Talk:Council of the European Union
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The system seems to be injustice, especially towards Germany. There is a question, why Germany first signed the treaty and only after a year demands the changes?
- The Germans, as most European nations, realized that you can only build a community if you are willing to compromise. Nice was an improvment over the previous situation (where any country could veto any decision in order to bagain for national interests at the expense of the community). But you are correct that the Nice voting system is an injustice and not democratic. Worst of all, it is still too easy to block important decisions for purly egoistic interests.
- The way to go, of course, is toward majority decisions in clearly defined fields of politics (as opposed to the current situation where the limits of responsibility of the EU are defined only fuzzily). 62.227.161.233 17:36, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)
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[edit] European Council
What exactly is the difference between the council of the europen union, and the European Council. As far as I can see these two are both part of the same thing, representatives of member governments meeting to discuss and agree policy. The only distinction is that 'european council' is specifically heads of state? Even if There is a big difference between the two.
The Council of the European Union, is more commonly, and I believe more rightly called, the Council of Ministers, as it is the meeting of ministers from member states, so in the case of the UK, the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw is a member of the Council of Ministers.
The European Council, however, is the meeting of the heads of state. In academic litrature, the Council of the European Union is called the Council of Ministers, so as not to confuse it with the European Council. I suggest we cahnge the title to Council of Ministers, but acknowledge that it is also called the Council of the Euroepan Union.
It is also important to note that the Council of Europe and the European Council are different bodies.
- According to the proper definition, as it can be deduced from the official europa.eu website, the Council of the European Union is made up of: The Council of Ministers plus The European Council. So, the term "Council of the EU" comprises all possible configurations (various kinds of ministers and/or permanent representatives, heads of state and/or government, etc.)
- Luca Italy, 7 Feb.2007
[edit] The Council of the European Union
It was called until 1993 by its older name, Council of Ministers, but then in 1993 it was renamed. The older academic literature of course refers to it by the older name, but the post-1993 academic and non-academic sources only mention the older name and refer to it by its present name - The Council of the European Union. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 193.2.237.31 (talk) 10:34, 11 January 2007 (UTC).
[edit] Presidencies of the EU
It seems, although I am not absolutely sure, that the article is wrong in respect to the "President." The President of the Council is elected from and by the Council on 5 year terms (the length of the Council), as opposed to the 6 month rotating Presidency of the EU. If I'm wrong, let me know, otherwise we should probably change the article. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.68.155.43 (talk • contribs) . [1]
- At the present time you are wrong. --Henrygb 01:01, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
- That was the proposed new structure under the frozen European Constitution. —Nightstallion (?) 22:23, 4 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] votes by countries
While the breakdown based on political parties is somewhat interesting it would be much more more important to have a list of votes by countries.
86.101.162.160 19:13, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Working Languages
>>> Luca Italy: Deleted German from working languages. Added reference to consilium.europa.eu webpage mentioning EN/FR as the working languages of the Council (link - see "ADVICE" section)
- >>>Michael Zimmermann: revert, your cited statement "the working languages most frequently used at the General Secretariat of the Council are English and French" is not excluding German as the third working language!
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- >>>Luca Italy: As for that, it is not excluding Finnish either.... Why then not mention also Finnish as the 4th working language of the Council? :-)
