The European Council in 2011 (publication)

The Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force on 1 December 2009, made the European Council (EUCO) an official institution of the European Union. It consists of the head of state or government of each member state of the EU, as well as without a vote, the president of the European Commission (José Manuel Barroso) and the EUCO president elected for two and a half years by the 27 national leaders (Herman Van Rompuy).

The first two years of the European Council have coincided with the profound financial and economic crises in the eurozone and the European Union generally, leading to repeated summits of varying kinds.

For the second time, president Van Rompuy has put a summary of his thoughts on record in an annual publication, now:

The European Council in 2011 (January 2012; 74 pages)

This is not a novelty, because the English and a few other versions were published in January.

There are, however, a few reasons for me to mention – even to recommend – the publication now.

I have now read the overview presented by Van Rompuy. His ”official” account of history in the making is an important source, regardless of how readers feel about the subject and the success this far.

The publication has now become available in 22 EU languages. (You can either toggle the language switch for the language of your choice, or proceed to the page for Council publications.)

The third reason is that you are able to find the official EUCO conclusions and the extraordinary summit statements neatly in one place for future reference.

The introduction and the conclusions are available in the same manner for the previous year, in:

The European Council in 2010 (January 2010; 45 pages; also available in 22 languages)



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. 1: For better or for worse, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union shapes our digital future and online freedoms. More than 900 euroblogs are aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Is your blog already listed among them? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?

P.S. 2: A few moments ago, the petition launched by @Avaaz for the European Parliament (and the national parliaments) to reject #ACTA had already been signed by 2,377,656 netizens, but more are welcome until the official funeral of the anti-piracy treaty.