The Conclusions of the European Council are politically binding on the Member States of the European Union and have a major influence on the direction of EC and EU business. The process of preparing the Conclusions is secretive with Parliament having no opportunity to scrutinise the Conclusions before the Prime Minister commits the UK to them. Whilst the Council of Ministers sometimes has conclusions and sometimes does not ( there are different Council of Ministers, each dealing with a separate policy area), the European Scrutiny Committee believes that a clarification of the Conclusions-process is needed and the objective of this report is to inquire into the arrangements for the preparation, consideration and approval of the Conclusions of the European Council and the Council of Ministers. The Committee has set out a number of conclusions and recommendations, including: that the Government should discuss with other Member States the options of improving the process and removing present inefficiencies and eccentricities of the proceedings of the European Council; that the Government should deposit within the scrutiny process in Parliament the draft Conclusions of the European Council; that the Government presses the case with other Member States for establishing criteria to determine when Conclusions of the Council of Ministers are required.

This work traces the development of the European decision-making process in the European Community in minute detail, from the Summit Meeting in Paris (1957) to the most recent European Council meeting. Special account is taken of the momentous and at times controversial changes brought about in this process, in particular by the Single European Act. As well as consulting numerous well-known and respected sources on European affairs, the much-travelled author draws on his personal experience as a journalist, presenting new and original conclusions on, for example, the legal status of the European Council's communiques and decisions. The issues touched upon afford much food for thought and are all the more stimulating when seen against the background of the internal market heralded for 1993 and the ever-changing events in Eastern Europe.Following a description of the roots of the European Council, the author deals with: # the organizational rules and functioning of the European Council, emphasizing the importance of European Political Cooperation # the legal nature and form of the European Council and its relations with the Community institutions # the meetings and their results # the progress made in decision-making over the years # the future of the European Council. The book is completed with relevant documentation, a comprehensive bibliography, a table of cases of the Court of Justice of the EC, a table of articles (EEC Treaty and SEA), a subject index and an index of names.

The Oxford Handbook of the European Union brings together numerous acknowledged specialists in their field to provide a comprehensive and clear assessment of the nature, evolution, workings, and impact of European integration.

Follow up to 10th report, HC 86, session 2007-08 (ISBN 9780215513366)

In recognition of the fact that EU policies in non-development areas, such as trade, energy and migration, can also profoundly affect the poor in developing countries, the EU has affirmed?Policy Coherence for Development? as an important principle for achieving more effective development cooperation. This new CEPS study analyses whether policy-making processes in the EU Council provide sufficient scope for development inputs to be made in 12 key policy areas: trade, environment, climate change, security, agriculture, fisheries, social dimension of globalisation, employment and decent work, migration, research and innovation, information society, transport and energy. The study also includes coverage of the policy-making processes in the European Commission as it initiates and defends most of the policies being discussed in the EU Council. Its findings point to the highly segregated character of EU policy-making and provide interesting insights into the internal challenges the EU will need to address in order to fulfil its goal of achieving greater coherency in its (external) policy-making. To strengthen the potential for PCD the study suggests six proposals for structural reform as well as a set of specific recommendations.

The role of the European Council – to 'provide the Union with the necessary impetus for its development' and to define its 'general political directions and priorities' – has evolved rapidly over the last decade. Since June 2014, the European Council Oversight Unit within the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), the European Parliament's in-house research service and think-tank, has been monitoring and analysing the European Council's delivery on commitments made in the conclusions of its meetings. This overview of European Council conclusions is a new, updated and more comprehensive edition of the Rolling Check-List which has been published regularly by the European Council Oversight Unit since 2014. It is designed to review the degree of progress in achieving the goals that the European Council has set itself and to assist the Parliament in exercising its important oversight role in this field.