1. The Council of Ministers
Slides to support Chapter 9 of The Government and Politics of the European Union, 7th ed., by Neill Nugent

2. Meets at Three Levels The ministers COREPER
Committees and working groups
This is very much a hierarchy, so the levels will be
considered here in ‘reverse’ order.

3. Committees and Working Groups
There are many types of Council committees. The most important include those covering external trade, agriculture, and political and security affairs.
Working groups examine Commission proposals – especially for legislation – in detail. Most of the ‘technical’ work is undertaken here.

4. Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER)
All member states have Permanent Representations (‘embassies’) to the EU.
COREPER meets in two formations: COREPER 1 (Deputy Perm Reps) deals mainly with ‘routine’ ‘Community’ matters, whilst COREPER 2 deals mainly with more ‘difficult’ and ‘non Community’ matters.
Both COREPERs prepare ministerial meetings, mainly on the basis of work undertaken by committees and working groups. This preparation includes determining whether matters should be referred to ministers as A or B points

5. The Ministers 1: Formations and membership
Ministerial meetings bring together the relevant ministers from the member states
The number of formations in which the Council meets have been reduced over the years to try and improve coordination: there are currently ten formations
Ministers are accompanied by advisers, with the larger member states usually having bigger teams

6. The Ministers
2: Powers
The ministers take all final decisions on anything adopted in the Council’s name, be it:
- Commission proposals for legislation
- CFSP common positions or actions
- Noting progress reports
- Requests to the Commission for information

7. Progress in the Council
Many factors determine whether a proposal makes progress in the Council:
- is there an urgency?
- is the proposal strongly supported or strongly opposed by any
member state(s)?
- the complexity of the proposal’s provisions
- adjustments by the Commission to accommodate national
concerns
- competence of the presidency
- flexibility and intellectual agility of participants (especially where a
compromise position needs to be found)
- decision-making procedure applying

8. Decision-Making Procedures
Formally, there are three decision-making procedures:
Unanimity.
Qualified majority.
Since Nice Treaty there have been three dimensions to this: a) QMV
votes themselves; b) a member state may request verification that the
member states in the qualified majority represent at least 62% of the
EU population; c) if the vote is on a Commission proposal, the qualified
majority must include a majority of the member states.
Simple majority.
In practice, there is always a preference for consensus no matter what procedure applies.

9. Functions
Used to be the legislature of the EU; now shares this function with the EP
Takes most of the EU’s ‘governmental’ policy
decisions
Prepares ground for European Councils: especially the GA Council

10. The Presidency
Rotates between groups of three member states on an eighteen month basis, with one of the three ‘in the lead’ for six months (except in the case of the Ext Rels Council, which is always chaired by the High Rep).
The presidency exercises a key role in setting agendas, setting the pace, and forging deals (mediating function).
Arrangements have been made over the years to improve coordination between presidencies.
Presidencies offer opportunities but also create major problems for member states

11. Discussion Points Has the Council declined in importance?
Can it be viewed as still being primarily intergovernmental?
Are recent reforms likely to arrest its alleged inefficiency?
Lack of transparency, and legitimacy?