Chapter 10 The Council of the European Union

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Chapter 10The Council of the European Union

• Cini (ed.) European Union Politics, 2nd edition
• OUP Online Teaching Resources

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Structure of the Lecture

• The Institutional Status of the Council
• The Council and the European Council
• Decision-Making in the Council
• The Evolution of the Council System
• National Interests and Collective Action in the EU

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The Institutional Status of the Council

• At the epicentre of the EU
• The most important EU institution
• Representing the Member States
• A legislative and executive body
• An arena for inter-state diplomacy and negotiation

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The Institutional Status of the Council

• The institutional settings of the Council
• Ministerial level the Council of Ministers
• Committee level COREPER
• Working group level
• Nine sectorally specialised formations
• E.g., GAERC, ECOFIN, Agriculture

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The Council and the European Council

• The European Council
• Bringing together the 25 heads of state and
  government twice a year
• Working on the history-making decisions
• The legal status of the European Council
• Informally institutionalised in 1974
• Acknowledged in the SEA of 1986

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The Council and the European Council

• The rotated Presidency
• Proposed reform in the Constitutional Treaty

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Decision-Making in the Council

• Hierarchical structure, and network relationship
• European Council Summitry, the ministerial
  Councils, the COREPER, the working groups, the
  General Secretariat
• Significant variation of the decision-making
  process across different issue areas
• The Council Presidency
• The six-month rotation
• Huge job of planning and chairing meetings

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Decision-Making in the Council

• Relationship with other EU institutions
• The Commission holds the 26th seat in the
  Council
• Co-decision and the European Parliament

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The Evolution of the Council System

• Decision-making capability of the Council
• Growing membership
• Increasing issue areas
• The democratic deficit of the Council
• Remains remote, opaque and mysterious
• Staged performance under camera
• Enlargement and the Council
• The consequences of new voting weights

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National Interests and Collective Action in the
EU

• Member states in the Council
• Protecting national interests in the EU
• Ensuring collective EU action
• The governance of the Council
• Consensual culture
• Compromise and mutual accommodation
• A blurring picture between intergovernmentalism
  and supranationalism