EU Council Secretary-General Pierre de Boissieu

When the Lisbon Treaty entered into force on 1 December 2009, the European Council and the Council of the European Union immediately took a number of decisions to put the treaty reforms into practice.

There are still a few implementing decisions we have not looked at here at Grahnlaw, among them the appointment of the Secretary-General of the Council,


Secretary-General


Article 240(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides for the organisation of the General Secretariat and the appointment of the Secretary-General (OJEU 9.5.2008 C 115/154):

Article 240(2) TFEU

2. The Council shall be assisted by a General Secretariat, under the responsibility of a Secretary-General appointed by the Council.

The Council shall decide on the organisation of the General Secretariat by a simple majority.

Formerly, the High Representative was also (formally) the Secretary-General of the Council (Javier Solana), but most of the day to day business of the Council was directed by Deputy Secretary-General.

The Lisbon Treaty created the new “double-hatted” High Representative and Vice-President of the Commission (Catherine Ashton), as well as the separate post of Secretary-General.


Appointment



The representatives of the EU member states agreed to appoint the Deputy Secretary-General and former French ambassador to the European Union Pierre de BOISSIEU Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union for about one and a half years (from 1 December 2009 until the day after the European Council meeting of June 2011):




Council Decision of 1 December 2009 appointing the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union (2009/911/EU), published OJEU 9.12.2009 L 322/37.


Pierre de Boissieu


For those who prefer more than the powder-dry lines of the official decision, here are a few portraits of a powerful man directing the work of 3,500 employees outside the limelight:



Europolitics, Marc Paoloni: Pierre de Boissieu, a legend in Brussels (23 November 2009)



Le Figaro, Jean-Jacques Mével : Pierre de Boissieu, vigie de l’Europe (30 November 2009)



Swedish presidency of the EU Council: Secretary-General behind the scenes at the EU (undated)



Sur le chemin de la construction européenne, Samuel Faure : Pierre de Boissieu, un homme d’influence (9 December 2009)




Ralf Grahn



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EU Council: COREPER and General Secretariat (240 TFEU)

The original Treaty of Lisbon replaced the text of Article 207 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) by a new Article 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Hence, the only difference between the original ToL and the consolidated TFEU is that the provision was renumbered, becoming Article 240 TFEU (OJEU 9.5.2008 C 115/154):


Article 240 TFEU
(ex Article 207 TEC)

1. A committee consisting of the Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States shall be responsible for preparing the work of the Council and for carrying out the tasks assigned to it by the latter. The Committee may adopt procedural decisions in cases provided for in the Council's Rules of Procedure.

2. The Council shall be assisted by a General Secretariat, under the responsibility of a Secretary-General appointed by the Council.

The Council shall decide on the organisation of the General Secretariat by a simple majority.

3. The Council shall act by a simple majority regarding procedural matters and for the adoption of its Rules of Procedure.


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Comment

We note the following differences between Article 207 TEC and Article 240 TFEU:

• The Permanent Representatives are now described as representing the Governments of the Member States (instead of the Member States).
• There are small changes to the wording in the French and German treaty versions with regard to the responsibilities, but they are not material. The English version replaces ‘by the Council’ with ‘by the latter’.
• The top of the General Secretariat is reorganised by the Treaty of Lisbon. The High Representative becomes the chair of the Council configuration Foreign Affairs Council as well as one of the Vice-Presidents of the Commission. The Secretary-General of the Council (Secretariat) becomes a separate function. The Deputy Secretary-General is not mentioned specifically. The internal organisation, procedural matters and the Rules of Procedure will be decided by a simple majority. (There has been even less public discussion about the appointment of the new extremely influential position of Secretary-General than about the other top positions of the European Union.)
• The Article 207(3) TEC basic provision on access to documents has been removed from Article 240 TFEU. The corresponding provisions are found in the amended Article 16(8) TEU concerning the Council and Article 15(3) TFEU, with general application.


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In the next posts we are going to look at preparatory work concerning the Lisbon Treaty, available information about the Council, as well as details concerning COREPER, the General Secretariat and the Council’s Rules of Procedure.


Ralf Grahn

EU Council: Permanent Representatives and General Secretariat (207 TEC)

The EU Ambassadors of the member states and their deputies form the crucial link between the national capitals and the European Union preparing the ground for decisions by the Council. COREPER prepares and coordinates preparatory work and executes Council decisions.

The Council is assisted by a General Secretariat, and more detailed rules are laid down in the Council’s Rules of Procedure.


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Current TEC

The Committee of the Permanent Representatives of the member states is usually mentioned under its French acronym COREPER (Comité des représentants permanents). In a treaty based European Union joining member states, the EU Ambassadors and their substitutes constitute the crucial link between preparatory committees and working groups and the Council.

The Council is assisted by the General Secretariat.

The Council’s Rules of Procedure lay down more detailed rules.

These and the main provisions on access to Council documents are currently set out in Article 207 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) (in the latest consolidated version of the treaties, OJEU 29.12.2006 C 321 E/137-138):



Article 207 TEC

1. A committee consisting of the Permanent Representatives of the Member States shall be responsible for preparing the work of the Council and for carrying out the tasks assigned to it by the Council. The Committee may adopt procedural decisions in cases provided for in the Council's Rules of Procedure.

2. The Council shall be assisted by a General Secretariat, under the responsibility of a Secretary‑General, High Representative for the common foreign and security policy, who shall be assisted by a Deputy Secretary-General responsible for the running of the General Secretariat. The Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-General shall be appointed by the Council acting by a qualified majority.

The Council shall decide on the organisation of the General Secretariat.

3. The Council shall adopt its Rules of Procedure.

For the purpose of applying Article 255(3), the Council shall elaborate in these Rules the conditions under which the public shall have access to Council documents. For the purpose of this paragraph, the Council shall define the cases in which it is to be regarded as acting in its legislative capacity, with a view to allowing greater access to documents in those cases, while at the same time preserving the effectiveness of its decision-making process. In any event, when the Council acts in its legislative capacity, the results of votes and explanations of vote as well as statements in the minutes shall be made public.


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Original Lisbon Treaty

Article 2, point 192 of the original Treaty of Lisbon (ToL) replaced Article 207 TEC by a new Article 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (OJEU 17.12.2007 C 306/105):


192) Article 207 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 207

1. A committee consisting of the Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States shall be responsible for preparing the work of the Council and for carrying out the tasks assigned to it by the latter. The Committee may adopt procedural decisions in cases provided for in the Council's Rules of Procedure.

2. The Council shall be assisted by a General Secretariat, under the responsibility of a Secretary-General appointed by the Council.

The Council shall decide on the organisation of the General Secretariat by a simple majority.

3. The Council shall act by a simple majority regarding procedural matters and for the adoption of its Rules of Procedure.’.


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The next posts look at the consolidated Lisbon Treaty and some detailed provisions on COREPER, the General Secretariat and access to documents, as well as information about Council activities.


Ralf Grahn

EU Guidelines: Human Rights & Humanitarian Law

The European Union publishes a lot of useful information for students of politics, law and economics, as well as other interested EU citizens.

Many of the publications are available at the EU Bookshop in printed or digital form (pdf):

http://bookshop.europa.eu

I would like to draw attention to a recent publication issued by the Council of the European Union (General Secretariat of the Council) ‘EU Guidelines Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law’ (March 2009; 89 pages).

The publication is downloadable for free in English and French (Lignes directrices Droits de l’homme et Droit International Humanitaire).

The Guidelines serve not only international EU missions, but they contain a wealth of information useful for students, teachers, researchers and others interested in the human rights and humanitarian law.

Here is a look at the contents:

1. Death Penalty (1998) (updated on 2008)

2. Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (2001) (updated on 2008)

3. Human Rights dialogues with third countries (2001) (updated on 2009)

4. Children and armed conflict (2003) (updated on 2008)

5. Human Rights Defenders (2004) (updated on 2008)

6. Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child (2007)

7. Violence against women and girls and combating all forms of discrimination against them (2008)

8. Promoting Compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) (2005)


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Death penalty

Because misleading information about the European Union is continuously spread on the web, I recommend that everyone unsure about the EU’s position reads the Guideline on the death penalty.

The conspiracy theorists repeating the ‘footnote within a footnote’ distortions are, I presume, beyond redemption.



Ralf Grahn