List of European Councils

List of European Councils, by presidency, date, and location.

Early meetings

The first Councils were held in February and July 1961 (in Paris and Bonn respectively). They were informal summits of the leaders of the European Community, the first influential summit was held in 1969 and the Hague summit of 1969 reached an agreement on the admittance of the United Kingdom into the Community and initiated foreign policy cooperation (European Political Cooperation) The summits were only formalised in 1974, at the December summit in Paris, following a proposal from then-French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.cite web|last=Stark|first=Christine|authorlink=|coauthors=|title=Evolution of the European Council: The implications of a permanent seat|work=|publisher=Dragoman.org|date=|url=http://www.dragoman.org/ec/belfast-2002.pdf|format=PDF|doi=|accessdate=2007-07-12] cite web|last=van Grinsven|first=Peter|authorlink=|coauthors=|title=The European Council under Construction|work=|publisher=Netherlands Institution for international Relations|date=September 2003|url=http://www.nbiz.nl/publications/2003/20030900_cli_paper_dip_issue88.pdf|format=PDF|doi=|accessdate=2007-08-16]

Formal Council meetings

Of the Communities, 1975 to 1984

Following the 2004 Enlargement, 2004 to present

Details

Cologne 1999

The European Council met in Cologne on June 3-4 1999 to consider issues after the Treaty of Amsterdam came into force. Romano Prodi presented his plan for the future Commission's work and reform program. The Council called for an EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The Council designated Javier Solana for the post of Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union (with Pierre de Boissieu as his deputy) and High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It decided on a common policy on Russia (first use of the CFSP). Adopted the declaration on Kosovo. In relation to the European Security and Defence Policy, a major element of the CFSP, the council declared that the EU "must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises without prejudice to actions by NATO." (Declared in St Malo by France and Great Britain)

Laken 2001

The "Laken European Council" was held at the royal palace at Laken, Belgium on 14-15 December 2001. About 80,000 people protested outside the European Council; some violence occurred, with a small group of protesters throwing Molotov cocktails at Belgian police, although there was much less violence than there was at the Gothenburg European Council in July of the same year.

The main matters the Laken European Council dealt with were: new measures in the area of Justice and Home Affairs: the European arrest warrant, a common definition of terrorism, and EUROJUST; the seats of 10 new EU agencies -- after hours of disagreement, the European Council failed to reach an agreement and decided to leave the decision until next year; the impending introduction of Euro cash (the European Council met with the Finance ministers to consider this); the progress of EU enlargement; the adoption of the Laken Declaration on the Future of Europe, establishing the European Convention, to be presided over with former President of France, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, as President of the Convention, and former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato and former Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene as Vice-Presidents. The Convention was tasked with drafting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, and would have about 60 members, drawn from national governments, national Parliamentarians, the European Parliament, and the European Commission, and include representatives from the candidate countries. The declaration reviews the progress of European integration over the last fifty years, tracing it back to its origins in the horrors of World War II, and poses a number of questions to be answered by the Convention. [ [http://www.eu2001.be/VE_ADV_PRESS/detail.asp?cat_code=AA&item_id=2165&sess=69789417&lang=en&reference=12-01.02-01&] ] [ [http://ue.eu.int/Newsroom/LoadDoc.cfm?MAX=1&DOC=!!!&BID=76&DID=68758&GRP=4056&LANG=1 Press Releases, Council of the European Union] ]

References

ee also

* Presidency of the Council of the European Union