The Council of the European Union is made up of the representatives of EU member states at ministerial level, each authorised to commit their government. In the legislative area, the Council adopts EU legislation on the basis of a proposal by the Commission, in many cases acting together with the European Parliament under the ‘co-decision’ procedure. In the sphere of EU common foreign and security policy (CFSP), the Council has sole responsibility, and it has a pre-eminent role in the area of police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters.
EU legislation has primacy over member states’ national laws, and it can be directly applicable without the need for transposition into national legislation. Moreover, the legality of EU legislation is subject to review by the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg. The Council therefore needs an independent Legal Service to help it respect the principles of law on which the EU is based, and to defend the Council in the event of a legal challenge.
1. The Legal Service is the Council’s legal advisor.
2. The Legal Service assists the Council and its preparatory bodies, the Presidency and the General Secretariat, in order to ensure the legality and the drafting quality of Council acts. It contributes, by taking a creative approach as appropriate, to finding legally correct and politically acceptable solutions, in constant co-operation with other services in the Council. For such purpose, it gives opinions in complete impartiality – orally or in writing, at the request of the Council or on its own initiative – on any question of a legal nature.
3. The Legal Service represents the Council in proceedings before the Community courts.
4. The Legal Service performs the tasks of legal-linguistic editing of Council acts in the EU’s official languages and managing the Council’s relations with the European Parliament and the other institutions and bodies, as well as organising the co-decision legislative procedures with the European Parliament.
5. The constant objective of the Legal Service is to provide timely contributions which are distinguished by their full respect for the law, their impartiality and their clarity.
The Council Legal Service is under the responsibility of a Director-General, who is the Council’s Legal Advisor. There are about 50 lawyers working in five separate directorates, with nationals from almost all member states being represented. These lawyers perform the tasks of giving legal advice to the Council and its preparatory bodies, and of representing the Council in litigation before the Community courts. There is also a directorate responsible for inter-institutional relations, as well as a unit for managing the ‘co-decision procedure’ with the European Parliament. Finally, there is as a ‘Legislative Quality’ directorate with some 70 ‘lawyer-linguists’.
The lawyers’ directorates have the following areas of responsibility (see the organisation chart). Directorate I: internal market, energy, research, transport, social affairs, environment, consumer protection, competition and public procurement. Directorate II: agriculture and fisheries, economic and monetary union, VAT and taxation, free movement of capital and structural funds. Directorate III: external relations, including CFSP, development co-operation, trade policy and enlargement. Directorate IV: institutional, budgetary and administrative questions. Directorate V: justice and home affairs.
The advisory role of the Legal Service consists of giving legal opinions, either orally or in writing, to the Council or its preparatory bodies, on any legal or institutional questions which may be raised in the course of the Council’s work. Even if the Legal Service is not asked for an opinion, it is still expected to draw the Council’s attention to legal problems which would not have been noticed otherwise.
Opinions of the Legal Service may be given on questions such as whether the Commission has proposed the correct legal basis in the Treaty for a draft legislative act or international agreement, or whether certain provisions of the draft act comply with general rules of Community law. It also has to check that a proper statement of reasons is provided in the recitals (‘whereas’ clauses) to a measure. These matters (legal basis, rules of Community law, statement of reasons) all constitute grounds for the annulment of a Council act by the Court.
In addition, the Legal Service often has to advise on the application of the Council’s Rules of Procedure, for example, whether a quorum is present, whether the items on the provisional agenda have been included in good time, whether the Council session is to be ‘open’ (re-transmitted to the public), the possibility of adopting Council acts by written procedure, rules on languages, publications in the Official Journal, etc.
The Legal Service also provides advice internally within the Council Secretariat, on administrative and budgetary questions such as the application of the Staff Regulations and building projects, etc.
Last but not least, the Legal Advisor acted as advisor to the inter-governmental conferences in 1991 (Maastricht), 1996 (Amsterdam), 2000 (Nice) and 2003 (a Constitution for Europe).
Opinions and written contributions of the Legal Service are produced as distinct Council documents, and may not be disclosed under the rules on public access to documents (see Article 4(2) of Regulation EC 1049/2001 which provides an exception for legal advice; this has been upheld by the Court in the Turco case T-84/03, as being justified in the public interest for the Council to have independent legal advice).
Litigation before the European Court of Justice, the Court of First Instance and the Civil Service Tribunal accounts for about one-third of the lawyers’ work-load, although the proportion varies from one sector to another. This task nearly always involves defending the Council against an action for the annulment of a Council act, a declaration of illegality or compensation for damages. Two or sometimes three members of the Legal Service are appointed to represent the Council in each case; they will usually be the lawyer(s) responsible for the subject-area in question and if necessary a lawyer who is fluent in the language of the case.
The Council usually wins the cases brought against it, but if it loses then the Council has to take the necessary measures to comply with the Court’s judgment, eg by re-adopting an annulled act on another legal basis or after re-consulting the European Parliament, or by amending provisions which have been found contrary to Community law.
The Legal Service’s directorate VI has overall responsibility within the Council Secretariat for handling relations with other EU institutions and bodies, in particular with the European Parliament. This includes preparing draft replies to parliamentary (written and oral) questions. Members of this directorate also attend European Parliament plenary sessions and committee meetings, in order to give the necessary assistance there to the President of the Council and to the Secretary-General/High Representative during their regular appearances, and to report back to the Council.
The Legal Service also includes a special unit (the ‘backbone’ in directorate I) which has specific responsibility within the Council Secretariat for managing the ‘co-decision’ procedure. The ‘backbone’ follows the proceedings of the relevant committee(s) within the European Parliament and organises the ‘trialogue’ meetings between the Council presidency and representatives of the European Parliament and the Commission, with a view to obtaining an agreement in the first or second readings. If a meeting of the ‘conciliation committee’ has to be convened, the ‘backbone’ is involved in the drafting of the joint texts eventually agreed.
The Legal Service has a vital role to play in improving the drafting quality of EU legislation, which should be as clear, simple and precise as possible for its users, whether they be national authorities, businesses or citizens generally. According to an inter-institutional agreement signed in December 1998 on common guidelines for the quality of drafting of Community legislation, the three institutions’ Legal Services (European Parliament, Council and Commission) are enjoined to put forward appropriate drafting suggestions with a view to making EU legislation clearer and more precise. The Council’s Rules of Procedure (Article 22) also stipulate that “the Legal Service shall be responsible for checking the drafting quality of proposals and draft acts at the appropriate stage, as well as for bringing drafting suggestions to the attention of the Council and its bodies”.
The above task is performed in the first place by the lawyers in the Legal Service who follow proposals through the Council and its preparatory bodies, and secondly by the ‘Legislative Quality’ directorate. This directorate, which is staffed by some 70 ‘lawyer-linguists’ (three for each of the EU’s 23 official languages), is responsible for the final editing of draft acts to be adopted by the Council. That involves laying the text out properly, using the right terminology and ensuring the act says exactly the same in all the language versions, each of which is equally authentic.
The Legal Service plays a prominent role in all aspects of the Council’s work, including questions dealt with at the highest level. Thanks to its proven independence and the quality of its work, the Legal Service is highly valued and the Council nearly always follows its advice. On the rare occasions when the Council fails to do so, then the Court of Justice will usually rectify the situation later – even though the members of the Legal Service appointed to defend the Council as its agents will have had to plead in favour of what they had originally advised against!
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Executive
Director-General
Legal Adviser to the Council
T: +32 2 281-6227
Coordination and Administration unit
Head of Unit
T: +32 2 281-8775
Research and documentation
Head of Unit
T: +32 2 281-7190
Team I
Internal market, industry, telecommunications, tourism, energy, civil protection, research, trans-European networks, transport, social affairs, culture, education, youth, regional policy, environment, harmonisation of food legislation, consumer protection, health, competition rules/public procurement
Director
T: +32 2 281-6226
Director
T: +32 2 281-7348
T: +32 2 281-6459
T: +32 2 281-7983
FLORINDO GIJÓN Fernando
T: +32 2 281-6196
T: +32 2 281-5702
T: +32 2 281-5329
T: +32 2 281-3782
T: +32 2 281-8259
Team II
Agriculture, fisheries, economic and monetary union, taxation, free movement of capital, Structural Funds and generally all matters for the Ecofin Council prepared by Coreper II
Director
T: +32 2 281-7919
T: +32 2 281-8365
T: +32 2 281-7849
T: +32 2 281-9680
T: +32 2 281-9353
T: +32 2 281-3097
T: +32 2 281-3785
T: +32 2 281-5742
Team III
External relations (including CFSP, development cooperation, ACP, all questions relating to international agreements and relations with international organisations) and enlargement
Director
T: +32 2 281-6259
T: +32 2 281-5747
T: +32 2 281-8303
T: +32 2 281-9720
T: +32 2 281-9504
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T: +32 2 281-5023
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Team IV
Institutional/Budgetary questions
T: +32 2 281-7950
Director
T: +32 2 281-6183
T: +32 2 281-8341
T: +32 2 281-5123
T: +32 2 281-7398
T: +32 2 281-3783
T: +32 2 281-3780
Team V
Justice and home affairs
Director
T: +32 2 281-6229
T: +32 2 281-7169
T: +32 2 281-8221
T: +32 2 281-8533
T: +32 2 281-8780
T: +32 2 281-4969
T: +32 2 281-3784
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Team VI
Inter-institutional relations
Director
T: +32 2 281-7109
T: +32 2 281-8313
T: +32 2 281-7305
T: +32 2 281-7009
T: +32 2 281-8134
T: +32 2 281-6041
T: +32 2 281-6316
T: +32 2 281-7751
T: +32 2 281-3607
Directorship of Legislation
Director
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T: +32 2 281-7218
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National Sections
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T: +32 2 281-6079
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German section
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Estonian section
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ANGELOPOULOS Georgios
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English section
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French section
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Italian section
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Hungarian section
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Maltese section
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Dutch section
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Polish section
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Portuguese section
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Slovenian section
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Slovak section
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Finnish section
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Swedish section
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Bulgarian Section
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Romanian Section
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Consolidators/codifiers
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T: +32 2 281-7593
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