Did EU know? is our series on the European Union, its institutions and processes, and their jargon. You may find the other articles here
What is this “Council” we talk about? Not so easy to explain in the EU context where you have two institutions and another important organisation having the word “Council” in the title!
In this article, we refer to the Council of the EU, which was formerly known as “Council of Ministers”, and which represents the Member States (EU countries)as well as being an EU institution. It meets in different policy-related configurations. For example, the Transport Council is the Ministers of Transport from all EU Member States, and they adopt laws and coordinate policies.
3 quick facts about the Council Presidencies:
- Rotating Presidency: The Council of the EU has a rotating Presidency which means that every 6 months another Member State chairs all the meetings and takes the lead.
- The Trios: 6 months is a quite short period of time, so there are always 3 Member states coordinating their work to set long-term goals. This way of organising is called the ‘trio’.
- Current Presidency: The Presidency is now held by Croatia. They organise events and meetings and also shape the policy agenda by including their preferences and priorities in their Presidency Programme.
You can learn more about how the Presidencies work, how they are related to the EU decision-making process and how you and your organisations can get involved in the Presidencies on our website. We will soon post a recording of a recent webinar and the transcript which you can download.
What else would you like us to cover in the ‘Did EU know?’ series? Let us know!