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rejected Hungarian and Romanian candidates for the positions of
Commissioners of Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy and
Transport, respectively.

Council of the European Union

The Council of the European Union is an EU institution which is
composed of relevant representatives of the EU member states. This
institute was established with the aim of protecting the national
interests of the EU member states when the EU carries out its activities
to achieve its objectives.

The states take part in the Council’s sessions and, therefore, the
Council’s final decision is shaped by the positions of all of the EU
members. A further overview of the EU Council’s work and identifying
its specificities will demonstrate the existing “balance of power” among
EU members, their “voting power”, as well as the manner in which the
member states use their national comparative advantages such as, for
instance, the size of their population.

Configurations of the Council

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, launching of
accession negotiations, adoption and amendment of 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. As has already been discussed, 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