6 - Legal Advice in Council Decision-Making

Summary

Chapter 6 discusses the prominence of law and the role of the Council Legal Service in Council discussions. The Council Legal Service is involved in the Council decision-making process at all levels and in all formations. In contrast to the Commission, where the institutional agenda tends to be relatively clear and is set from the top, the institutional interest of the Council and the ownership of its agenda is often more difficult to define, leaving Council legal advisers with more autonomy than their Commission peers. The Council Legal Service addresses Member State concerns and assists the Presidency in finding legally workable solutions. Council legal advisers routinely navigate in politically loaded waters. In negotiations between Member States, they use legal arguments to break deadlocks, and the solutions they provide often constitute the basis for negotiations. Law is frequently used to steer or limit discussions, or remove elements from the political agenda as legally not possible. In this process, legal advisers’ main objective is to safeguard their own credibility.