General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union

The General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union (GSC), also known as Council Secretariat, assists the Council of the European Union, the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the European Council and the President of the European Council. The General Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union. The Secretariat is divided into eight directorates-general, each administered by a director-general. Other two departments are administered by deputy directors-general.

Secretary General of the Council of the European Union
Incumbent Thérèse Blanchet since 1 November 2022
Appointer	Council of the European Union
Term length	Five years
Constituting instrument	Treaties of the European Union
Inaugural holder	Christian Calmes
Formation	9 September 1952

The Secretariat is based in Brussels, in the Europa building and the Justus Lipsius building. The respective secretariats of the Schengen Agreement and of now-defunct Western European Union and European Political Cooperation have along the years been integrated with the Council Secretariat.

The current Secretary-General is Thérèse Blanchet, who was appointed on 1 November 2022. She succeeded Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen.

Tasks

• It "shall be closely and continually involved in organising, coordinating and ensuring the coherence of the Council's work and implementation of its annual programme". This involves 'traditional tasks', such as planning, convening and organizing the meetings (around 100 sessions of the Council, and more than 3500 meetings of working parties and other gatherings every year, e.g. extraordinary Council meetings or EU meetings with other states), arranging rooms and translation, making the minutes, acting as the Council's registrar and memory by keeping archives, and being a depositary for international agreements.
• It acts as a legal adviser and political counsellor to the EU Presidency. It advises the Presidency, especially in working out the compromises on which Council decisions and other acts will be based. Members of the Secretariat's Legal Service are on hand at all important meetings to advise on issues raised in the discussions and to clarify the legal aspects of certain procedures. The Legal Service also represents the Council before the Court of Justice of the European Union, the General Court (European Union) and the European Union Civil Service Tribunal.
• The Council Secretariat also plays an important role in the EU's intergovernmental conferences (IGC), because it provides the IGC Secretariat. Apart from legal advice, it also tries to be an honest broker among member states. Close observers have argued that the Council Secretariat, together with the Presidency, is the most important actor in the IGC.

Organisation

The organisation of the General Secretariat is decided by a simple majority of votes by the Council. The Secretary-General is also appointed by the Council.

It currently consists of 7 directorates-general, the Legal Service, 5 departments under the Secretary-General (e.g. internal audit, general political questions) and has around 3200 employees.^{[citation needed]}

Directorates-general

• Directorate-General ORG -
• Directorate-General LIFE - Agriculture, Fisheries, Social Affairs and Health
• Directorate-General RELEX -
• Directorate-General JAI -
• Directorate-General TREE -
• Directorate-General COMM -
• Directorate-General ECOMP -
• Directorate-General GIP -

The following services are headed by a Deputy Director-General:

• LING - Translation Service
• SMART - Digital Services

See also

• Common Foreign and Security Policy
• High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
• History of the European Union
• Intergovernmental Conference
• President of the European Parliament
• Secretariat-General of the European Commission

References

1. "The General Secretariat of the Council". Consilium. European Union. 6 October 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
2. "Thérèse Blanchet appointed new Secretary-General of the Council". consilium.europa.eu. 13 October 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
3. Council Decision of 22 March 2004 adopting the Council's Rules of Procedure
4. "An Introduction to the Council of the European Union", European Communities, 2008, p. 16.
5. Gray & Stubb (2001)
6. Art. 240(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

Further reading

• Beach, Derek (January 2004). "The unseen hand in treaty reform negotiations: the role and influence of the Council Secretariat". Journal of European Public Policy. 11 (3): 408–439. doi:10.1080/rjpp13501760410001100279. S2CID 154396629.
• Christiansen, Thomas (December 2002). "Out of the shadows: The General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers". The Journal of Legislative Studies. 8 (4): 80–97. doi:10.1080/13572330200870006. S2CID 154144953.
• Duke, Simon; Vanhoonacker, Sophie (2006). "Administrative Governance in the CFSP: development and practice". European Foreign Affairs Review. 11 (2): 163–182. doi:10.54648/EERR2006015. S2CID 154472022.
• Gray, Mark; Stubb, Alexander (September 2001). "Keynote article: the Treaty of Nice – negotiating a poisoned chalice?". Journal of Common Market Studies. 39 (S1): 5–23. doi:10.1111/1468-5965.39.s1.2.
• Hayes-Renshaw, Fiona; Wallace, Helen (1997). The Council of Ministers. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312164119.
• Westlake, Martin (1995). The Council of the European Union. London New York: Cartermill Stockton. ISBN 9781561591411.
• "The main bodies specific to the CFSP: The General Secretariat of the Council". French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. 2008. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011.

External links

• Official website
• PRADO - The Council of the European Union Public Register of Authentic identity and travel Documents Online, operated by the Secretariat