Help me find legal and political decisions concerning EU “State of the Union” debate

The European Commission’s agenda from 6 September to 3 October 2010 tells us:

During his second mandate, the President has agreed with the European Parliament to give a yearly address on the State of the Union. This has been incorporated into the Framework Agreement that has been agreed with the European Parliament. President Barroso will give an assessment of where the Union stands and outline the political challenges for the next 12 months.

I looked for the framework agreement between the European Commission and the European Parliament, annexed to the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure (July 2010): Annex XIV, from page 177 (including its annexes).

Even if there are many commendable provisions on how the Commission shall keep the European Parliament informed, I failed to find an annual address on the “State of the Union” or a speech resembling that scheduled for September.



The newsletter from the European Parliament on the 6-9 September 2010 Strasbourg plenary session offers us the following information about the State of the Union debate with President Barroso:

Commission President José Manuel Barroso will give his first-ever State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday. The ensuing debate will enable MEPs to review with Mr Barroso the developments in the European Union since the EP elections of June 2009 and the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009.

The Legislative Observatory Oeil adds the following referral regarding the procedure: EP 110-p2. Let us quote the first two paragraphs of Rule 110:

Rule 110 Statements by the Commission, Council and European Council

1. Members of the Commission, the Council and the European Council may at any time ask the President of Parliament for permission to make a statement. The President of the European Council shall make a statement after each of its meetings. The President of Parliament shall decide when the statement may be made and whether it is to be followed by a full debate or by 30 minutes of brief and concise questions from Members.

2. When placing a statement with debate on its agenda, Parliament shall decide whether or not to wind up the debate with a resolution. It shall not do so if a report on the same matter is scheduled for the same or the next part-session, unless the President, for exceptional reasons, proposes otherwise. If Parliament decides to wind up a debate with a resolution, a committee, a political group or at least 40 Members may table a motion for a resolution.

If Barroso’s “statement” has morphed into a “State of the Union” debate, does this mean that all other members of the Commission, the Council and the European Council can, from now on, use the same epithet for their statements to the EP plenary?

How about the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, whose duty it is to make a statement after each meeting of the European Council?


Since I must have missed some pertinent points, could the European Commission or the European Parliament, please give me more accurate information about the legal and political decisions concerning this major institutional novelty, the State of the Union address?




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Comments relevant to the topic discussed in each Grahnlaw blog post are most welcome. However, the number of spam comments has skyrocketed. This is the sad reason for comment moderation, so it may take a while before your valued comment appears.

It is easier to understand a language than to use it correctly. As Eurobloggers we could and should promote interaction among Europeans across borders and between linguistic communities. Grahnlaw has adopted a multilingual comment policy:

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EU General Affairs Council 14 June 2010

The General Affairs Council (GAC) shall ensure consistency in the work of different Council configurations. It shall prepare and ensure the follow-up to meetings of the European Council, in liaison with the President of the European Council and the Commission (Article 16(6) TEU).



Coordination, preparation and follow-up



Article 2 of the Rules of Procedure of the Council adds some detail to how the GAC is intended to coordinate policies and to prepare the European Council meetings, with a final GAC meeting within five days of a coming summit, as a rule preventing later discussion by other Council formations on items on the European Council’s agenda.

Even if the GAC tasks seem to cover all policy areas, it continues to meet in parallel with the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC). Thus, the coordinating role of the GAC is probably negligible with regard to the EU’s external action. (Cf. Article 2(5) of the Rules of Procedure.)

The GAC also follows up the guidelines, conclusions and decisions by the European Council.



GAC agenda 14 June 2010



The General Affairs Council will meet Monday, 14 June 2010 in Luxembourg, where the Council meetings take place three months annually.



The items on the agenda are:

Non-legislative activities

- European Council, Brussels, 17 June 2010

- EEAS [European External Action Service]

- Strategic Report of 2010 by the Commission on the Implementation of the Cohesion Policy Programmes (Presentation by the Commission; Council conclusions)

- Outermost Regions (Presentation by the Commission of the 2010 Forum for Outermost Europe, Brussels, 27/28 May 2010; Council conclusions)



Legislative deliberations

- European Citizens' Initiative (General Approach)

The European Council meets Thursday, 17 June 2010.




Ralf Grahn

EU Council configurations and basic public information

Only the General Affairs Council (GAC) and the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) are directly mentioned in the Lisbon Treaty (Article 16(6) TEU). The list of the other Council configurations is adopted by the European Council, by a qualified majority (Article 236 TFEU).


Missing information

The web pages of the European Council and the Council of the European Union are unhelpful with regard to such basic public information as their respective Rules of Procedure and the decision on the other Council configurations, even if the names of the existing configurations are displayed on the Council’s website.

In my view, as a matter of transparency, public authorities should always hold the applicable rules readily available, at least if they believe in the rule of law.

It is hardly an excuse that the Commission is no better in this regard. The European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure are regularly updated and available on the EP web pages.



List of Council configurations

The list of Council configurations should be adopted by the European Council. However, the list was provisionally established by the GAC (reasons given), when the Lisbon Treaty entered into force:



DECISION OF THE COUNCIL (GENERAL AFFAIRS) 2009/878/EU of 1 December 2009 establishing the list of Council configurations in addition to those referred to in the second and third subparagraphs of Article 16(6) of the Treaty on European Union; published OJEU 2.12.2009 L 315/46.


LIST OF COUNCIL CONFIGURATIONS

1. General affairs

2. Foreign affairs

3. Economic and financial affairs

4. Justice and home affairs

5. Employment, social policy, health and consumer affairs

6. Competitiveness (internal market, industry and research)

7. Transport, telecommunications and energy

8. Agriculture and fisheries

9. Environment

10. Education, youth and culture



Council’s Rules of Procedure

According to the decision, the list was inserted in the Council’s Rules of Procedure, so these offer an alternative place to look for, and perhaps easier to remember:



COUNCIL DECISION 2009/937/EU of 1 December 2009 adopting the Council's Rules of Procedure; link to the consolidated version of [1 December 2009].

The list of Council configurations is set out in Annex I (page 16).




Ralf Grahn

EU Council’s Rules of Procedure

Six months after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the web pages of the Council of the European Union are still unhelpful with regard to such basic public information as the Rules of Procedure of the Council.

Therefore, we complement the information which should be visibly available, as a matter of course.



COUNCIL DECISION 2009/937/EU of 1 December 2009 adopting the Council's Rules of Procedure; link to the consolidated version of [1 December 2009; later corrected despite the date].



We discussed the Council’s new Rules of Procedure in December 2009.




Ralf Grahn

European Council’s Rules of Procedure

During the coming week, the European Council is going to meet.

Six months after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the web pages of the European Council are still unhelpful with regard to such basic public information as the Rules of Procedure of the European Council.

Therefore, we complement the information which should be visibly available, as a matter of course.



Rules of Procedure European Council



EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION 2009/882/EU of 1 December 2009 adopting its Rules of Procedure; published OJEU 2.12.2009 L 315/51.


For those who are interested, we presented the contents in a number of blog posts in December 2009.




Ralf Grahn

EU Committee of the Regions: New Rules of Procedure

According to Article 13(4) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission shall be assisted by an Economic and Social Committee and a Committee of the Regions acting in an advisory capacity (OJEU 9.5.2008 C 115/22).

More detailed provisions on the Committee of the Regions are found in Article 300 and Articles 305 to 307 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (OJEU pages 177-179).

Promptly after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) has adopted new Rules of Procedure, which are of interest to the members and to those who deal with the CoR. The 79 Articles of the Rules of Procedure detail the work of the CoR even further.

Based on Article 306 TFEU, the CoR Rules of Procedure have now been officially published:




COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS RULES OF PROCEDURE; adopted 3 December 2009; published OJEU 9.1.2010 L 6/14.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Suitably at the beginning of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union, we highlight La Oreja de Europa, written by Macarena Rodríguez, a journalist based in Brussels. The name of the blog “The Ear of Europe” is possibly meant to evoke Brussels as her listening post for the benefit of readers in Spain, a country with powerful autonomous regions. The prize-winning La Oreja de Europa is listed among the now more than 500 great euroblogs on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, a useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, policies, economics, finance and law.

EU Council’s new Rules of Procedure

In a European Union, “in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen”, the real issues at stake and the diplomatic negotiations between the capitals remain opaque and seriously under-reported by national media.

In anticipation of the Lisbon Treaty, and enshrined by it, the Council has opened its doors for public presentations of major policy initiatives and the beginning and the end of the legislative process, available through video on the Council’s audiovisual web page.

In addition, member states with more open traditions of government can do a lot to open up the Council, at least when they hold the presidency.



Despite my critique of the European Council’s near absence of tolerable standards of governance, with regard to openness, representative democracy and closeness to EU citizens, the ongoing Swedish EU Council presidency has generally set the benchmark for the coming trio: Spain, Belgium and Hungary. In my humble view, Sweden showed a more open attitude, produced better pre-meeting information and introduced a versatile use of new technological means, including social media interaction, than previous presidencies.


New Council Rules of Procedure


The Lisbon Treaty has required amendments, which have led to a new edition of the Council’s Rules of Procedure.

We humans seem to be highly susceptible to personality contests and the immediacy of great political controversies. Even in more serious literature, “boring” documents, such as the Rules of Procedure, tend to get scant notice, even if they form the basis for hundreds of decisions, conclusions and policy positions annually.

In other words, the new Rules of Procedure are among the most important pieces of secondary legislation in the European Union, at least for those who study or work with EU institutional law or EU politics.

One more step to implement the Lisbon Treaty: The Council’s new Rules of Procedure have now been officially published.




COUNCIL DECISION of 1 December 2009 adopting the Council's Rules of Procedure
(2009/937/EU), published OJEU 11.12.2009 L 325/35


The contents are divided into 28 Articles and six Annexes.

I suggest that readers assess the provisions against the principles of:

• openness
• representative democracy
• closeness to citizens



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Read, comment and discuss our future on the 494 euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, our common European “village well” for facts, opinion and gossip.

Better information? European Council 11-12 December 2009

First I looked at the fate of the noble principles of openness and representative democracy, as well as for comprehensive pre-summit information on the agenda, ahead of the first European Council meeting under the Lisbon Treaty and the new Rules of Procedure.

Then I asked, if there is better public information available somewhere.

Starting from the viewpoint of an interested EU citizen, who cannot be expected to know if there are more or less final public documents available from previous stages, I limited my search to pre-meeting materials dedicated to the European Council 10 to 11 December 2009, when it has already started.

To facilitate matters, I decided to take a look at the Nordic member states, considered to be among the more open.


Sweden



This time I found no additional information on the EU web page of the Swedish government, which holds the EU Council presidency.


Finland



There was one generic press release: EU Heads of State or Government to discuss Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (3 December 2009; available in Finnish, Swedish and English).



The bare bones provisional agenda dated 9 December 2009 had been posted.



The potentially interesting item was a one page paper with Finnish positions (perhaps speaking points):


PRIME MINISTER MATTI VANHANEN (FINLAND) ON THE EVE OF THE DECEMBER 2009 EUROPEAN COUNCIL
10 December 2009

THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL NEEDS TO SET THE AGENDA

The Lisbon Treaty brings major changes for the European Council. This is a great opportunity for the Union. We should take full advantage of these reforms.

The European Council needs to have more political debates on the Union’s main challenges. Fewer items, but more time for real deliberations on strategic priorities and the direction of the Union. The European Council has to concentrate on the big picture.

During next year The European Council should debate major items like our economic competitiveness and the main priorities for the Union’s work. The members of the European Council need to have a good debate on major EU policies – like agriculture, cohesion policy, future financing – well before detailed negotiations on the next financial perspectives are launched. These are fundamental political issues.

A striking example - during the seven years I have been a member of the European Council, I can not remember one single comprehensive debate about agriculture, even though it is a major policy area.

This European Council is a first of its kind and at the same time the last meeting to be chaired by the rotating presidency. The Swedish Presidency has done a great work in managing this transition. Prime Minister Reinfeldt has been an excellent chairman.

The new president of the European Council will assume his chairmanship in a few weeks.
President Herman Van Rompuy visited Helsinki last week. His vision for the European Council is very promising and I want to give him my full support in his work as our new Chairman. The European Council has to assume the function it was originally created for: show political leadership for the Union.

Denmark



Not everything is public yet, but the EU Committee (Europaudvalget EUU) of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget) has the best available information, and in good order on its page: Det Europæiske Råd 10-11/12-09.

http://www.ft.dk/samling/20091/raadsmoede/523494/bilag/5/770913.pdf

The most interesting are the 13 pages of draft conclusions dated 4 December, but before the General Affairs Council, the Foreign Affairs Council and the Energy Council.

The latest drafts of the relevant substantive EU documents (annexes) are not presented on the web page.


Conclusion

As a newly hatched formal institution, the European Council continues in the footsteps of the Council, instead of heralding a new era in tune with the Lisbon Treaty and future challenges for Europe. It is opaque instead of open, a misfit of representative democracy instead of an encouraging example, distant from the citizens instead of close to them.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Educate yourself! Growing, multilingual Bloggingportal.eu now aggregates 494 euroblogs, representing both national viewpoints and pan-European angles.

You can access all the posts on the Posts page or concentrate on the editors’ choice of articles on the Home page. On most of the blogs you can comment and discuss our common European future. Please, do.

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European Council agenda 10-11 December 2009

The previous blog post European Council 10 to 11 December 2009 looked at how the principles of openness and representative democracy are applied to the summits under the Lisbon Treaty and the new Rules of Procedure.



Ahead of the meeting, the web page European Council of the Swedish presidency published a press release Summit invitations sent out (7 December 2009).


One member per state



Prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s invitation letter informs us that he will still chair the meeting, although the Lisbon Treaty entered into force on 1 December 2009.

“In line with the provisions of the new Treaty on the composition of the European Council, the meeting will take place in the format of Heads of State or Government only”, Reinfeldt told the member state governments.

But all foreign ministers are not necessarily happy to be relegated to “if needed” status, as foreseen by Article 15(2) and (3) TEU.

In Finland (and perhaps other countries) were the division of powers between the head of government and the head of state is unclear, the Lisbon Treaty has highlighted domestic constitutional shortcomings.


Pre-meeting info



The Swedish Presidency’s last summit (9 December 2009) contains the schedule from Thursday afternoon until the concluding press conference on Friday.



Prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt speaks about Climate change on a webcast (9 December 2009).



The provisional agenda, dated yesterday and published today, is an absolute bare-bones list with six substantive issues in 17 words:

1. Adoption of the provisional agenda

2. Institutional issues
3. Economic, financial and employment situation
4. Stockholm Programme
5. Copenhagen Conference on climate change
6. Enlargement
7. External Relations

8. Any Other Business

Brevity is the soul of wit?


The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, has informed us that he joins the dinner of the participants Thursday evening, and why he does not preside the body he became president for.

Otherwise I found nothing on the Council’s web pages conducive to the enlightenment of EU citizens with regard to the European Council meeting.

Naturally, earlier versions of some basic documents have been published, but nothing has been done to facilitate the gathering of updated information.

After dealing with openness and representative democracy, we can now add the issue of communication to the list of structural and practical faults under the Lisbon Treaty and the new Rules of Procedure.

This leads to another question: Is there better public information available out there, than what we have seen this far?



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Educate yourself! Growing, multilingual Bloggingportal.eu now aggregates 494 euroblogs, representing both national viewpoints and pan-European angles.

You can access all the posts on the Posts page or concentrate on the editors’ choice of articles on the Home page. On most of the blogs you can comment and discuss our common European future. Please, do.

Blogs on EU affairs and European themes, by associations, networks, businesses or individuals, can join Bloggingportal.eu. Gain visibility, credibility and readers by proposing a new blog!

European Council 10 to 11 December 2009

Thursday 10 and Friday 11 December 2009, the European Council will convene in Brussels, the last summit under the Swedish presidency of the Council of the European Union, but the first under its new Rules of Procedure.

Some proclaimed that the Lisbon Treaty ushered in a new era for an EU, “in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen” (Article 1 TEU), and that “(t)he functioning of the Union shall be founded on representative democracy”.


Openness and representative democracy in secret, without (public) votes



The expectations concerning transparency and representative democracy (as understood by most people) are somewhat tempered by the new Rules of Procedure of the European Council (OJEU 2.12.2009 L 315/51):

“Meetings of the European Council shall not be public.” Article 4(3).

“Except where the Treaties provide otherwise, decisions of the European Council shall be taken by consensus.” Article 6(1), reiterating Article 15(4) TEU.

“In cases where, in accordance with the Treaties, the European Council adopts a decision, the European Council may [not shall] decide, in accordance with the voting arrangement applicable for the adoption of that decision, to make public the results of votes, as well as the statements in its minutes and the items in those minutes relating to the adoption of that decision.” Article 10(1).

“Without prejudice to the provisions on public access to documents, the deliberations of the European Council shall be covered by the obligation of professional secrecy, except insofar as the European Council decides otherwise.” Article 11, first subparagraph.

In other words, openness and representative democracy will be practiced in secret, under the obligation of professional secrecy, as a rule without votes, and the exceptional votes just possibly made public.

The heads of state or government have national – not EU-wide – mandates.

Is our European Union open and democratic? Is it our union, or theirs?



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Growing, multilingual Bloggingportal.eu now aggregates 494 euroblogs. Blogs on EU affairs and policies can gain visibility, credibility and readers by joining our common European “village well” for facts, opinion and gossip. Click on Contribute to propose a new blog.

European Council 10 to 11 December 2009: Lisbon Treaty implementation

Our previous blog post Implementing the Lisbon Treaty (Swedish report) (9 December 2009) gave an overview of implementing decisions already officially published, as well as Grahnlaw posts, which present these decisions, with comments.



There has been some progress since 4 December 2009, when the Swedish presidency of the EU Council published its report Implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon (document 17033/1/09 REV 1) for the European Council meeting 10 to 11 December 2009.


Officially published

Today, five implementing Council decisions have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the primordial source of EU law and politics (OJEU 9.12.2009 L 322).

Before presenting the contents of the decisions and commenting on them, here are the references:




Council Decision of 1 December 2009 laying down measures for the implementation of the European Council Decision on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council, and on the chairmanship of preparatory bodies of the Council (2009/908/EU), published OJEU 9.12.2009 L 322/28.


***



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.


***



Council Decision of 1 December 2009 laying down the conditions of employment of the President of the European Council (2009/909/EU), published OJEU 9.12.2009 L 322/35.


***




Council Decision of 1 December 2009 laying down the conditions of employment of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (2009/910/EU), published OJEU 9.12.2009 L 322/36.


***



Council Decision of 1 December 2009 laying down the conditions of employment of the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union (2009/912/EU), published OJEU 9.12.2009 L 322/38.


***

Awaiting official publication

The Council Decision adopting the Council's Rules of Procedure (document 16525/09) has not yet been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, and for some reason I failed to locate the Council document despite the reference.

I have seen no reason for the delay in publishing the Council’s Rules of Procedure in the OJEU, but it is a long document and it needs to be published in 23 official languages.


***

From references to comments

Later posts will look at the contents of the implementing decisions, although more curious readers can look for themselves.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Growing, multilingual Bloggingportal.eu now aggregates 494 euroblogs. Blogs on EU affairs and policies can gain visibility, credibility and readers by joining our common European “village well” for facts, opinion and gossip. Click on Contribute to propose a new blog.

Rules of Procedure of European Council (Articles 9 to 14)

After the main treaty provision on the European Council (Article 15 TEU), we took a brief look at the contents of its new Rules of Procedure, first Articles 1 to 3, and then Articles 4 to 8.

Now is the time to present the main points of the rest of the Articles, from 9 to 14.



Main points



Article 9 Deliberations and decisions on the basis of documents and drafts drawn up in the languages provided for by the language rules in force: Documents and proposed amendments have to be available in the official languages, except by unanimous decision on grounds of urgency.



Article 10 Making public votes, explanations of votes and minutes and access to documents: The European Council may make the results of a vote public, with possible explanations of the vote.

Public access to European Council documents follows the same rules as for Council documents.

Article 11 Professional secrecy and production of documents in legal proceedings:

The deliberations of the European Council are subject to an obligation to professional secrecy, except when a contrary decision is made.

The European Council may authorise the release of non-public documents for use in legal proceedings.



Article 12 Decisions of the European Council: The form of acts is the same as for the Council.

Decisions are published in the Official Journal of the European Union or notified to their addressees.



Article 13 Secretariat, budget and security: The European Council and its president are assisted by the General Secretariat of the Council, lead by the Secretary-General.



Article 14 Correspondence addressed to the European Council: Send your correspondence to the European Council to its President at: European Council, rue de la Loi 175, B-1048 Brussels.


Comment

The meetings of the European Council are not public (Article 4). To this Article 11 adds an obligation to professional secrecy with regard to the deliberations.

These are more manifestations of diplomacy between states, than indications of the existence of an EU “founded on representative democracy”.

These provisions, together with non-disclosure of documents, mean that the most political and important organ of the European Union, the institution which sets the political directions and priorities, and which gives or fails to give the EU the necessary impetus, remains practically impenetrable for the citizens of the European Union.

Even highly political deals are made, not in party political terms understood by the public, but between the perceived interests of member states, beyond the sight of citizens.

Instead of a lively debate ahead of each European Council, with input from europarties, think tanks and citizens, we get the conclusions and the report to the European Parliament afterwards. This sounds more like late Stuart than early 21st century.


Source


The new Rules of Procedure of the European Council:



EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION of 1 December 2009 adopting its Rules of Procedure (2009/882/EU) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU 2.12.2009 L 315/51).




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Educate yourself! Growing, multilingual Bloggingportal.eu now aggregates 494 euroblogs.

European Council’s Rules of Procedure (Contents: Articles 4 to 8)

We continue our presentation of the main points of the novel Rules of Procedure of the European Council.



EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION of 1 December 2009 adopting its Rules of Procedure (2009/882/EU) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU 2.12.2009 L 315/51).



Main points


Article 4 Composition of the European Council, delegations and the conduct of proceedings: Normally the European Council meets for two days.

The prime minister (or president) of the rotating EU Council presidency has been given the role to report on the work of the Council to the European Council.

The president of the European Parliament may be invited to be heard at the beginning of the meeting. There is a strong presumption in favour of continuing established practice in this regard, because the contrary would require a unanimous vote.

Meetings in the margins of the European Council with third states are allowed only exceptionally. The rule seems to be designed to help the European Council concentrate on its agenda.

The meetings of the European Council are not public.

The Rules of Procedure repeat the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, which state the members:

27 heads of state/government
President
Commission president


The High Representative participates.


The Lisbon Treaty tries to limit participation. In practice, the foreign ministers do not participate without a specific decision. The total size of the national delegations in the building is limited to 20 persons.

The president is responsible for the application of the Rules of Procedure and for the smooth conduct of the discussions.



Article 5 Representation before the European Parliament: The president of the European Council reports to the European Parliament after each meeting, but the prime minister (or president) of the rotating six month Council presidency country is still allowed to present its priorities and results.



Article 6 Adoption of positions, decisions and quorum: Consensus decisions remain the rule.

The president or a member can initiate a vote, if the treaties allow for a vote.

A quorum of two thirds of the heads of government (or state) is required for a vote.

The Rules of Procedure reiterate the treaty provisions that a member can act for one other member, that the president and Commission president do not participate in votes, and that procedural questions are decided by a simple majority.



Article 7 Written procedure: Written procedures and votes are allowed on urgent matters, by unanimous agreement.



Article 8 Minutes: Minutes are drawn up by the General Secretariat of the Council and approved by the European Council.

The minutes contain references to the documents submitted to the European Council, the conclusions approved, the decisions taken, and the statements made by the European Council or requested by a member of the European Council.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Educate yourself! Growing, multilingual Bloggingportal.eu now aggregates 494 euroblogs.

You can access all the posts on the Posts page or concentrate on the editors’ choice of articles on the Home page. On most of the blogs you can comment and discuss our common European future.

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European Council’s Rules of Procedure (Contents: Articles 1 to 3)

The new Rules of Procedure of the European Council are fairly short, 14 Articles on four pages. They build on the treaty provisions, while adding some detail outlining the work of the European Council, which has formally become an EU institution under the Lisbon Treaty.

The European Council sets the course for the European Union politically, and it makes certain decisions mentioned in the treaties, although it does not exercise legislative functions.





EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION of 1 December 2009 adopting its Rules of Procedure (2009/882/EU) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU 2.12.2009 L 315/51).


Main points

Here is an overview of the contents of the Rules of Procedure of the European Council, the first three Articles.


Article 1 Notice and venue of meetings: Ordinarily, the European Council is convened by its President to two meetings in Brussels during six months. Extraordinarily, the European Council can hold special meetings and meetings outside Brussels.


Article 2 Preparation for and follow-up to the proceedings of the European Council: The General Affairs Council is the coordinating Council configuration for the President and the European Council, and the GAC (still chaired by the rotating Presidency) is the main responsible for the follow-up to meetings.

Regular meetings and coordination are foreseen between the President, the rotating Presidency of the Council and the President of the Commission.

In case of vacancy or impediment, the President of the European Council is replaced by the member representing the rotating Presidency.


Article 3 Agenda and preparation: The President submits an annotated draft agenda to the General Affairs Council at least four weeks before each meeting of the European Council.

The other Council configurations shall forward their contributions to the GAC at least two weeks ahead of the European Council meeting.

The President prepares draft guidelines, conclusions and decisions of the European Council, for discussion in the GAC.

After a final GAC meeting, the President draws up the provisional agenda for the European Council.

Only exceptionally are other Council configurations allowed to discuss issues on the European Council’s agenda between the final GAC meeting and the European Council.

The final agenda is adopted by the European Council at the beginning of its meeting, and “surprise items” are generally not allowed.





Ralf Grahn



P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Educate yourself! There are already 488 Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. You can access all the posts on the Posts page or concentrate on the editors’ choice of articles on the Home page. On most of the blogs you can comment and discuss our common European future.

European Council’s new Rules of Procedure

Too boring? Not if you are interested in how the European Union really works.

The European Commission still proposes and administers in the policy areas of the late European Community, and the European Parliament likes to quote how it has gained the role of a co-equal lawmaker in almost all areas of legislation (roughly the same patch as the Commission).

Still, the European Union is based on the member states. They are represented in the Council and the European Council, which in tandem form the most important institutional force. They have reserved the powers to act or to prevent action in decisive areas (beyond legislation), such as treaty change; resources (long term budget); foreign, security and defence policy.

Even where the Commission and the EP are more or less excluded, various unanimity rules (consensus) often prevent Council action, at least beyond the convoy principle, going at the pace of the slowest, while the European Union remains a giant on clay feet, a “hobbled giant” to use the words of the US National Intelligence Council (NIC).


European Council

The European Council, where the heads of state or government meet, formally became an institution of the European Union, when the Lisbon Treaty entered into force on 1 December 2009.

The basic treaty provisions are Article 13(1) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), which lists the European Council among the EU institutions, and Article 15 TEU, which contains the tasks and main rules with regard to the European Council.

Impetus, general political directions and priorities (paragraph 1) describe the crucial role of the European Council, the pinnacle of what the European Union does and fails to do. The main tasks of the semi-permanent President of the European Council are to drive forward the work and to give it continuity:

Article 15 TEU

1. The European Council shall provide the Union with the necessary impetus for its development and shall define the general political directions and priorities thereof. It shall not exercise legislative functions.

2. The European Council shall consist of the Heads of State or Government of the Member States, together with its President and the President of the Commission. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy shall take part in its work.

3. The European Council shall meet twice every six months, convened by its President. When the agenda so requires, the members of the European Council may decide each to be assisted by a minister and, in the case of the President of the Commission, by a member of the Commission. When the situation so requires, the President shall convene a special meeting of the European Council.

4. Except where the Treaties provide otherwise, decisions of the European Council shall be taken by consensus.

5. The European Council shall elect its President, by a qualified majority, for a term of two and a half years, renewable once. In the event of an impediment or serious misconduct, the European Council can end the President's term of office in accordance with the same procedure.

6. The President of the European Council:

(a) shall chair it and drive forward its work;

(b) shall ensure the preparation and continuity of the work of the European Council in cooperation with the President of the Commission, and on the basis of the work of the General Affairs Council;

(c) shall endeavour to facilitate cohesion and consensus within the European Council;

(d) shall present a report to the European Parliament after each of the meetings of the European Council.

The President of the European Council shall, at his level and in that capacity, ensure the external representation of the Union on issues concerning its common foreign and security policy, without prejudice to the powers of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

The President of the European Council shall not hold a national office.

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European Council’s new Rules of Procedure

We humans seem to be highly susceptible to personality contests and the drama of great political controversies. Even in more serious literature “boring” documents, such as Rules of Procedure, tend to get scant notice, even if they form the basis for thousands of decisions, conclusions and policy positions annually.

In other words, the new European Council’s Rules of Procedure are among the important pieces of secondary legislation in the European Union, even if the decision and the annexed rules – five pages in all – offer only a bare outline of how European Council business is conducted.

With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, it became necessary to adopt Rules of Procedure for the European Council (Article 235(3) TFEU). Signing the decision was one of the first official acts in office for the president Herman Van Rompuy:




EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION of 1 December 2009 adopting its Rules of Procedure (2009/882/EU) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU 2.12.2009 L 315/31).


Later we are going to take a look at the contents of the European Council’s Rules of Procedure.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Educate yourself! There are already 488 Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. You can access all the posts on the Posts page or concentrate on the editors’ choice of articles on the Home page. On most of the blogs you can comment and discuss our common European future.

Lisbon Treaty implementation ─ first day

On the first day of the EU Lisbon Treaty in force, some formal implementing decisions have been taken. The Council of the European Union informs us (1 December 2009, document 16919/09:


Implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon

Today, day of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, several decisions were taken in view of the implementation of the Treaty.

Following the political agreement reached by the Heads of State or Government on 19 November the European Council decided:

– To elect Mr Herman Van Rompuy as President of the European Council for the period from 1 December 2009 until 31 May 2012, and

– To appoint, with the agreement of the President of the Commission, Ms Catherine Ashton as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the period from 1 December 2009 until the end of the current term of office of the Commission.

The European Council also adopted its rules of procedure and a decision on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council.

Furthermore, the Council decided today to appoint Mr Pierre de Boissieu as Secretary-General of the Council for the period from 1 December 2009 until the day after the European Council meeting of June 2011.

It also adopted its Rules of Procedure, as well as a decision laying down measures for the implementation of the European Council decision on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council.

These final decisions have not been published yet:

• The rules of procedure of the European Council
• The decision of the European Council on the Presidency of the Council
• The rules of procedure of the Council
• The decision of the Council laying down measures for the implementation of the European Council decision on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council

Information note




The Council has published a short information note in French, prepared by the general secretariat, on the Lisbon Treaty.


Justice and Home Affairs (JHA)



The general secretariat has prepared a background note, which outlines the changes brought by the Lisbon Treaty in justice and home affairs, known as the area of freedom, security and justice (FSJ).

The four page document outlines the main changes:

1. changes in the legal framework and the legislative procedures applicable in several areas,

2. the possibility to create a European Public Prosecutor's Office,

3. a new Council standing committee on internal security (COSI), and

4. transitional provisions on the 3rd pillar 'acquis'.



Home Affairs



The conclusions of the first day of the JHA Council meeting, home affairs on 30 November 2009, have been published on the Council website (document 16883/09).

Without being Lisbon Treaty implementing decisions in a narrow sense, these decisions form a hefty package on policies under the reform treaty with regard to home affairs (member states’ ministries of the interior).




The Swedish presidency of the EU Council offers a lot of links to materials on different issues discussed and debated by the two day meeting of the JHA Council.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Educate yourself! There are already 487 Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. You can access all the posts on the Posts page or concentrate on the editors’ choice of articles on the Home page. On most of the blogs you can comment and discuss our common European future.

EU Council’s Rules of Procedure

After the blog posts on Article 207 TEC and Article 240 TFEU, as well as on Swedish openness and the Lisbon Treaty, Information about EU Council: Swedish Presidency and first aid and Free EU Council publications, we turn to more detailed provisions.

While we are waiting for the Swedish EU Council Presidency to publish proposals for the new Rules of Procedure of the Council and other decisions concerning the implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon, we look at the existing Council’s Rules of Procedure.


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Council’s Rules of Procedure

Detailed rules on the Council of the European Union are given in Council Decision 2006/683/EC, Euratom of 15 September 2006 adopting the Council's Rules of Procedure, originally published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) 16.10.2006 L 285/47.



The latest consolidated version of the Council’s Rules of Procedure is of 1 January 2009.




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Contents

The headlines of the Articles and the Annexes offer a picture of the contents of the Council’s Rules of Procedure:



Article 1
Notice and venue of meetings

Article 2
Configurations of the Council, role of the General Affairs and External Relations Council and programming

Article 3
Agenda

Article 4
Representation of a Council member unable to attend

Article 5
Meetings

Article 6
Professional secrecy and production of documents in legal proceedings

Article 7
Cases where the Council acts in its legislative capacity

Article 8
Council deliberations open to the public and public debates

Article 9
Making public votes, explanations of votes and minutes

Article 10
Public access to Council documents

Article 11
Voting arrangements and quorum

Article 12
Ordinary written procedure and silence procedure

Article 13
Minutes

Article 14
Deliberations and decisions on the basis of documents and drafts drawn up in the languages provided for by the language rules in force

Article 15
Signing of acts

Article 16
Absence of the possibility to participate in the vote

Article 17
Publication of acts in the Official Journal

Article 18
Notification of acts

Article 19
Coreper, committees and working parties

Article 20
The Presidency and the businesslike conduct of discussions

Article 21
Reports from committees and working parties

Article 22
Quality of drafting

Article 23
The Secretary-General and the General Secretariat

Article 24
Security

Article 25
Duties as depositary of agreements and conventions

Article 26
Representation before the European Parliament

Article 27
Provisions concerning the form of acts

Article 28
Correspondence addressed to the Council


ANNEX I
LIST OF COUNCIL CONFIGURATIONS

ANNEX II
SPECIFIC PROVISIONS REGARDING PUBLIC ACCESS TO COUNCIL
DOCUMENTS

ANNEX III
DETAILED RULES FOR IMPLEMENTING THE PROVISIONS
CONCERNING THE WEIGHTING OF VOTES IN THE COUNCIL

ANNEX IV
(1. In application of the following provisions of the Rules of Procedure and for
decisions in respect of which, under the Treaties, members of the Council or
of Coreper may not participate in the vote, account is not to be taken of votes
by such members:)

ANNEX V
WORKING METHODS FOR AN ENLARGED COUNCIL

ANNEX VI
PROVISIONS CONCERNING THE FORMS OF ACTS


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Next, we are going to turn to Coreper, then the General Secretariat and finally publications about the Council of the European Union.



Ralf Grahn

European Parliament: Rules on political groups (from July 2009)

During the coming days and weeks, the existing political groups in the European Parliament and various national parties with elected members of the EP negotiate to form the political groups, which are central to parliamentary work.

As always, knowledge of the rules is a key element for an appreciation of the game, is sports as well as in politics.

The European Parliament has amended its Rules of Procedure, with changes taking place from the beginning of the new parliamentary term (version: 7th parliamentary term, July 2009).

Here are the provisions on the political groups in the European Parliament for the new parliament:




POLITICAL GROUPS



Rule 30
Formation of political groups

1. Members may form themselves into groups according to their political affinities.

[Interpretation: Parliament need not normally evaluate the political affinity of members of a group. In forming a group together under this Rule, Members concerned accept by definition that they have political affinity. Only when this is denied by the Members concerned is it necessary for Parliament to evaluate whether the group has been constituted in conformity with the Rules.]

2. A political group shall comprise Members elected in at least one-quarter of the Member States. The minimum number of Members required to form a political group shall be twenty-five.

3. Where a group falls below the required threshold, the President, with the agreement of the Conference of Presidents, may allow it to continue to exist until Parliament's next constitutive sitting, provided the following conditions are met:

- the members continue to represent at least one-fifth of the Member States;

- the group has been in existence for a period longer than one year.

The President shall not apply this derogation where there is sufficient evidence to suspect that it is being abused.

4. A Member may not belong to more than one political group.

5. The President shall be notified in a statement when a political group is set up. This statement shall specify the name of the group, its members and its bureau.

6. The statement shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.



Rule 31
Activities and legal situation of the political groups

1. The political groups shall carry out their duties as part of the activities of the Union, including the tasks allocated to them by the Rules of Procedure. The political groups shall be provided with a secretariat on the basis of the establishment plan of the Secretariat, administrative facilities and the appropriations entered for that purpose in Parliament's budget.

2. The Bureau shall lay down the rules relating to the provision, implementation and monitoring of those facilities and appropriations, as well as to the related delegations of budget implementation powers.

3. Those rules shall determine the administrative and financial consequences in the event of the dissolution of a political group.



Rule 32
Intergroups

1. Individual Members may form Intergroups or other unofficial groupings of Members, to hold informal exchanges of views on specific issues across different political groups, drawing on members of different parliamentary committees, and to promote contact between Members and civil society.

2. Such groupings may not engage in any activities which might result in confusion with the official activities of Parliament or of its bodies. Provided that the conditions laid down in rules governing their establishment adopted by the Bureau are respected, political groups may facilitate their activities by providing them with logistical support. Such groupings shall declare any external support in accordance with Annex I.



Rule 33
Non-attached Members

1. Members who do not belong to a political group shall be provided with a secretariat. The detailed arrangements shall be laid down by the Bureau on a proposal from the Secretary-General.

2. The Bureau shall also determine the status and parliamentary rights of such Members.

3. The Bureau shall also lay down the rules relating to the provision, implementation and auditing of appropriations entered in Parliament's budget to cover secretarial expenses and administrative facilities of non-attached Members.



Rule 34
Allocation of seats in the Chamber

The Conference of Presidents shall decide how seats in the Chamber are to be allocated among the political groups, the non-attached Members and the institutions of the European Union.


***


The significant thresholds for political groups have changed to at least 25 MEPs, elected in at least one-quarter of the member states (now 7).

The MEPs who fail to form or to join a political group, or who decide to stay on the sidelines, are called non-attached members (NI = non-inscrits).



Ralf Grahn

European Parliament election results (updates)

Reporting on the outcome of the elections to the European Parliament has changed during the cause of the events. In some cases it started with exit polls, then partial results and projections, later provisional counts etc.

The European Parliament’s web page Election results: towards the new Parliament follows the developments, so minor changes were noted yesterday (provisional 8 June 2009 17:19 CEST). Yesterday’s figure for turnout was 42.94%.



The official, final results will be confirmed later in the member states.

The politically interesting events will take place in the negotiations to form the political groups in the European Parliament, ahead of the inaugural session on 14 July 2009.

Changes can take place in any group, but especially the large group Others (93), UEN (35) and IND/DEM (19) are worth following.

From the beginning of the new term, a political group needs at least 25 MEPs from seven EU member states.

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EP Rules of Procedure

The European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure are useful for those, who want to follow the decisions to be taken at the beginning of the new parliamentary term. The latest update posted on the EP’s web pages is of 6 April 2009.




Ralf Grahn

Legislation on European Parliament (Eur-Lex)

About legal materials related to the European Union.

Just in time for the European Parliament elections, the European Union’s legislative portal Eur-Lex has published a new thematic file with legislative instruments, preparatory acts and other acts on the European Parliament.




The thematic files are potentially useful for those who are interested in a certain area, but here I would like to add a word of caution. I checked two documents to verify the quality:

1) First, the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure. The primary reference is to the original edition published in the Official Journal in 2005, but even if you look for the later information, you would miss later and the latest amendments in force, those entering into force after the European elections and the ones lying in wait in case the Treaty of Lisbon enters into force.


2) With regard to the Act concerning the elections of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, you almost have to know in advance that you need to find the consolidated version, if you want meaningful information.

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Two suggestions: The thematic files could become even more user-friendly by checking possible amendments, recent or lying in wait, with the relevant services. It might be a good idea to refer directly to the consolidated versions of acts (if any); the researcher who needs the original acts can easily find them from there by going in the reverse direction.


Ralf Grahn