Council of the European Union information

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*
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
History
Founded	1 July 1967; 56 years ago
Preceded by	Special Council of Ministers of the ECSC; Council of the EAEC; Council of the EEC;
Leadership
Presidency	Belgium ; since 1 January 2024
Secretary General	Thérèse Blanchet ; since 1 November 2022
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy	Josep Borrell, PES ; since 1 December 2019
Structure
Seats	27
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; Brussels, Belgium
Website
	consilium.europa.eu
Constitution
	Treaties of the European Union

50°50′33.00″N 4°22′50.99″E / 50.8425000°N 4.3808306°E / 50.8425000; 4.3808306

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.^[3] 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.^[4]^[5]^[6]

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).

^ ^a ^b Riegert, Bernd (1 January 2024). "Belgium's bold EU Council agenda". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
^ [1]
^ "EUR-Lex - C:2016:202:TOC - EN - EUR-Lex". eur-lex.europa.eu.
^ "Legislative powers". European Parliament. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
^ "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.
^ "Planning and proposing law". European Commission. 20 April 2019.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[2024H1-council-presidency-1] Riegert, Bernd (1 January 2024). "Belgium's bold EU Council agenda". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2 January 2024.

[2] [1]

[eur-lex.europa.eu-4] "EUR-Lex - C:2016:202:TOC - EN - EUR-Lex". eur-lex.europa.eu.

[auto1-5] "Legislative powers". European Parliament. Retrieved 13 February 2019.

[Library_of_European_Parliament-6] "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.

[auto-7] "Planning and proposing law". European Commission. 20 April 2019.

Council of the European Union information

and 29 Related for: Council of the European Union information

Council of the European Union

European Council

Presidency of the Council of the European Union

President of the European Council

Member state of the European Union

Voting in the Council of the European Union

Institutions of the European Union

European Union

Treaties of the European Union

European Commission

General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union

Flag of Europe

President of the European Union

Council of Europe

Accession of Albania to the European Union

Potential enlargement of the European Union

European political party

Passports of the European Union

European Union law

Enlargement of the European Union

Accession of Ukraine to the European Union

Politics of the European Union

List of members of the European Council

European Union legislative procedure

Languages of the European Union

National identity cards in the European Economic Area

Accession of North Macedonia to the European Union

Public holidays in the European Union

Accession of Kosovo to the European Union

Politics of the European Union
This article is part of a series on


Member states (27) Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Candidate countries Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Georgia Moldova Montenegro North Macedonia Serbia Ukraine Accession negotiations suspended countries Turkey Applicant countries Kosovo Special territories Belgium–Germany relations France–Germany relations Germany–Netherlands relations EU 3 Withdrawal from the European Union
Treaties and Declarations Schuman Declaration (1950) Treaty of Paris (1951) Europe Declaration (1951) Spaak Report (1956) Treaty of Rome (1957) Euratom Treaty (1957) Merger Treaty (1965) Solemn Declaration (1983) Single European Act (1986) Maastricht Treaty (1992) Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) Treaty of Nice (2001) Berlin Declaration (2007) Treaty of Lisbon (2007) Article 7 Article 50 Opt-outs Treaties of accession 1972, 1979, 1985, 1994, 2003, 2005, 2011 Treaties of succession 1984, 2020 Other treaties Schengen Agreement (1985) European Economic Area Agreement (1992) Abandoned treaties and agreements European Constitution (2004) UK membership renegotiation (2015–2016)
Executive institutions European Council President: Michel (ALDE) Parties List of meetings European Commission Von der Leyen Commission President: Von der Leyen (EPP) Vice Presidents College of Commissioners Civil Service Secretary-General: Juhansone
Legislative institutions Legislative procedure Council of the EU Presidency Belgium (January–June 2024) Configurations GAC FAC ECOFIN Eurogroup AGRIFISH EPSCO COMPET TTE ENVI JHA EYC Voting Secretariat Secretary-General: Thérèse Blanchet Directorates-general COREPER European Parliament (Members) President: Metsola Largest groups EPP (Manfred Weber) S&D (Iratxe García) Member of the European Parliament 9th session (2019–2024) Bureau Vice Presidents Quaestor Conference National parliaments
Judicial institutions Court of Justice of the EU European Court of Justice Members Advocates General Rulings General Court
Auditory institutions European Court of Auditors European Court of Auditors Other auditory bodies Internal Audit Service of the Commission Committee on Budgetary Control of the Parliament Economic and Financial Affairs configuration of the Council Anti-Fraud Office Public Prosecutor's Office
European Central Bank President Lagarde ESCB EMU Euro banknotes Euro coins
Other bodies European Investment Bank Group Investment Bank Investment Fund EIB Institute European Stability Mechanism European Stability Mechanism European University Institute European University Institute Unified Patent Court Unified Patent Court Agencies, decentralised independent bodies and joint undertakings Decentralised agencies of the EU Single market agencies CFSP agencies AFSC agencies ESFS European Supervisory Authorities SRM bodies Executive agencies of the EU Euratom agencies Decentralised independent bodies of the EU European Institute of Innovation and Technology European Public Prosecutor's Office Corporate bodies of the EU European Data Protection Board Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations Joint undertakings of the EU of the Euratom Other independent bodies European Data Protection Supervisor European Ombudsman Advisory bodies European Committee of the Regions European Economic and Social Committee Political and Security Committee European Union Military Committee EU/ESA Space Council Inter-institutional bodies Publications Office of the European Union European External Action Service European Personnel Selection Office Anti-Fraud Office European Administrative School
Euratom Euratom members Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Associated states Switzerland United Kingdom Nuclear power in the European Union Euratom since 1 January 2021
Economic and Monetary Union Eurozone members Austria Belgium Croatia Cyprus Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Portugal Slovakia Slovenia Spain Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe Other currencies in use Bulgarian lev Czech koruna Danish krone Hungarian forint Polish złoty Romanian leu Swedish krona ERM II Enlargement of the eurozone Non Euro countries relationship to Euro Bulgaria Czechia Denmark Hungary Poland Sweden Romania Eurozone since 2015
Schengen Area Austria Belgium Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Non-EU members Iceland Liechtenstein Norway Switzerland Prüm Convention Schengen Information System Visa Information System Visa policy of the Schengen Area Non-Schengen area EU member states Bulgaria Cyprus Ireland (Opt-out) Romania Schengen Area from January 2023
European Economic Area EEA members Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia (provisional member) Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Non-EU members Iceland Liechtenstein Norway Topics EEA Joint Committee EEA National Identity cards Microstates and the European Union European Economic Area
Elections 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 2019 (last election) European political parties Constituencies Elections in EU member states Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Referendums relating to the EU
Law Acquis Primacy (ECJ Case 6/64) Subsidiarity Regulation Directive Decision Recommendation Fundamental Rights
Policies and issues Budget Customs Union Free Trade Agreements European Single Market Area of FS&J Policies Agricultural Energy Fisheries Regional Citizenship Passports of the European Union Identity Pro-Europeanism Euroscepticism European banking union European Banking Supervision Single Resolution Mechanism Capital Markets Union European System of Financial Supervision Integration Supranationalism European Federation Multi-speed Europe Enhanced co-op
Foreign relations High Representative Josep Borrell Ext. Action Service Foreign Policy Defence Policy Foreign relations of EU member states Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Argentina–European Union relations Armenia–European Union relations Australia–European Union relations Brazil–European Union relations Canada–European Union relations China–European Union relations European Union–NATO relations Georgia–European Union relations Iceland–European Union relations Kazakhstan–European Union relations Japan–European Union relations Mexico–European Union relations Moldova–European Union relations Norway–European Union relations Russia–European Union relations Switzerland–European Union relations Turkey–European Union relations Ukraine–European Union relations United Kingdom–European Union relations (History) Post-Brexit United Kingdom relations with the European Union Brexit United States–European Union relations Common Travel Area (Ireland) Microstates and the European Union European Union and the United Nations European Union Association Agreement G7 G20
Defunct bodies European Communities (1958–1993) European Coal and Steel Community European Economic Community European Community Western European Union Convention on the Future of Europe
European Union portal Other countries
v t e