Council of Ministers

The Council of Ministers is a main decision-making body for the EU. It represents the member states of the EU and its meetings are attended by one minister from each of the national governments. Somewhat confusingly, this institution is also known as the Council of the European Union, which is different from the European Council. It makes more sense to think of it as the Council of Ministers, because it is actually Ministers from the member states who meet together.

There is no fixed membership of the Council of Ministers as such. The Council of Ministers can meet in different guises depending upon what is being discussed. So, for example, if the environment is being discussed, then the Environment Ministers of the member states attend the "Environment Council" meeting and so on.

The Council of Ministers has six main responsibilities:

• Passing European laws – jointly with the European Parliament. Click here to see how this works.
• Approving the EU’s budget – jointly with the European Parliament. Again click here to see how this works.
• Co-ordinating the broad economic policies of the member states.
• Concluding agreements with other countries or organisations.
• Developing the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.
• Co-ordinating co-operation between the national courts and police forces in criminal matters.

The important thing to remember about the Council of Ministers is that it represents the governments of the member states, whereas it is the European Parliament that represents the people of the member states. They have to work together to get things done in the EU.