Council of the European Union

Short information about the Council, the COREPER and the Justice and Home Affairs Council

Flags of EU Member States
The Council is made up of the Ministers of the Member States. It meets in ten different configurations depending on the subjects under discussion. For example, the “Justice and Home Affairs” configuration is made up of justice and home affairs Ministers, etc.

All the work of the Council is prepared or co-ordinated by the Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER), made up of the permanent representatives of the Member States working in Brussels and their assistants. The work of this Committee itself is prepared by some 250 committees and working groups consisting of delegates from the Member States.

Justice and Home Affairs 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. There is an informal meeting of the Ministers in the presiding country once during every presidency.

The activities of the Ministry of the Interior are related also to Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (TTE Council), especially when the topics discussed are information society and eGovernment.