The Foreign Affairs Council handles the EU’s action abroad in accordance
with the strategic guidelines of theeuropean Council and ensures that the
EU’s action is consistent and coherent. The General Affairs Council coor
dinates the work of the Council in its various configurations and, together
with the President of the European Council and the European Commission,
prepares the European Council meetings. The presidency of the Council –
with the exception of the Foreign Affairs Council, which is chaired by the
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – is
held by each Member State in turn for 0 months. The order in which the
office of president is held is decided unanimously by the Council. The pres
idency changes hands on 0 January and 0 July each year (0000: Croatia,
Germany; 0000: Portugal, Slovenia; 0000: France, Czechia; 0000: Sweden,
Spain). Given this fairly rapid turnover, each presidency bases its action on
a work programme agreed with the next two presidencies and therefore
valid for a period of 00 months (‘team presidency’). The presidency is mainly
responsible for overall coordination of the work of the Council and the com
mittees providing it with input. It is also important in political terms in that
the Member State holding the presidency of the Council enjoys an enhanced
role on the world stage, and small Member States in particular are thus given an opportunity to rub shoulders with the ‘major players’ and make
their mark in European politics.
The Council’s work is prepared by a considerable number of preparatory
bodies (committees and working groups) composed of representatives from
the Member States. The most important of the preparatory bodies is the
Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper I and II), which meets as a
general rule at least once a week.
The Council is supported by a General Secretariat, which is under the au
thority of a secretary-general appointed by the Council.
The seat of the Council is in Brussels.
Tasks
The Council has the following five key tasks.
■ The top priority of the Council is legislation, which it carries out
together with the Parliament in the ordinary legislative procedure.
■ The Council is also responsible for ensuring coordination of the
economic policies of the Member States.
■ It develops the EU’s common foreign and security policy on the basis
of guidelines set by the European Council.
■ The Council is responsible for concluding agreements between the EU
and non-EU countries or international organisations.
■ It establishes the budget on the basis of a draft from the Commission,
which must then be approved by the Parliament. In addition, it issues
a recommendation to the Parliament on giving discharge to the
Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget.
It is also responsible for appointing the members of the European Court of
Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee and the European
Committee of the Regions.
Negotiations and decision-making in the Council
It is in the Council that the individual interests of the Member States and
the EU’s interest are balanced. Even though the Member States primarily
defend their own interests in the Council, its members are at the same
time obliged to take into account the objectives and needs of the European