Talk:European Council
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[edit] List of presidents
This is the complete list of presidents of the european council taken from the official website http://ue.eu.int/en/presid.htm, I think it is too big to be included, maybe a link is enough.
- First half-year 1958 BELGIUM Mr Larock
- Second half-year 1958 GERMANY Mr Balke
- First half-year 1959 FRANCE Mr Couve de Murville
- Second half-year 1959 ITALY Mr Pella
- First half-year 1960 LUXEMBOURG Mr Schaus
- Second half-year 1960 NETHERLANDS Mr Luns
- First half-year 1961 BELGIUM Mr Spaak
- Second half-year 1961 GERMANY Mr Schroeder
- First half-year 1962 FRANCE Mr Couve de Murville
- Second half-year 1962 ITALY Mr Colombo
- First half-year 1963 LUXEMBOURG Mr Schaus
- Second half-year 1963 NETHERLANDS Mr Luns
- First half-year 1964 BELGIUM Mr Fayat
- Second half-year 1964 GERMANY Mr Schroeder
- First half-year 1965 FRANCE Mr Couve de Murville
- Second half-year 1965 ITALY Mr Fanfani
- First half-year 1966 LUXEMBOURG Mr Werner
- Second half-year 1966 NETHERLANDS Mr Biesheuvel
- First half-year 1967 BELGIUM Mr Van Elslande
- Second half-year 1967 GERMANY Mr Brandt
- First half-year 1968 FRANCE Mr Couve de Murville
- Second half-year 1968 ITALY Mr Medici
- First half-year 1969 LUXEMBOURG Mr Gregoire
- Second half-year 1969 NETHERLANDS Mr Luns
- First half-year 1970 BELGIUM Mr Harmel
- Second half-year 1970 GERMANY Mr Scheel
- First half-year 1971 FRANCE Mr Schuman
- Second half-year 1971 ITALY Mr Moro
- First half-year 1972 LUXEMBOURG Mr Thorn
- Second half-year 1972 NETHERLANDS Mr Schmelzer
- First half-year 1973 BELGIUM Mr Harmel
- Second half-year 1973 DENMARK Mr Nørgaard
- First half-year 1974 GERMANY Mr Scheel
- Second half-year 1974 FRANCE Mr Sauvagnargues
- First half-year 1975 IRELAND Mr Fitzgerald
- Second half-year 1975 ITALY Mr Rumor
- First half-year 1976 LUXEMBOURG Mr Thorn
- Second half-year 1976 NETHERLANDS Mr Van der Stoel
- First half-year 1977 UNITED KINGDOM Mr Crosland, then Mr Owen
- Second half-year 1977 BELGIUM Mr Simonet
- First half-year 1978 DENMARK Mr Andersen
- Second half-year 1978 GERMANY Mr Genscher
- First half-year 1979 FRANCE Mr François-Poncet
- Second half-year 1979 IRELAND Mr Lynch
- First half-year 1980 ITALY Mr Ruffini
- Second half-year 1980 LUXEMBOURG Ms Flesh
- First half-year 1981 NETHERLANDS Mr Van der Klaauw
- Second half-year 1981 UNITED KINGDOM Mr Carrington
- First half-year 1982 BELGIUM Mr Tindemans
- Second half-year 1982 DENMARK Mr Ellemann-Jensen
- First half-year 1983 GERMANY Mr Genscher
- Second half-year 1983 GREECE Mr Varfis
- First half-year 1984 FRANCE Mr Dumas
- Second half-year 1984 IRELAND Mr Barry
- First half-year 1985 ITALY Mr Andreotti
- Second half-year 1985 LUXEMBOURG Mr Poos
- First half-year 1986 NETHERLANDS Mr Van den Broek
- Second half-year 1986 UNITED KINGDOM Mr Howe
- First half-year 1987 BELGIUM Mr Tindemans
- Second half-year 1987 DENMARK Mr Ellemann-Jensen
- First half-year 1988 GERMANY Mr Genscher
- Second half-year 1988 GREECE Mr Pangalos
- First half-year 1989 SPAIN Mr Fernández Ordóñez
- Second half-year 1989 FRANCE Mr Dumas
- First half-year 1990 IRELAND Mr Collins
- Second half-year 1990 ITALY Mr de Michelis
- First half-year 1991 LUXEMBOURG Mr Poos
- Second half-year 1991 NETHERLANDS Mr Van den Broek
- First half-year 1992 PORTUGAL Mr de Deus Pinheiro
- Second half-year 1992 UNITED KINGDOM Mr Hurd
- First half-year 1993 DENMARK Mr Rasmussen
- Second half-year 1993 BELGIUM Mr Claes
- First half-year 1994 GREECE Mr Papoulias
- Second half-year 1994 GERMANY Mr Kinkel
- First half-year 1995 FRANCE Mr Juppé
- Second half-year 1995 SPAIN Mr Solana
- First half-year 1996 ITALY Mr Dini
- Second half-year 1996 IRELAND Mr Spring
- First half-year 1997 NETHERLANDS Mr Van Mierlo
- Second half-year 1997 LUXEMBOURG Mr Poos
- First half-year 1998 UNITED KINGDOM Mr Cook
- Second half-year 1998 AUSTRIA Mr Schüssel
- First half-year 1999 GERMANY Mr Fischer
- Second half-year 1999 FINLAND Ms Halonen
- First half-year 2000 PORTUGAL Mr Gama
- Second half-year 2000 FRANCE Mr Védrine
- First half-year 2001 SWEDEN Ms Lindh
- Second half-year 2001 BELGIUM Mr Michel
- First half-year 2002 SPAIN Mr Piqué i Camps
- Second half-year 2002 DENMARK Mr Møller
- First half-year 2003 GREECE Mr Papandreou
- Second half-year 2003 ITALY Mr Frattini
- These are foreign ministers of the member states (I think; at least I recognize some of the names). According to the article, the president of the council is the head of government of a member state (like Berlusconi in second half 2003). Do you know who is right? I presume the website of the council is accurate, but I'm not sure. Eugene van der Pijll 19:51, 30 Dec 2003 (UTC)
You are right, those are the presidents of the Council of the European Union:
"The European Council brings together the Heads of State or Government of the fifteen Member States of the European Union and the President of the European Commission. It should not be confused with the Council of Europe (which is an international organisation) or with the Council of the European Union." http://ue.eu.int/en/info/main.htm
This is the function of the Council of the European Union: http://ue.eu.int/en/info/main1.htm
The proper place for this list is Presidency of the Council of the European Union. A version has been posted there. -- Mic 11:28, Mar 7, 2004 (UTC)
The Dutch link points to the »Raad van de Europese Unie« (Council of the European Union), while it should in fact point to (as yet non-existant) »Europese Raad«. --Peterlin 14:31, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)
- I don't think that it is correct to list individuals as "President". It's a country which is in charge of the presidency, not a head of government, a head of state or a cabinet minister. Such and such within the presidency country may chair such and such meeting, but nobody among the country can bear the official title of "President of the Council of Ministers". The people listed in the article were the chair of the Council of Ministers - General Affairs. In addition, giving the title of President to someone does not take into account every member state's peculiarity. Even if it is true that Prime Minister Tony Blair was in charge during last presidency, why would he bear the title of President rather than Foreign Secretary Jack Straw or even the Queen, who is the head of state... Anthonyfrederic 15:26, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
If a body comprises heads of government, it surely cannot include foreign ministers. pauldanon 20061010
[edit] So what is the difference between this and the Council of ministers?
I see there are two articles, this one and one entitled Council of the European Union. This article claims the two organisations are distinct, yet does not explain the difference. On the face of it, they are not distinct. Both are meetings of representatives of EU member states to discuss policy. More, I was trying to figure out a sensible explanation of EU government and I randomly arrived at one or other article. This is a mess. Unless someone can better explain the difference, these two look like they should be combined. Sandpiper 10:44, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
- This is now clarified in both articles. – Kaihsu 15:54, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
- A merger between the two articles would be scandalously wrong! The European Council used to be an informal meeting aimed at giving an impulse to the European Communities. There is no vote among the European Council. Decisions are passed by consensus. The Council of the European Union, however, is the same as the Council of Ministers. Head of states and head of governments never take part to the Council of Ministers. Most the decisions are taken by consensus but, sometimes, often when qualified majority is involved, a vote happen. The Council of Ministers is formed by ministers among member states' governments. The highest formation of this institution is the Council of Ministers General Affairs, which is composed by Foreign Ministers. So, don't merge them, it's different! I confess that it is a bit confused in the EU and EC treaties. It should become clearer with the Constitution though! *Hopefully* Anthonyfrederic 15:01, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
- Anyway, it's all in the relevant articles now, sorry for being boring! Anthonyfrederic 15:09, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
Did the EU treaties establish the European Council? If you go to http://europa.eu/index_en.htm and select the institutions tab, the European Council isn't listed. The CEU webpaages include documents issued by the CEU which report on decisions by the European Council. Might the European Council be a meeting of heads of government held by the CEU rather than an institution of the EU? pauldanon
- The European Council isn't an institution. I can tell there's a bit of confusion here and it is generally hard to get your head around for anyone who isn't closely involved with the process or has studied it so I'll do my best to explain it. There are three "councils" which are generally confused. These are -
The Council of Ministers/The Council of the European Union (both names are valid)
This is one of the key institutions of the European Union that is involved in the decision making process, it's a delegation of ministers from the member states of the European Union. The EU institutions are the Council of Ministers, the Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice (the judcial branch). The decision making process depends on the policy area but to give a simple example you would have a policy proposed by the Commission. You would then (this depends on the policy - they have different procedures of "co-decision" and others which have different privileges for each institution but in the context of this issue that doesn't matter) have a vote in the Council of Ministers and a vote in the European Parliament on whether to adopt the policy and if both agree then the policy is adopted. This is the basic decision making procedure in the European Union.
If you want some completely incorrect, but nonetheless useful comparison you could think of it as having a role something like the U.S Senate in the decision making process in the U.S. It is in fact nothing like that and has numerous other responsibilities but I want to try and get the message across that this is one of the three key institutions in making decisions in the European Union (like the President, Senate and House of Representatives in the U.S).
The European Council
This is simply a summit where the heads of government of the European Union member states meet up to discuss various issues on the broad general goals of European integration and give guidance to the Council of Ministers on how they expect it to act. It meets four times a year and you can essentially conceive of it as something like the G8 summit for members of the European Union (again a completely incorrect comparison but hopefully that gives a better idea of what it actually is).
The Council of Europe
This has nothing to do with the European Union, it's a political organisation that existed before the European Union and its forerunners, it has 46 members (unlike the 25 - 27 come January - members of the European Union) and is along the lines of other political organisations such as the Non-Aligned Movement for instance which gathers together its various member states for a summit. It's essentially just an intergovernmental forum, treaties are proposed, members vote on them and then they're adopted. It doesn't involve any integration, it doesn't implement anything, it doesn't pass any legislation and it's just a forum for proposing treaties between governments.
Hopefully that goes some way to explaining this issue, obviously the European Council and the Council of the European Union (council of ministers) articles should not be merged as they are completely different things. The distinction between the two councils is very clear in the treaties and there is no actual muddling of the two in the European Union itself, the only problem which exists is for those who don't know how the European Union works and are suddenly confronted with two bodies that are both called Councils but which are in fact entirely different. I would perhaps advise that the introduction to the article which does now make the distinction between the three councils be altered slightly to make the distinction a little clearer or perhaps there could be a section of the article explaining the difference between the three councils as I attempted to do above because I think most people who had no prior exposure to the European Union and read that introduction would be left a little confused. blankfrackis 18:25, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Political leanings (parties)
Can we make a similar table for the leanings of the constituents of the current European Council as we do for each of the European Commissions? – Kaihsu 16:01, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
- I am going to try to do this at current composition of the European Council. – Kaihsu 23:00, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Merge
I believe this new article Current composition of the European Council should be merged here as a section. Joelito 23:34, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
- Merged. – Kaihsu 23:40, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Others?
This one for the European Union is done now:
- Council: EPP 12, PES 8, ALDE 5, UEN 1
- Commission: EPP 9, ALDE 8, PES 6, unknown 2
- Parliament: EPP 264, PES 200, ALDE 90, Greens-EFA 42, GUE-NGL 41, IND/DEM 33, UEN 30, non-inscrits 32
I would like to do others such as the Organization of American States (which is recently turning red) and the African Union (with respect to their member states' heads of governments' political leanings). – Kaihsu 23:59, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Heads of states among the European Council
In the table listing the European Council's current composition, officials are listed as "Heads of Government". However, as President of the Republic, Jacques Chirac is France's head of state and not the head of government, a position held by the Prime minister. The list should therefore be named "Heads of state/government" Anthonyfrederic 15:05, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
- Ok, I just changed the column name to "Head of State and/or Government", the President of Cyprus being both head of state and government, according to that article. Anthonyfrederic 15:15, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Related European Think-Tanks
I’ve just read some of Filemon’s “contributions”: qualifies as an overtly rightwing Polish irredentist. Hence the distrust for perceived enemies of Greater Poland such as EU “bureaucrats” and Russian “Cossacks”... Frankly, I see no reason why we shouldn't mention this new European think-tank called T.E.C. which claims to be "independent and research-oriented", which removes all ambiguity and/or risk of it being confused with an official EU ministry or department. I think we should definitely keep this entry. DrVega2
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- Stop talking lies about my contributions
- If you prove that The European Council (TEC) really exists, I'll bring this fragment back. In whole Web there is only one reference to this group – website that consists of one page. Existence of "TEC" is completely non-verifiable, there are no third-party sources that mention this organization. Nothing. Even if it isn't your hoax, it completely fails WP:ORG. --Filemon 23:07, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
- Sorry Phil, I didn’t mean my comments to be an ad-hominem attack focusing on your character: I was just criticizing your umbrageous Polish nationalism and your tendency to overzealously purge new entries and/or legitimate amendments according to some rigorist “table of the WP law” you’ve invented inside your head!
- Anyhow, I’ve reverted to the previous edition and added “recently founded” to better qualify the think-tank in question.
- Hope the issue is settled for I don’t want to spend more time arguing with you. --DrVega2
You are still making personal attacks, there is still no source for this organization. Your entry is now commented out as per WP:V. I'm asking for the last time: are you able to provide any third-party source that confirm existence of this organization? --Filemon 11:56, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Armenia
Armenia is not listed in the European council in this wikipedia article although Armenia is a participant in the European council but no union.
- Armenia is most certainly not a member of the European Council. You may, however, be thinking of the Council of Europe, which it is a member of. The Tom 00:58, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
- Thank you sounds confusing though.
[edit] Rated
- I would have nominated for Good Article (WP:GAC) if sources weren't lacking. Good article. →James Kidd (contr/talk/email) 12:23, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] European Summit
Why is there a seprate page for European Summit? They are the same thing. -161.76.97.74 16:57, 21 March 2007 (UTC)
- Absolutely. I strongly support the merge. I didn't know the other page existed, and if I did, I would have merged it. Nothing of value has been added to the other page in the past year.--Rye1967 12:02, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
