The General Affairs Council is a configuration of the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

and meets once a month. Meetings bring together the ministers of

Foreign Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

and European affairs of the Member States. Ministers of several other domains can be present as well, it can be cross-ministries as well. It was created in 2009 by the Treaty of Lisbon by splitting it from the "General Affairs and External Relations Council" with the other part becoming the Foreign Affairs Council. The General and Foreign Councils are the only two Councils mentioned in the EU treaties. The General Affairs Council deals with dossiers that affect more than one of the EU's policies, such as negotiations on EU enlargement, preparation of the EU's multi-annual budgetary perspective or institutional and administrative issues. It co-ordinates preparation for and follow-up to meetings of the European Council. It also exercises a role in co-ordinating work on different policy areas carried out by the Councils other configurations, and handles any dossier entrusted to it by the

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...

Composition

Configurations

References

External links

About the General Affairs Council

Press releases of the General Affairs Council

The General Affairs Council: The Key to Political Influence of Rotating Presidencies by Piotr Maciej Kaczyński, Andrew Byrne
{{EU-stub Council of the European Union