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Rada UE stanowi główny ośrodek

podejmowania decyzji politycznych Unii

Europejskiej.

• Ministrowie Państw Członkowskich spotykają

się w ramach Rady Unii Europejskiej. W
zależności od przedmiotu znajdującego się w
porządku obrad, dane Państwo
reprezentowane jest przez ministra
odpowiedzialnego za właściwą dziedzinę
(polityka zagraniczna, finanse, polityka
społeczna, transport, rolnictwo itd.).

• Prezydencja Rady trwa sześć miesięcy i pełnią

ją rotacyjnie poszczególne Państwa
Członkowskie.

Rada pełni rolę decyzyjną i

koordynacyjną.

• Rada Unii Europejskiej uchwala akty prawne, na ogół w

drodze procedury współdecyzji z Parlamentem Europejskim.

• Rada koordynuje ogólną politykę gospodarczą Państw

Członkowskich.

• Rada UE określa i wdraża wspólną politykę zagraniczną i

bezpieczeństwa Unii na podstawie ogólnych wytycznych

Rady Europejskiej.

• Rada zawiera w imieniu Wspólnoty i Unii umowy

międzynarodowe pomiędzy Wspólnotą a innymi krajami lub

organizacjami międzynarodowymi.

• Rada koordynuje działania Państw Członkowskich i

przyjmuje środki w zakresie współpracy policyjnej i sądowej

w sprawach karnych.

• Rada i Parlament Europejski są uprawnione do uchwalania

budżetu Wspólnoty.

Akty prawne Rady.

• Akty prawne Rady mogą mieć formę rozporządzeń,

dyrektyw, decyzji, wspólnych działań lub stanowisk, zaleceń

lub opinii. Rada może także przyjmować konkluzje,

deklaracje i rezolucje.

• Podczas gdy Rada pełni funkcję prawodawczą, wnioski co

do aktów prawnych zgłaszane są w zasadzie przez Komisję

Europejską. Są one następnie rozpatrywane przez Radę,

która może je zmienić przed uchwaleniem.

• Parlament Europejski jest aktywnym uczestnikiem procesu

legislacyjnego. W bardzo wielu sprawach prawodawstwo

wspólnotowe uchwalane jest wspólnie przez Parlament i

Radę w drodze tzw. procedury współdecyzji.

• Liczbę głosów przysługujących poszczególnym

Państwom Członkowskim określają Traktaty. Traktaty

określają również, w jakich przypadkach wymagana

jest zwykła większość głosów, większość

kwalifikowana lub jednomyślność.

• Od 01.01.2007 roku kwalifikowana większość głosów

wymaga spełnienia następujących dwóch warunków:

• większość Państw Członkowskich głosuje «za» (w

niektórych przypadkach większość dwóch trzecich

głosów);

• minimum 255 głosów «za», tzn. 73,9% wszystkich

głosów (mniej więcej taki sam procent jak w

poprzednim systemie).

• Ponadto Państwo Członkowskie może zażądać

potwierdzenia, że głosy «za» reprezentują ogółem

przynajmniej 62% ludności Unii. Jeśli wymagany

procent nie zostanie uzyskany, decyzja nie zostaje

podjęta.

Przydział głosów dla poszczególnych Państw

Członkowskich (od 01.01.2007 r.)

• Niemcy, Francja, Włochy, Zjednoczone Królestwo

• Hiszpania, Polska 27
• Rumunia 14
• Niderlandy 13
• Belgia, Czechy, Grecja, Węgry, Portugalia 12
• Austria, Bułgaria, Szwecja 10
• Dania, Irlandia, Litwa, Słowacja, Finlandia 7
• Cypr, Estonia, Łotwa, Luksemburg, Słowenia 4
• Malta 3
• ŁĄCZNIE345

Prezydencję Rady Unii Europejskiej sprawuje

kolejno każde Państwo Członkowskie.

• Prezydencja Rady trwa sześć miesięcy (od

stycznia do czerwca oraz od lipca do grudnia) i

jest sprawowana przez każde Państwo

Członkowskie według wcześniej uzgodnionej

kolejności.

• Prezydencja odgrywa istotną rolę w

organizowaniu pracy instytucji, a zwłaszcza

nadaje impuls procesowi podejmowania decyzji

prawotwόrczych i politycznych. Państwo

sprawujące Prezydencję Rady odpowiada za

organizowanie i prowadzenie wszystkich

posiedzeń, w tym także wielu grup roboczych,

oraz za opracowywanie kompromisów.

Justice and Home Affairs

Council

• The Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council brings

together Justice ministers and Interior ministers

about once every two months to discuss the

development and implementation of cooperation

and common policies in this sector. The creation of

an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, is a key

aim of the EU Treaty. Most of the matters in this

field are decided by unanimity with a consultation

of the European Parliament. Some matters

however (visas issues and judicial cooperation in

civil matters) are decided by qualified majority, in

consultation or in codecision with the European

Parliament, depending on the matter.

• Member States began to cooperate in the area of

Justice and Home Affairs in the mid‑1970s on an

informal, intergovernmental basis outside the

Community framework. In 1990, Germany, France

and the Benelux countries signed the Schengen

Agreement, which was an important step toward

cooperation among the Member States in this

area. In the following years, several Member

States acceded to the Schengen Agreement. The

aim of the agreement was to introduce genuine

freedom of movement of persons without being

controlled at internal borders, while providing for

flanking measures in the fields of external border

controls, visa policy, police cooperation and

judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

• The Treaty on European Union, which entered into

force in November 1993, took a further step by

incorporating Justice and Home Affairs in its

institutional framework, thereby adding a further

dimension to the construction of Europe.

• The entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty in

May 1999 incorporated the Schengen rules into the

institutional framework of the European Union. One

of the main objectives of the Treaty is to maintain

and develop the Union as an area of freedom,

security and justice, in which there would be free

movement for persons combined with suitable

measures pertaining to the control of external

borders, asylum, immigration, as well as the

prevention and combating of crime.

• It should be noted that Denmark, the United

Kingdom and Ireland do not participate fully
in a number of JHA matters or participate
under certain conditions. In particular, the
United Kingdom and Ireland do not take
part in the Schengen rules on free
movement of persons, external border
controls and visa policy. The representatives
of these States therefore do not vote on
these matters in the Council.

What is cooperation in the field

of Justice and Home Affairs

• The Treaty on European Union, known as the

"Maastricht Treaty", which entered into force on 1

November 1993, added a further dimension to the

construction of Europe: cooperation in the field of

justice and home affairs (CJHA). What does this term

mean and what is really involved?

• Cooperation in the field of justice and home affairs

brings together the Ministries of Justice and of the

Interior, and their departments, of the fifteen Member

States of the European Union. It permits dialogue,

mutual assistance, joint effort and cooperation

between the police, customs, immigration services

and justice departments of the Fifteen.

Cooperation between the justice

administrations of the Member States

• There are two aspects to cooperation

between justice administrations: cooperation

in civil matters and cooperation in criminal

matters. Cooperation in civil matters deals,

for example, with problems connected with

the mutual recognition of judgements in

divorce or child custody cases or commercial

questions (bankruptcy) where two or more

Member States are involved. Cooperation in

criminal matters concerns questions relating

to extradition or mutual legal assistance, for

example.

An example of judicial cooperation: the

GROTIUS programme

• The "GROTIUS" programme, covering the

period 1996-2000, is designed to assist, by

means of subsidies, judicial cooperation

between the Member States by improving

reciprocal knowledge of their legal and

judicial systems. Legal practitioners

benefit from training programmes (e.g.

knowledge of other languages of the

Union), exchanges and traineeships (at

national or international courts). Meetings

are organised, studies and research

conducted, and databases set up.

Cooperation between the customs

administrations of the Member States

• The customs administrations of the Member

States also provide each other with mutual

assistance and cooperate in ensuring compliance

with national and Community legislation.A

convention which was signed in December 1997

is aimed, for example, at considerably

strengthening the fight against the proliferation of

various forms of trafficking. Thus, in the field of

cross-frontier cooperation, national

administrations will assist one another in

combating illicit trafficking in drugs, arms,

cultural goods, dangerous and toxic waste and

nuclear materials.

Cooperation between the

police forces of the Member

States

• Cooperation between police forces is

necessary to combat international
terrorism, drugs trafficking and
crime. Europol, the European police
office which became fully operational
on 1 July 1999, will play an important
role in assisting this cooperation.

• .

• Cooperation between the customs, justice and police

departments is not necessarily compartmentalised: forms

of cooperation are already provided for between customs,

police and justice. Thus, the "Falcone" programme is

directed at judges, public prosecutors, the police and

customs departments, officials, and the public departments

responsible for tax questions. Its aim is to train those

responsible for combating organised crime.

• Since the 1970s, forms of cooperation have been set up,

but outside the framework of the Community, or on its

fringes. Such partial forms of cooperation took place in an

intergovernmental framework, the best-known example

being Schengen cooperaiton, which was integrated into the

framework of the Union by the Treaty of Amsterdam. The

Treaty on European Union thus provides a framework for

initiatives adopted with a view to rationalisation. It also

provides an impetus for cooperation in the field of justice

and home affairs, thus speeding up work and progress

How does cooperation in the field of justice and

home affairs take place ?

• Cooperation in the field of justice and home affairs is not

implemented in the same way as Community policies (the

common agricultural policy or regional policies, for example).

Given the great sensitivity of matters relating to public order,

the Treaty has accorded very great weight to the Member

States and to the bodies of the European Union in which they

participate directly. The powers of the European Commission,

the European Parliament and the Court of Justice have been

limited for the same reason. From this viewpoint,

implementation of JHA is very different from the

implementation of Community policies. Under the Treaty of

Maastricht, the JHA lacked the legal instruments such as

"directives" or "regulations" which exist for Community policies.

It used only instruments that were specific to the third pillar.

With the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, civil law

matters, asylum and immigration became community matters,

with police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters

remaining within the third pillar.

• The Treaty of Amsterdam brings certain areas

within the Community legal order, namely policy

on visas, asylum, immigration and other policies

connected with the free movement of persons.

The Treaty stipulates the measures to be taken by

the Council with a view to the progressive

establishment of an area of freedom, security and

justice within five years of its entry into force.

• The Treaty of Amsterdam lays down that, for a

transitional period of five years following its entry

into force, the Council shall in general act

unanimously on a proposal from the Commission

or on the initiative of a Member State and after

consulting the European Parliament. After this

period, the Council shall act on proposals from the

Commission which shall henceforth acquire sole

right of initiative. However, the Commission must

examine any request by a Member State that it

submit a proposal to the Council.

JHA instruments

• The Treaty of Amsterdam creates a distinction

between the free movement of persons and the

establishment of an area of freedom, security and

justice. It is as a result of this distinction that

policy in the area of visas, asylum, immigration

and judicial cooperation in criminal matters has

been made Community matters. This has made it

possible to use Community instruments such as

regulations or directives instead of conventions

(which, since they are subject to ratification,

require rather cumbersome procedures prior to

their entry into force), decisions,

recommendations and opinions.

With regard to areas remaining within the third

pillar, the Treaty provides for the following

instruments:

• Common positions

• The Council of the European Union can adopt "common positions"

unanimously. These common positions define the European Union's

approach on a given question. Thus, a common position was decided

upon, prior to the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, for the

harmonised application of the definition of the term "refugee" in

asylum matters. This definition enables national administrations to

follow the same guidelines when granting a person refugee status.

• Framework decisions and decisions

• The Council of the European Union may take framework decisions to

approximate the laws and regulations of the Member States. While

these legal instruments are binding on the Member States as regards

the result to be achieved, they remain free to choose the means by

which to do so. The Council may also adopt decisions in the JHA area.

These decisions, which cannot have direct effect, are then

supplemented by implementing measures. Prior to 1 May 1999, the

Council of the European Union was able to adopt joint actions. For

example, it adopted such an action in 1996 to create a directory of

specialised competences, skills and expertise to combat terrorism.

• The Council adopts framework decisions and decisions by unanimity.

Implementing measures, when necessary, may be adopted by

qualified majority.

• Conventions

• Conventions are a traditional instrument of international law. The

Council of the European Union may draw up conventions, which it

recommends to the Member States for adoption, as in the case of

two conventions relating to extradition which were adopted in 1995

and 1996. Contrary to common positions and other decisions,

conventions have to be ratified by the national parliaments of the

Fifteen. The implementation of conventions is thus particularly slow

and unwieldy.

• Since the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, conventions

enter into effect, save as otherwise provided, once they have been

adopted by at least half of the Member States.

• Resolutions, recommendations, declarations, conclusions

etc.

• The Council has resorted to a whole series of instruments to express

its political will. It has, for example, adopted a resolution on the

protection of witnesses in the fight against organised crime, or a

recommendation to prevent disturbances likely to occur at football

matches, or even a declaration about motorcycle gangs. These

instruments are very often used for their "flexibility": unlike the

other instruments mentioned above, they are not binding upon the

Council and the Member States

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