Council of the European Union

Council of the European Union

Bulgarian: Съвет на Европейския съюз
Croatian: Vijeće Europske unije
Czech: Rada Evropské unie
Danish: Rådet for Den Europæiske Union
Dutch: Raad van de Europese Unie
Estonian: Euroopa Liidu Nõukogu
Finnish: Euroopan unionin neuvosto
French: Conseil de l'Union européenne
German: Rat der Europäischen Union
Greek: Συμβούλιο της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης
Hungarian: Az Európai Unió Tanácsa
Irish: Comhairle an Aontais Eorpaigh
Italian: Consiglio dell'Unione europea
Latvian: Eiropas Savienības Padome
Lithuanian: Europos Sąjungos Taryba
Maltese: Kunsill tal-Unjoni Ewropea
Polish: Rada Unii Europejskiej
Portuguese: Conselho da União Europeia
Romanian: Consiliul Uniunii Europene
Slovak: Rada Európskej únie
Slovene: Svet Evropske unije
Spanish: Consejo de la Unión Europea
Swedish: Europeiska unionens råd
Council of the European Union logo
History
Founded1 July 1967; 57 years ago (1967-07-01)
Preceded by
  • Special Council of Ministers of the ECSC
  • Council of the EAEC
  • Council of the EEC
Leadership
 Hungary
since 1 July 2024
Thérèse Blanchet[1]
since 1 November 2022
Josep Borrell, PES
since 1 December 2019
Structure
Seats27
Structure of the Council of the European Union
Committees
10 configurations
  • Agriculture and fisheries
  • Competitiveness
  • Economic and financial affairs
  • Education, youth, culture and sport
  • Employment, social policy, health and consumer affairs
  • Environment
  • Foreign affairs
  • General affairs
  • Justice and home affairs
  • Transport, telecommunications and energy
Motto
United in Diversity
Meeting place
Europa building session room
Europa building
Brussels, Belgium
European Convention Center
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Website
consilium.europa.eu
Constitution
Treaties of the European Union

The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council,[a] and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as listed in the Treaty on European Union.[2] It is one of two legislative bodies and together with the European Parliament serves to amend and approve, or veto, the proposals of the European Commission, which holds the right of initiative.[3][4][5]

The Council of the European Union and the European Council are the only EU institutions that are explicitly intergovernmental, that is, forums whose attendees express and represent the position of their Member State's executive, be they ambassadors, ministers or heads of state/government.

The Council meets in 10 different configurations of 27 national ministers (one per state). The precise membership of these configurations varies according to the topic under consideration; for example, when discussing agricultural policy the Council is formed by the 27 national ministers whose portfolio includes this policy area (with the related European Commissioners contributing but not voting).

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "EUR-Lex - C:2016:202:TOC - EN - EUR-Lex". eur-lex.europa.eu. Archived from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  3. ^ "Legislative powers". European Parliament. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  4. ^ "Parliament's legislative initiative" (PDF). Library of the European Parliament. 24 October 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 March 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Planning and proposing law". European Commission. 20 April 2019. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2019.


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