The Foreign Affairs Council is composed of the EU Member State Ministers responsible for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Development. The Foreign Affairs Council meets formally once a month and deals with matters including foreign policy and trade, security issues, defence and development policy.
The formation of the Foreign Affairs Council was established by the Treaty of Lisbon. Until 1 December 2009, the Council formed part of the General Affairs and External Relations Council, which was chaired by the rotating Presidency of the EU. With the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the function of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy was significantly modified and extended. Under the Treaty, the High Representative chairs the meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council, except when it is dealing with commercial policy issues, in which case, the rotating Presidency takes over the chair.
The Briton Catherine Ashton assumed the office of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on 1 December 2009.
The Foreign Affairs Council elaborates the Union's external action on the basis of strategic guidelines laid down by the European Council and ensures that the Union’s action is consistent. It is responsible for the whole of the Union's external action, namely common foreign and security policy, common security and defence policy, common commercial policy and development cooperation and humanitarian aid.
Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
Most of the items on the agenda at the Foreign Affairs Council meetings relate to the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
In order for the EU to exert more political influence in international affairs, some sort of coherence was required in the EU’s external policy. This was the reason behind the development of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy, which only really took shape with the coming into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. It allows the EU to play an ever increasing role in conflict prevention, peacekeeping and counter-terrorism.
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is responsible for the preparation and implementation of the CFSP and will be assisted in their tasks by the new European External Action Service.
The Foreign Affairs Council is also responsible for coordinating the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), and so, in addition to their informal meetings, the Defence Ministers of the Member States attend formal meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council twice a year.
Foreign trade
The common commercial policy is one of the European Union’s main policy areas and so bilateral negotiations with third countries and multilateral trade negotiations within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are also discussed during Foreign Affairs Council meetings. The Commission is responsible for negotiating on behalf of the EU and representing the EU Member States at the WTO.
Humanitarian aid
Coordination of the EU’s humanitarian aid and mobilisation of the necessary resources in the event of conflicts and natural disasters are also amongst the topics of discussion at Foreign Affairs Council meetings. One of the EU’s primary concerns is to avoid duplication of national aid by the EU Member States. In the event of major natural disasters, for instance the tsunami in 2005, the EU usually convenes an extraordinary meeting of the Council as quickly as possible to tackle the initial emergency aid requirements.
Development policy
The Ministers of Development Cooperation attend Foreign Affairs Council meetings twice a year in order to maintain an overview of Member States’ national policies with regard to development cooperation and to ensure the best possible coordination of the EU’s development assistance. Proper coordination is essential, without duplicate allocation of development funds and programmes, since the EU is the largest aid donor in the world. The EU and its Member States account for 60 percent of all official development assistance. For instance the European Union provided 12 billion Euros of ODA in 2008. The budget for 2008-2013 is 22.6 billion Euros.
During Belgium’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union the Foreign Affairs Council is scheduled to hold formal meetings in Brussels on 26th July, 13th September, 22nd November and 13th December. A formal meeting in Luxembourg is also scheduled for 25th October.