General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union
The General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union ( briefly Council Secretariat ) was established to assist the Council of the European Union, its President, the European Council and its President. The Secretariat is headed by a Secretary, who is appointed by the Council for a fixed term in each individual case by a qualified majority. Currently occupied the same position Uwe Corsepius of ( as of 2012).
The Council Secretariat has approximately 2,500 employees. His duties include coordinating the work of the Council and the European Council, in particular, ensuring coherence in the implementation of the respective presidential programs. This ranges from the practical organization, such as the provision of interpreter services and the preparation of protocols, to the legal and policy advice to the six-month rotating presidency. Even with the intergovernmental conferences, which prepare the EU Member States, possible reforms of the EU Treaty, the Council Secretariat plays an important role in advising the Member States and the logging of results.
History
The Council Secretariat was established by the ECSC Treaty to support the ECSC Council of Ministers (later Council of the European Union) and its President. First, it served only pure organization functions; later, however, the secretariats of the European political cooperation, the Schengen Agreement and the Western European Union were incorporated therein so that the Secretariat gained in importance.
Also in the system established by the Maastricht Treaty 's Common Foreign and Security Policy, the Council Secretariat has a special function because the Member States have granted almost supranational competences in this policy field of the European Commission. For this reason also that with the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1999 created the Office of the High Representative for the CFSP was connected with the Office of the Secretary.
The Treaty of Lisbon, the two offices from 1 December 2009 but were again separated. For the coordination of CFSP, an independent European External Action Service shall be established, composed of staff from EU Member States, the delegations of the European Commission and the Council Secretariat.