The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as listed in the Treaty on European Union. It is one of two legislative bodies and together with the European Parliament serves to amend and approve, or veto, the proposals of the European Commission, which holds the right of initiative.
The European Council is a collegiate body that defines the overall political direction and priorities of the European Union. The European Council is part of the executive of the European Union (EU), beside the European Commission. It is composed of the heads of state or of government of the EU member states, the President of the European Council, and the President of the European Commission. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy also takes part in its meetings.
The Group of Eight (G8) was an intergovernmental political forum from 1997–2014. It had formed from incorporating Russia into the G7, and returned to its previous name after Russia was expelled in 2014.
The presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, which is the co-legislator of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament. It rotates among the member states of the EU every six months. The presidency is not an individual, but rather the position is held by a national government. It is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the "president of the European Union". The presidency's function is to chair meetings of the council, determine its agendas, set a work program and facilitate dialogue both at Council meetings and with other EU institutions. The presidency is currently, as of July 2024, held by Hungary.
The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as the president of the European Commission, and provides political direction to the European Union (EU).
Jean-Claude Juncker is a Luxembourgish politician who was the 23rd prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and 12th president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was Finance Minister from 1989 to 2009 and President of the Eurogroup from 2005 to 2013.
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democratic, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Christian-democratic parties in 1976, it has since broadened its membership to include liberal-conservative parties and parties with other centre-right political perspectives. On 31 May 2022, the party elected as its President Manfred Weber, who was also EPP's Spitzenkandidat in 2019.
The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political and economic forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is organized around shared values of pluralism, liberal democracy, and representative government. G7 members are major IMF advanced economies.
Klaus Werner Iohannis is a Romanian politician, physicist, and former physics teacher who has been serving as the fifth president of Romania since 2014.
The official title President of the European Union does not exist, but there are a number of presidents of European Union institutions, including:
A sherpa is the personal representative of a head of state or head of government who prepares an international summit, such as the annual G7 and G20 summits. Between the G7 summits there are multiple sherpa conferences where possible agreements are laid out. This reduces the amount of time and resources required at the negotiations of the heads of state at the final summit. The name sherpa—without further context—refers to sherpas for the G7 summit, but the designation can be extended to different regular conferences where the participation of the head of state is required. The sherpa is generally quite influential, although they do not have the authority to make a final decision about any given agreement.
Pekka Olavi Haavisto is a Finnish politician of the Green League who served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2019 to 2023.
The European Union – Latin America and Caribbean Foundation(EU–LAC Foundation) is an international organisation created in 2010 by the Heads of State and Government of the European Union (EU), Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) with the mission of strengthening and promoting the strategic partnership between both regions, improving its visibility and encouraging the participation of the respective civil societies.
George Ciamba was a Romanian diplomat who served, from November 2018 to November 2019, as the Romanian Minister for European Affairs, including during Romania's 2019 first presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Events in the year 1993 in the European Union.
Victor Negrescu is a Romanian politician of the Social Democratic Party. He is a Member of European Parliament and he was Minister Delegate for European Affairs in the government of Romania between 2017 and 2018. Since 2007, he is the president and national coordinator of the Romanian network of PES activists.
The Conference on the Future of Europe was a proposal of the European Commission and the European Parliament, announced at the end of 2019, with the aim of looking at the medium- to long-term future of the EU and what reforms should be made to its policies and institutions. It is intended that the Conference should involve citizens, including a significant role for young people, civil society, and European institutions as equal partners and last for two years. It will be jointly organised by the European Parliament, the EU Council and the European Commission. On 19 April 2021, the multilingual digital platform of the Conference futureu.europa.eu was launched.
The European Political Community (EPC) is an intergovernmental forum for political and strategic discussions about the future of Europe, established in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The group first met in October 2022 in Prague, with participants from 44 European countries, as well as the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission. It is distinct from both the European Union and the Council of Europe.
In July 2024, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán announced undergoing several uncoordinated meetings that he referred to as "peace missions", visiting President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv before traveling to Moscow to meet with President of Russia Vladimir Putin, followed with him visiting Beijing to meet with Xi Jinping, then traveling to the United States to attend the 2024 Washington summit and to meet Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The meetings notably took place amidst heightened tensions and ongoing conflict in Ukraine following Russia's invasion in 2022, with China increasing diplomatic ties to Russia in the midst of economic sanctions by the European Union and the United States.
