Darbas:
from the national administrations.The Council Presidency3
The Presidency of the Council rotates every six months. In other words, each EU country in turn takes charge of the Council agenda and chairs all the meetings for a six-month period, promoting legislative and political decisions and brokering compromises between the member states.If, for example, the Environment Council is scheduled to meet during the second half of 2006 it will be chaired by the Finnish Minister for the Environment, since Finland holds the Council Presidency at that time.
The General Secretariat
The Presidency is assisted by the General Secretariat, which prepares and ensures the smooth4 functioning of the Council's work at all levels.
In 2004, Mr Javier Solana was re-appointed Secretary-General of the Council. He is also High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and in this capacity he helps coordinate the EU’s action on the world stage. Under the
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Smuggler1 –kontrabandininkas, kontrabandos laivas
Permanant2 – nuolatinis, pastovus, permanentinis,įprastas
Presidency3 – prezidentystė, prezidentavimas
Smooth4 – lygus, plynas, glotnus
Treaty5 – sutartis, susitarimas
The Secretary-General is assisted by a Deputy Secretary-General in charge of managing the General Secretariat.
How many votes per country?
Decisions in the Council are taken by vote. The bigger the country’s population, the more votes it has, but the numbers are weighted in favour of the less populous1 countries:
Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom 29
Spain and Poland 27
Netherlands 13
Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary and Portugal 12
Austria and Sweden 10
Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Finland 7
Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovenia 4
Malta 3
TOTAL 321
"Qualified majority voting"
In some particularly2 sensitive areas such as Common Foreign and Security Policy, taxation, asylum3 and immigration policy, Council decisions have to be unanimous. In other words, each member state has the power of veto in these areas.
On most issues, however, the Council takes decisions by ‘qualified majority voting’ (QMV).
A qualified majority is reached
• if a majority of member states (in some cases a two-thirds majority) approve AND
• if a minimum of 232 votes is cast4 in favour – which is 72.3% of the total.
In addition, a member state may ask for confirmation that the votes in favour represent at least 62% of the total population of the Union. If this is found not to be the case, the decision will not be
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