The Ecofin Council is the commonly used designation for the Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the European Union (EU). Its members are the economics and finance ministers of the EU member states.
The Ecofin Council is a so-called configuration of the Council of the European Union. A configuration is one of the ten different formations in which the Council of the European Union convenes to address specific policy areas. The Council of the European Union, often referred to as the Council of Ministers, is a body where the governments of the EU member states are represented and which, together with the European Parliament, is responsible for legislation in the European Union. In addition, it coordinates the policies of the member states. The Ecofin Council is one of the oldest and most important Council formations of the EU.
The Ecofin Council meets once a month and is chaired by the departmental minister of the member state that currently presides over the Council of Ministers.
The Ecofin Council decides on the fiscal-policy guidelines of the EU and deals particularly with the following topics and tasks:
The Ecofin Council can adopt legally binding measures: regulations, directives, common actions or common positions, recommendations or opinions. In addition, together with the European Parliament, it draws up and adopts the annual budget of the EU, which has a volume of some 100 billion euros.
The Ecofin Council takes its decisions with a qualified majority (a weighted voting system that takes the number of states and population size into consideration). Only in tax matters is unanimity necessary. Depending on the topic, the European Parliament must be consulted (for example, on matters of taxation) or has to co-decide (for example, on decisions on the Single Market).
When the Ecofin Council examines dossiers in connection with the euro and the European Monetary Union, only the representatives of the member states that have introduced the euro as their currency take part. The economics and finance ministers of these countries form the so-called Eurogroup. This informal body usually meets a day before a session of the Ecofin Council. It monitors, among other things, compliance with the euro stability pact by overseeing the budgetary policy and public finances of the euro-zone countries.
The Ecofin Council should not be confused with the Alternative Ecofin, a non-governmental conference that has been meeting annually since 2006. The goal of the Alternative Ecofin is to help develop a “more democratic, social and ecological economic policy” in the EU.
Current information on the work of the Ecofin Council is published regularly at http://www.consilium.europa.eu/App/newsroom/loadbook.aspx?BID=93&LANG=en&cmsid=350.
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