E.U.

Law_Course 11_European Council

According to the amendments brought by the Lisbon Treaty, the European Council is recognized, for
the first time, as an institution of the European Union.
The European Council must ensure the development of the European Union and define its political
directions and priorities. However, the European Council does not exercise legislative power.
This institution has evolved very much during the years. Thus, meetings of the Heads of State or
Government of Member States had taken place since 1960s.
However, the first mention of the European Council within a community treaty was made in
the Single European Act. Furthermore, the Treaty of Maastricht on the European Union had provided
its composition, role and functioning. These provisions are now amended by the Lisbon Treaty.
The European Council consists of the Heads of State or Government of the Member States, the
President of the European Commission and the President of the Council of the European
Union.
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy must also participate to
the meetings of the European Council.
According to the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, the members of the European Council elect its
president, by qualified majority voting, for a term of two and a half years, renewable once.
The President of the European Council is not allowed to hold a national office at the same time as
holding the Presidency.
The main

power of

the

President

of

the

European

Council

is to

ensure

the

external

representation of the European Union on issues concerning its common foreign and security
policy.
The President must also present a report to the European Parliament after each of the meetings of the
European Council.
The European Council must meet twice a semester. The meetings are convened and presided by its
President.
During the meetings, the members of the European Council may be assisted by one of their ministers
and the President of the Commission, by another member of the Commission.
Usually, the European Council adopts decisions with the unanimity of votes of its members, unless the
treaties provide otherwise.

However, the President of the European Council and the President of the Commission are not allowed
to vote.
The Powers of the European Council
1. in the field of general policies, it must provide the impetus for the European Unions development
and define its political directions and priorities, mainly concerning:

the economic policies of the Member States,

the state of employment within the European Union,

the strategic orientation of the legislation within the area of freedom,

security and justice;

..
2. in the field of common foreign and security policy, it must identify the strategic interests of the
European Union, establish the objectives and define the general orientation of the common foreign
and security policy;
3. in the institutional field, the European Council exercises the following main powers:

a. it establishes the composition of the European Parliament;

b. it proposes the President of the European Commission;
c. it nominates the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy;
d. it determines the configurations of the Council of the European Union other than the Foreign
Affairs Council and the General Affairs Council, as well as the rules for the Presidency of each
configuration;
e. it convenes a Conference of Representatives of Member States governments in order to
decide the amendments to the treaties.