The Council consists of representatives of each Member State at ministerial level, authorized to commit the government of that Member State. Meetings are attended by different ministers according to the agenda: for instance, agriculture ministers discuss farm prices; employment matters are dealt with by labour and social affairs ministers; and general policy questions, foreign affairs and major Union issues are matters for the Foreign Ministers.
Council headquarters is in Brussels, though certain meetings take place in Luxembourg. Each Member State acts as President of the Council for six months in rotation.
The Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER - the Member State’s ambassadors to the Union) prepares the work of the Council and acts on the Council’s instructions notably by setting up Committees or working parties to make specific preparations or to study particular matters.
The Union Treaty groups the Union’s activities into three separate areas (Community activities, common foreign and security policy, justice and home affairs). In the Community context, the Council has the task of ensuring that the objectives laid down by the Treaty are attained by coordinating the general economic policies of the Member States and by adopting, on proposals from the Commission, the main decisions relating to the common policies in accordance with procedures which involve Parliament in varying degrees. The Council plays a predominant part in the two other areas based on intergovernmental cooperation. Under the common foreign and security policy, it defines common positions and adopts joint actions, and the Presidency of the Council is responsible for implementing such measures as representative of the Union. In the case of justice and home affairs, the Council acts mainly through joint positions and by drawing up conventions which it recommends that the Member States adopt.
With regard to Community activities, developments such as the Single Act, the Union Treaty, and the Treaty of Nice have provided for wider use of qualified-majority voting, but some matters such as taxation continue to require unanimity. A qualified majority is constituted by 255 out of 345. Where the vote is taken by qualified majority, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom have 29 votes each, Spain and Poland have 27 votes each, Romania has 14, the Netherlands has 13 votes, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary and Portugal have 12 each, Austria and Sweden have 10 votes each, Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, the Slovak Republic and Finland 7 each, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovenia 4 and Malta 3. Unanimity is still required, however, where the Council wishes to deviate from the Commission's proposals or to reject amendments by Parliament that have been accepted by the Commission.
Unanimity is required for action under the common foreign and security policy or in justice and home affairs cooperation, except where the Treaty authorizes the Council to decide otherwise.
