ZOOM ON THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIONS OF MEMBER STATES TO THE EU

The Permanent Representations of the Member States to the EU are an extended arm of their governments. Their main task is to ensure that their country’s interests and policies are pursued as effectively as possible in the EU. An important task of the Permanent Representations is to supply analyses and assessment to their government offices, which are responsible for shaping EU policies. Permanent representations also act as their governments day-to-day communication link with the EU institutions.

Fundamental questions that need to be addressed and answered in a constant dialogue with the relevant Ministries back home are the following:

• Which proposals and initiatives is the European Commission about to take?
• Which position does the country take towards the proposals? How can the country effectively influence the negotiations?
• Which Member States share its interests, and which do not?
• Do the country’s position needs to be adapted during the negotiations, in order to help enforce its main interests?

Specifically,

• Permanent missions represent their country in its relations with the Member States and the European Institutions and act on the basis of instructions from home.
• Permanent missions represent their country in the preparation of the legislative decision-making process within the Union on the level of ambassadors and deputy ambassadors as well as in Working Parties.
• Permanent missions negotiate compromises with other Permanent Representatives, the European Commission and with the European Parliament (e.g. budget, co-decision procedure...).
• Permanent missions draw up reports, analyses and previews to provide a precise basis for the formulation of their country’s positions in the Council of Ministers;
• Permanent missions engage in press and public relations by continuous updating of the press corps and other target groups about developments in the Council of the European Union as well as their country’s positions regarding EU-related political questions.

Permanent missions are usually organized along three main departments - politics, economics and finance - as well as a range of specialized divisions that together cover the whole range of European policy.

The head of a permanent representation (Ambassador) represents his/her country at meetings of the Permanent Representatives Committee II (COREPER II)  while his deputy is responsible for COREPER I.

How Permanent Representations work

The decision-making process of the European Communities starts with a proposal of the European Commission. The deliberations until the final adoption of the proposal are split up into three phases:

- Examination and discussion of the proposal by the responsible Council Working Party
- Examination and discussion of the proposal by COREPER I or II
- Decision by the Council of Ministers

Delegates from the Permanent Representations, if necessary supported by experts from the capital, present their country’s  position in their Working Parties (about 260 different formations hold more than 4000 meetings per year).

COREPER meets weekly in two different configurations:

COREPER II, on the level of the Permanent Representatives, deals with inter-institutional, international, financial and budgetary questions, development co-operation and issues concerning justice and home affairs. The meetings of the CORPER II are prepared by the "Antici"-group, named after the Italian diplomat who was the first chairman of this group.

COREPER I, on the level of Deputy Permanent Representatives, deals with the following issues: internal market, consumer protection, tourism, transport, telecommunications, research, industry, energy, social affairs, health, education, youth, culture, environment and fisheries. The meetings are prepared by the "Mertens"-group, named after the Belgium diplomat, who became the first chairman of this group.

The work of the Agriculture Council meeting is mainly prepared by the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA).

National ministers meet in the Council of ministers. The Council meets in nine different configurations about 100 times per year. The meetings usually take place in Brussels, meetings in April, June and October are held in Luxembourg. The Council adopts issues that have already been agreed on by the COREPER as so-called A-points and tries to reach an agreement on controversial questions that couldn't be solved at an earlier stage.