Page 5 - Configuration of the Council of the European Union

Configurations of the Council of the European Union

The Council of the European Union consists of sectorial/line

ministers of the EU member states. Therefore, it may be convened in
various formats, be it ministers for foreign affairs, agriculture, finance,
etc.

The General Affairs Council is one such configuration. It is
mandated to discuss issues such as EU enlargement, accession
negotiations and the EU budget, etc. In the General Affairs Council, EU
members are represented by European affairs ministers.

The General Affairs Council has a special mandate to prepare the
sessions of the European Council. The European Council is a format of
the heads of states and governments of the EU members and sets the

strategic objectives of the Union as well as the policies for achieving
such objectives. The European Council was established in 1975;
however, as an EU institution, it was formalized by the Lisbon Treaty in
2009.

Another Council configuration; namely, the EU Foreign Affairs
Council, is chaired by the High Representative of the EU Foreign and
Security Policy who, at the same time, is a vice-president of the
European Commission. Any other sectorial configurations, be they

ministers of energy, environment or transport, are chaired by a
respective minister for the EU’s president state - the Union is chaired by
a six-month rotating presidency of the European Union.
2

2 The presidency of the Council of the EU
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/council-eu/presidency-council-
eu/#:~:text=A%20rotating%20presidency,EU's%20work%20in%20the%20Council