!!!Rat der Europäischen Union

Council of the European Union, consists of representatives of the 
member states of the   (see) European Union at ministerial level, 
empowered to take decisions binding on their respective governments; 
headquartered in Brussels, Belgium (sometimes meets in Luxemburg); 
presided over  for a period of six months by each member state in 
turn, in accordance with a pre-established rota (Austria held the 
presidency for the first time in the period July to December 1998). 
Its terms of reference comprise three fields of activity: Community 
Activities; Common Foreign and Security Policy; and Justice and 
Internal Affairs. Community activities comprise the coordination of 
the member states' economic policies with a view to achieving the 
objectives laid down in the EU Treaty; upon proposals by the   (see) 
European Commission the Council takes decisions concerning common 
policies, with the member states' parliaments being involved, to a 
greater or less extent, in the procedure; the Council also takes the 
decisions necessary for defining and implementing the common foreign 
and security policy; and in the field of justice and internal affairs, 
the Council predominantly makes recommendations for joint activities 
and agreements. Many Council decisions (in particular on the common 
foreign and security policy, justice and internal affairs, taxes etc.) 
require unanimity, while in other cases a qualified majority of at 
least 62 of the total number of 87 members entitled to vote is 
required.


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