COST OF HOLDING PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL

On average Member States spend between € 65 and € 100 million to run the presidency ( Poland € 120 million, Italy € 68 million, Latvia € 70 million, Luxembourg € 93 million broken down as follows: cost of equipment, meetings and entertainment € 35 million, cost of personnel € 20.9 million, travelling and food and lodging expenses abroad € 4 million, cost of furniture and computers € 100,000).

Costs covered by the Presidency’s member state

• The costs of meetings convened on the Presidency’s initiative outside the institutional framework — principally those held in its own country as informal meetings of ministers, e.g. Coreper, the Political and Security Committee, the Special Committee on Agriculture and the 15 working parties officially convened by each Presidency.
• Travel and accommodation expenses for GSC staff coming to the member state for briefings and training programmes in preparation of the Presidency.
• In some cases, travel and accommodation expenses for GSC staff participating in informal ministerial meetings.
• The cost of security staff to supervise contractors carrying out work for decoration and expositions in the Council buildings. A security guard must be present in each area where work is being carried out, throughout the duration of the work (.
• The cost of insurance for works of art which the Presidency displays in Council buildings

Costs covered by the GSC

• Each member state is entitled to a reimbursement up to a fixed annual envelope for delegates’ travel expenses. For the member state holding the Presidency this amount is increased by 50 %. The meetings giving right to reimbursement are listed in Annex V.
• A limited number of official meals .
• Interpreting, up to a certain volume.
• Production of documents, including publication in the Official Journal.
• The costs of all meetings within the framework of the Council that are held in non-EU states, such as association or cooperation councils, are born by the host state. However, interpreting costs could be charged to the Council budget, but are subject to the prior agreement of the Secretary-General. The GSC generally helps with the practical organisation of such meetings.

Meetings giving entitlement to reimbursement

1. European Council meetings;
2. Council meetings;
3. Joint Council meetings;
4. Working parties and committees in the list of committees and working parties involved in the Council’s preparatory work established by Coreper (including joint working parties and committees. This list is regularly updated by the Secretariat in light of the operation of the Council; the following Committees set up by the Treaties are excluded from this list (travel expenses are met by the European Commission):

1. Economic and Financial Committee (A.2)
2. Employment Committee (A.3)
3. Social Protection Committee (A.7)
4. Economic Policy Committee (A.11)

and, if the meetings are held alongside Parliamentary sessions in Strasbourg

1. Working Party on General Affairs (B.1)

1. Biennial ministerial meetings of the WTO
2. Summits or ministerial level meetings (bilateral or multilateral) between the European Union and third countries, wherever they take place. The reimbursement is strictly limited to the principal meeting.
3. Intergovernmental conferences and their dependent bodies
4. Meetings of a task force or similar body with representatives of the Member States established at the request of the European Council

Other meetings in Brussels and elsewhere

1. Meetings in the country of the Presidency: meetings of working parties or committees traditionally held in the country of the Presidency are eligible under this decision, up to a limit of fifteen meetings.
2. COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) meetings: only the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) and the Working Party on Legal, Administrative and Financial Questions (JAF) are eligible for the reimbursement arrangements
3. Bilateral and regional fishing agreements (external fisheries policy meetings)