T HE E UROPEAN C OUNCIL

Introduction

The European Council stands as a central and one of the most important
institutions that make up the European Union. Through this research paper,
there will be an explanation of the main topics regarding this institution starting
with the historical origins, the members that nowadays rule the European
Council as well as the main roles and the significant contributions made to the
development and integration of the European Union.

In terms of the rule of law, this paper emphasizes the rule of law and discusses
the significance of this principle inside the European Council, as well as the
issues created by the incidents of violation involving Hungary and Poland.

Furthermore, after discussing the main topics of this institution in past and
present terms, it also takes into consideration the future, by mentioning the
Great European Council as a possible institution that could be taking part of the
European Union's main actors to fit future necessities.

Through this research study, of the European Council explaining its history,
main competencies, and real cases and analyzing a possible future, aims to
give a deeper understanding of this influential institution and its role in molding
Europe’s future.

History

The European Council appeared in 1974 was an information forum for

discussions between states or governments. The emergence of this institution
was after the Copenhagen made its summits, where it was decided the
recognition of a platform where heads of state of governments could discuss
matters that were important for the European Union. At the same time, Paris in
December 1974 during this summit there was the official establishment of the
European Council and its main purpose of discussing informally.

By that time, as it was merely informal, there were no legal basis. In that same
direction, the president rotated every 6 months, emphasizing the informal
purpose and structure of this organization in its beginning’s. It has to be said
that the main topics discussed and their purposes from then on was to talk
about money integration, freedom and justice within all the member states
taking part in the European Union.

It wasn’t until March 1975, where it was held the first meeting of the European
Council in Dublin. In that first meeting the head states were discussing and
trying to find suitable solutions for upcoming problems such as economic
integration, energy challenges, unemployment or social policies.

In 1986, there was a significant milestone for the European Council as well as
the European Union as a whole. In that year, there was the signing of the Single
European Act with the purpose of achieving economic integration and the single
market while removing trade barriers between countries, the European Council
negotiated and signed this agreement. Also, in that same year the European
Council adopted decisions that were stated in the Cohesion Policy regarding
solidarity and balanced development among the European Union Member
States.

In 1993, the Maastricht treaty came into effect one year later of being signed,
meaning the formal establishment of the European Union. The European
Council not only was vital during the process in terms of negotiating and
finalizing the treaty but also was the formal establishment of the European
Council with general political guidelines for the EU’s development.

In 2003, the European Council was considered to have a formal place where to
hold the meeting necessary in Brussels.

With the treaty of Lisbon, signed in 2007, it was established a full-time president
of the European Council, instead of the 6 months rotations, called Herman Van
Rompuy that led from 2009 until 2014. It was stablished as a full formal
institution and new decision-making procedures including the qualified majority
when voting.

Members

The European Council is composed of 27 heads of State or government from

each of the European Union countries. This piece of data is highly valuable in
order to understand the purpose of the institution when making decisions, as
those are based on the national interests of the countries represented.
From 2019, the former president is Charles Michel. Ursula von der Leyen,
president of the European Commission is also a member to ensure coordination
and cooperation between the two institutions and facilitate effective decision-
making within the European Union.

The European Council

The European Council is plain words, an institution that defines general political
direction and priorities of the European Union. Their main roles consist on
bringing together European Union leaders and setting the EU’s political agenda,
as well as making long-term decisions and defending national interest.

When making decision the European Council has three voting modalities
depending on the issued under discussion. The modalities are simple majority,
with 14 member states in favor, qualified majority, 55% of member states,
representing at least 65% of the EU population, vote in favor, called the "double
majority rule" a blocking minority must consist of at least four Council members
to stop the adoption of the proposal. Finally unanimous vote, where all the votes
are in favor of what it is been proposed.

Council takes decisions by simple majority then there is discussed procedural

matters such as deciding their own rules and procedures or ask the European
Commission make some studies or proposals on a specific topic. Qualified
majority is in ordinary legislative procedures, adoption of regulations and
directives, external relations and foreign policy, appointment of certain EU
positions among other significant decisions. For sensitive issues, such as
constitutional or fundamental matters, taxes or defense unanimity is required.
(European Council, 2017)

New strategic agenda for the EU

As previously mentioned, the main function of the European Council is to

determine the EU’s general political direction and priorities, mainly setting the
policy agenda for the European Union which is done by raising conclusions
collected at the end of the meeting. The objective of collecting those
conclusions is to recognize issues while discussing in the meeting and look for
which actions to take and goals to be achieved while finding solutions.

The agenda for the EU from 2019-2024, which is created with the conclusions,
have four main priorities which are protecting citizens and freedom, developing
a strong and vibrant economic base, building a climate-neutral, green, fair and
social Europe, and promoting European interests and values on the global
stage.

Protecting citizens and freedom: The European Council is willing to preserve

basic rights and freedoms, regulate external borders, combat illegal migration
and human trafficking, implement effective asylum policies, and strengthen
security cooperation, and battle cyber threats and misinformation.

Developing a strong and vibrant economic base: The Council seeks to deepen
Economic and Monetary Union, strengthen the euro's international role,
complete the banking and capital markets union, foster digitalization and
artificial intelligence, promote research and innovation, ensure fair competition,
and enhance EU cohesion.

Creating a climate-neutral, green, equitable, and social Europe: The European

Council emphasizes integrating EU policies with the Paris Agreement, speeding
up the transition to renewable energy and energy efficiency, boosting
sustainable agriculture among others.

Promoting European interests and values around the world: The Council seeks
to support multilateral organizations such as the United Nations, pursue
sustainable development and the 2030 agenda, collaborate on migration with
partner countries, or maintain close cooperation with NATO. (European Council,
2019).

Important contributions

In order to understand better the role of the European Council, the Eurozone
crisis in 2009, the Migration crisis in 2015 and the COVID-19, are great
examples of contributions the European Council had made.
In the case of the Eurozone crisis in 2009, the member states took measures in
order to stabilize the Eurozone and also restore the financial markets critically
damaged by the crisis.

Although there was needed coordination and cooperation of institutions, the

European Commission, the European Central Bank along with the European
Council, this last was the institution in charge of key roles such as crisis
response and decision-making, financial assistance, or reinforcement of the
economic governance.

In the case of crisis response and decision-making, the European Council

played a crucial role making summits that allied member states in order to
identify and solve the risks of the crises and find strategies to get economic and
financial stability. The European Council also collaborated with the ECB and
approved financial programs to help countries that were in the worst positions in
order to restore the market and stabilize the economy. Also, in terms of
reinforcing economic governance, the European Council created the European
Semester in order to get a stronger coordination of economic and fiscal policies
among all Member States.

In the migration crisis that occurred in 2015, was characterized by migration

flows from Middle East and North Africa to Europe due to various conflicts in
those countries. The European Council coordinated the response and
developed policies in order to address those challenging situations. Mainly, they
made negotiations and agreements of key aspects such as EU-Turkey
Statement in March 2016 where it was agreed that Turkey cooperated to avoid
illegal migration and achieve better conditions when returning migrants that
were not qualified for international protection. The European Council was also
involved in external partners and have financial support. All in all, this institution
provided relevant and sustainable solutions for this problem and managed the
process efficiently. (European Council, 2015).

Finally, in the COVID-19 crisis, the European Council made relevant

contributions in terms of financial support, vaccination strategy, economic
measures or monitor recovery efforts. In terms of recovery, this institution
negotiated and approved the recovery package of EU and have 750 billion
euros to support member states recover from the economic and social effects of
the pandemic. In the vaccination strategy, made agreements with vaccine
manufacturers and ensured a fair access to vaccines. Overall, the European
council played a crucial role in terms of agreements and coordination of most of
the processes it involved the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of economic and
social issues.

Rule of law

The rule of law is defined as one of the fundamental principles of the EU with
the main objectives of guaranteeing the fundamental rights and allow the
application of the EU law. In other words, that all individuals, governments and
institutions are subject to law and must obey its principles.

It is essential for the functioning of the EU as a whole, with regard to the internal
market, cooperation in the area of justice and home affairs, and to ensure that
national judges who are also 'EU judges' can fulfil their role in the application of
EU law and can properly interact with the Court of Justice of the European
Union.

For the European Council the rule of law involves several aspects such as
upholding fundamental values. The EC promote values which are considered
fundamental for the European Union such as democracy or human rights, that
are the base of the European Council’s actions and decisions.

For the European Council rule of law is essential because it’s the institution who
ensures the principles are applied and is responsible for promoting EU’s values,
meaning that it has the power to make proceeding against EU states that violate
the law. Also, promotes culture of lawfulness, which means that promotes legal
education, awareness of rights and responsibilities as well as rule of law
integration to the legal system of each of the member states.

Hungary, Poland and the Rule of law

In order to exemplify how the Rule of law is applied and the importance of the
European Council in such cases, the cases of the countries Hungary and
Poland, both with concerns about State of democracy and rule of law, will make
this much understanding.
In the case of Hungary, there has been breaches of the rule of law, due to
public procurement, concerning judicial independence, media freedom or
human rights protection.

The European Council has been involved in order to address this situation due
to having the power of make proceedings against member states who violate
the principle. The EC has dialogued with the government of Hungary to address
those concerns and discussed this issue during the meetings with all member
states in the European Council. Some measures have been implemented from
the EC such a decision in mid-December 2022 to freeze 55% of the cohesion
funds (€6.3 billion), as well as prohibition of Hungary’s public trust foundation to
access Erasmus+ or Horizon Europe funds. (Brent,2023).

In the case of Poland, the rule of law concerns are related to judicial
independence with changes of power of the Constitutional Tribunal as well as
corruption.

The proceedings against this country has been, same as Poland, that the
European Council discuss with the rule of law concerns during the meetings as
well as a proposal in 2020 to tie access to EU funds, being Poland the country
which receives the highest amount of the EU budget.

It has to be said that in both cases, the European Council has initiated the
Article 7 procedure to solve the situation, which involves an assessment of the
situation as well as dialogues and recommendations in order to impose
sanctions. However, as this are sensitive and relevant issues there is a need of
unanimity when voting and as both Hungary and Poland are part of the 27
member states votes needed to make a consensus, they would never vote
against each other, making it impossible to punish either of them.

Greater European Council (GEC)

The Greater European Council was proposed as a new way to direct Europe’s
future as a bold step forward, not only as signal of unity to Putin’s Russia, but
also a reassurance for European democracies and as a joint undertaking for
transregional and global cooperation. This proposal was made by Enrico Letta,
former Prime Minister of Italy in April 2022, as well as Charles Michel, the
President of the European Council a month later made a proposal with similar
ideas to the GEC proposal.

The aim of the GEC is to have deeper operational cooperation across the
country, focusing on different security policies as well as foreign ones,
addressing social and economic issues present in all Europe. In order to make it
possible, there would be the integration of the EU-27 and also non-member
states which are Western Balkan states, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Turkey,
Norway, Iceland, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The GEC wants to
become a multilateral institution playing an international role and be able to
make politically binding decisions across all Europe.

Although all of those proposals and roles the GEC want to achieve, the most
important one, as the European Council, is to work on general conclusions,
common positions and join actions to target issued present in the agenda in
topics such as trade, social, mobility, and climate related issues.

Conclusion

The European Council is a key organization inside the European Union, setting
the EU's political agenda, making long-term decisions, and fulfilling national
interests. The European Council has developed from an informal discussion
group to a formal entity having a considerable effect on EU policy and
governance during its existence.

The European Council has made significant contributions in a number of crises,

including the 2009 Eurozone crisis, the 2015 migrant crisis, and the COVID-19
pandemic. It was crucial in crisis response, decision-making, financial aid,
coordination, and collaboration among member nations in these occasions.

The rule of law principle hold great importance to the European Council. It
preserves core values, promotes EU ideals, ensures principles are followed,
and takes action against member states that break the rule of law. The
European Council's involvement in addressing concerns about the rule of law,
commencing actions, engaging in talks, and recommending steps to protect the
concept has been emphasized in the examples of Hungary and Poland.
In the future, the notion of a Greater European Council (GEC) has been
proposed, with the goal of deepening operational collaboration and broadening
participation of European and non-member nations. The GEC envisions a
multinational agency that can make politically binding decisions across Europe
and handle a wide variety of concerns.

Overall, the European Council has played an important role in building the
European Union, dealing with crises, defending the rule of law, and molding
Europe's future. Its position as a fundamental institution in the EU's decision-
making process continues to shape the European project's destiny.

Resources

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Www.consilium.europa.eu.

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European Council. (2017). Qualified majority. Europa.eu; European Council.

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/council-eu/voting-system/qualified-

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European Council. (2019). EU Strategic Agenda for 2019-2024. Europa.eu.

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