WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2298/97 by Peter SICHROVSKY to the Council. Failure of government members to attend Council meetings
Date: 1997-07-18
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Austria, Council of the European Union, ministerial meeting, quorum

C 117/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

16. 4. 98

Participation in KEDO is without prejudice to Community humanitarian aid to the population of North Korea.
On 23 May, the Commission announced a package of MECU 46.3 worth of food aid, to be delivered in close
collaboration  with  the  UN(cid:146)s  world  food  programme.  This  has  been  complemented  with  MECU 9.5  worth  of
public health and nutritional support, and is on top of almost MECU 10 of aid already granted since flooding in
1995 and 1996.

(98/C 117/12)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2298/97

by Peter Sichrovsky (NI) to the Council

(18 July 1997)

Subject: Failure of government members to attend Council meetings

Do government members commonly fail to attend meetings of the Council?

How often have members of the Austrian Government failed to attend meetings of the Council since 1995?

Is it the Council(cid:146)s view that decisions it takes in the absence of members of a Member State(cid:146)s government are of
secondary political importance for that Member State?

In the absence of members of its government, how has Austria made it known how it wishes to vote?

Answer

(1 December 1997)

Member States of course endeavour to ensure that they are represented at Council meetings at ministerial level;
experience shows, however, that this is not always possible and that it is therefore not uncommon for one or more
Member States to be represented by persons other than Ministers or State Secretaries (usually then by Permanent
Representatives or their deputies).  In that case, the representatives may not take part in the voting procedure.

However, Article 150 of the EC Treaty and Article 7 paragraph 3 of the Council(cid:146)s Rules of Procedure (1) allow
any Council member to delegate his/her right to vote to another Council member represented at ministerial level. 
Combined with the quorum rule provided for in Article 7 paragraph 4 of the Council(cid:146)s Rules of Procedure, under
which the presence of eight members of the Council at ministerial level is required to enable the Council to vote,
the delegation of vote may result in a situation where, at a given Council meeting, up to seven members may
delegate their vote to the remaining eight Council members.

Since it joined the European Union in January 1995, Austria has been represented at all Council meetings.  In
each case in which the relevant member of government was unable to attend, the Austrian delegation was headed
by the Austrian Permanent Representative to the European Union (or his deputy), as is common practice at the
Europen Union.

It is not for the Council to speculate on whether the political importance a Member State attaches to decisions
which  might  be  taken  at  a  given  Council  meeting  is  reflected  by  the  person  by  whom  that  Member  State  is
represented at the meeting.

The position and the vote of Austria and the issues under discussion at Council meetings are expressed at that
meeting  in  conformity  with  Articles  146  and  150  of  the  EC  Treaty  and  Article  7  paragraphs  3  and  4  of  the
Council(cid:146)s Rules of Procedure as explained above.  The Honourable Member of the European Parliament will
moreover be aware that when a vote takes place in the Council the record of that vote is made public - through the
Council(cid:146)s Press Release - in accordance with the provisions of the Council(cid:146)s Rules of Procedure.

(1)  Council Decision No 93/662/EC of 6 December 1993 adopting the Council(cid:146)s Rules of Procedure (OJ L 304, 10 December 1993, p. 1)

amended by Council Decision No 95/24/CE, Euratom, CECA of 6 February 1995 (OJ L 31, 10 February 1995, p. 14).