The 1992 UK Presidency of the council of Ministers

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

On 1st July 1992 the UK took over the rotating six month Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the European Community from Portugal'1' at a crucial stage in the history of the European Community: a time when the Community faces a number of challenges which will determine the future direction and development of Euro pean integration. These challenges include ratification of the Maastricht Treaty, negotiation of the Delors II pack age on future financing of the Community, completion of the single market by 31 December 1992, enlargement, establishment of a common foreign and security policy, and progress on the Social Action Programme. This list is not exhaustive: there are certain to be other problems and crises both inside and outside the Community in the coming months which are impossible to predict, and to which the UK Presidency will be expected to coordinate a Community response. Bringing even a significant proportion of these issues to a satisfactory resolution will both help set the path of the Community over the next few years and enhance the UK's reputation within it. Because of the structure of the Community system, there are constraints on what can be achieved by a Presi dency. The policy agenda for the Council of Ministers is determined primarily by the course of events prior to and during its six month period of office, and by the 'troika' arrangement, whereby the member state holding the Presidency confers with the countries immediately prior to and following it in office to discuss policy issues and priorities. Only in a secondary sense are priorities set by the country holding the Presidency of importance. The ability of the Presidency to determine the policy agenda is further influenced by the nature of its relation ship with the Commission. Although the Commission announces its own legislative programme at the begin ning of each year'2', all national governments use their term of the Presidency to set their own agenda, and the UK is no different in this respect'3'. Unlike the Com mission, however, the Presidency has no powers of policy initiation based on Treaty provisions. According to Arti cle 155 of the EEC Treaty, it is the role of the Commission to formulate policy and propose measures which are then considered by the Council of Ministers. While the Coun cil, and with it the Presidency, has gained some ground from the Commission in prioritising policy in recent years, the role of the Presidency is generally limited to that of varying the speed and ordering of decision making within the Council. The task of the Presidency can be seen rather more as crafting the resolution of policy differences. The ability to build a consensus according to some national agenda is, however, very limited. In its quest to build a consensus amongst the various national interests, there may well be instances where the Presidency's aims conflict not only with the policies of other member states, but also with the Commission's role of safeguarding the wider interests of the Community'41. In many instances the Presidency must temper its national priorities with the need to work as a mediator between national and supranational interests to achieve results which are not only acceptable at a domestic level, but also at a Council and Commission level.