of Permanent Representatives• Permanent representations act as a kind of embassy to the

EU. • They are headed by a Permanent Representative, who is

normally a diplomat of very senior rank, and are staffed, in the case of larger states , by about sixty officials plus back-up support.

• The most important forum in which governments meet “in Council” below ministerial level is the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER).

• In fact there are two COREPERS, COREPER I (more with technical policy and legislative matters, m-s delegations headed by the Deputy Permanent Representative) and COREPER II (more senior and more political, m-s delegations headed by the Permanent Representatives).

Committee of Permanent Representatives (cont.)

• COREPER “should be thought of as a co-ordinator of Council business, partly as a fixer and trouble shooter” (Bostock 2002: 215)

• There has been a marginal decline in COREPER’s position and effectiveness in recent years for two main reasons:– In increasingly important and busy foreign & security, and

economic & finance policy areas very senior Council committees have come to act almost on a comparable level to COREPER and to have acquired a considerable measure of discretion in how they operate.

– COREPER has inevitably become less “clubable” as the EU has grown in size, which has reduced its ability to “get things done” through informal means.

Committees• A complicated network of committees and working

parties assist and prepares the work of Council of Ministers and COREPER.

• Council Committees are composed of national officials, are serviced by Council administrators, and provide advice to the Council and the COM as appropriate, and in some instances as directed.

• There has been an increasing tendency for ad hoc committees of senior national officials – sometimes referred to as “High-Level Groups” – to be established for developing initiatives and policies in new and sensitive areas.

Working Parties

• The role of Council working parties (aka working groups) is more specific in that their main job is to carry out detailed analyses of formally tabled COM proposals for legislation.

• Their number varies over time, but in recent years there have usually been over 150.

• Members of working parties (usually between two and four per m-s) are almost invariably national officials and experts.

• Working parties meet as and when required.

The General Secretariat• The General Secretariat provides the main

administrative support for the work of the Council.• The Secretariat has a staff of almost 3500.• The Secretariat’s main responsibility is to service the

Council machinery – from ministerial to working party levels (preparing draft agendas, drafting documentation, keeping records, providing legal advice, processing and circulating decisions and documentation, translating etc.)

• In exercising many of its responsibilities, the Secretariat works particularly closely with the Council Presidency.

The Council PresidencyThe rotation system

• Up to the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the Council Presidency rotated between the m-s on a six-month basis.

• After Lisbon, the Presidency is held for 18 months by groups of 3 m-s, with each of the states assuming “the lead” for 6 months.

• Greece’s next Presidency: July-Dec. 2014

The tasks of the Presidency

• The main tasks of the Presidency are as follows:I. To arrange (in close association with the General

Secretariat) and to chair most Council meeting from ministerial level downwards.

II. To built a consensus for initiatives.III.To offer leadership.IV.To ensure continuity and consistency of policy

development.V.To represent the Council in dealings with outside

bodies.

Advantages of holding the presidency

• Prestige and status associated with the position.• Presidency puts states at the very heart of EU

affairs and have the potential to do more than they can as ordinary m-s. However they have to deal with uncompleted business from previous Presidencies and with rolling work programs. Furthermore, their time in office is relative short.

• There is some leeway for bringing Council positions closer to the positions of Presidency.

Disadvantages of holding the presidency

• Heavy administrative burdens that are attached to the job.

• It is generally expected that Presidencies will adopt a broadly consensual approach on disputed issues – which on some issues can limit the ability to defend their own national interests.

• The blow to esteem and standing that is incurred when a state is judged to have run a poor Presidency.

The hierarchical structure

• The Ministers who meet in ten formations• COREPER I (Deputy Permanent representatives),

COREPER II (Permanent representatives), and certain high-level committees (including Special Committee on Agriculture and Political and Security Committee).

• Committees and working parties, of which there are about 150 of the latter in existence at any one time.

Principal factors determining the progress of a proposal through the Council

• The urgency of the proposal.• The controversiality of the proposal and

support/opposition amongst the states.

• The extent to which the COM has tailored its text to accommodate national objections/ reservations voiced at the proposal stage.

• The complexity of the proposal’s provisions.• The ability of the COM to allay doubts by the way

it gives clarifications and answers questions.

Principal factors determining the progress of a proposal through the Council (cont.)

• The judgments made by the COM on whether, or when, it should accept modifications to its proposals.

• The competence of Presidency.• The agility and flexibility of the participants

to devise and accept compromise formulae.• The availability of, and willingness of the

states to use, majority voting.

Ministerial meetings agendas• There are variations regarding what ministers are expected

to do (taking final decisions, adoption of common positions, approval of negotiating mandates for the COM, resolution of problems that have caused difficulties at lower levels of the Council hierarchy, and noting of progress reports).

• Some items concern very general policy matters, whilst others are highly specialized and technical in nature.

• Most items fall within the sectoral competence of the ministers who have been convened, but a few do not (e.g. when a decision needs to be taken, and the relevant sectoral Council is not scheduled to meet in the immediate future).

• As well as policy issues, agenda items can also include administrative matters, such as appointments to advisory committees.

Decision-making in the CouncilMinisters may take decision in one of three ways:• By unanimity. Although greatly reduced the number of

decisions that require unanimity, it still applies to many types of decision – including all major decisions in such key policy areas as foreign, defense, enlargement, and taxation.

• By qualified majority. Since the Nice Treaty and until 2014 QMV contains the requirement of a double majority and the possibility of a triple majority: a) a minimum of 255 of the 345 weighted votes; b) the qualified majority must include a majority of the m-s if the vote is on a COM proposal and in other cases two thirds of the m-s; c) a m-s may request verification that the m-s in the qualified majority represent at least 62% of the EU population.

• By simple majority. This applies only to relatively minor and procedural matters.

QMV – National voting weights (EU27)

Member states Voting weights

Germany, France, Italy, UK 29

Spain, Poland 27

Romania 14

Netherlands 13

Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece Hungary, Portugal 12

Austria, Bulgaria, Sweden 10

Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Finland 7

Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxemburg, Slovenia 4

Malta 3

TOTAL 345

Factors explaining the increased use of QMV• Increased recognition that decision-making by unanimity is a

recipe not only for procrastination and delay, but often for unsatisfactory, or even no, decision-making.

• The “legitimacy” and “mystique” of the Luxemburg Compromise were dealt a severe blow in May 1982 when, for the first time, an attempt to invoke the compromise was over-ridden.

• EU enlargements have made unanimity more difficult to achieve.

• All treaties since the SEA have extended the number of policy areas in which majority voting is constitutionally permissible.

• In 1987, the General Affairs Council decided a relaxation of the circumstances by which votes could be initiated: whereas previously only the President could call a vote, now any national representative and the COM also have the right, and a vote must be taken if a simple majority agrees.

Informal processes and relationshipsExtremely important role of informal processes and relationships.

• Many understandings and agreements are reached at the lunches and dinners that are very much a part of ministerial meetings. These meals are attended only by ministers and a minimal number of translators.

• When difficulties arise in ministerial negotiations a good chairperson will make advantageous use of scheduling or requested breaks in proceedings to explore possibilities for a settlement.

• When problems arise, EU policy practitioners are in frequent contact with one another via telephone, email, and informal conversations. Many of the policy practitioners based in Brussels come to know each other extremely well. They may use these contacts – which can become social as well as professional – to assist with the resolution of policy difficulties. For example, national officials based in the Permanent Representations may know their counterparts in other Permanent Representations well enough to be able to judge when a state is posturing and when it is serious, and when and how a deal may be possible.