EU Council Decision Making and OSCE Security Focus

The Council of National Government Ministers

The Council of national government ministers from each of the 28 member states. There are two ways for taking a decision:

1. Ordinary Procedure

In the ordinary procedure, the Council and the Parliament have to consider, amend, negotiate, and adopt EU legislation. The EU legislation is normally proposed by the Commission. If they reach agreement, they can adopt the legislation at first reading. If not, at the second reading, the two institutions still can not agree, a Conciliation Committee is convened.

2. Extraordinary Procedure

This procedure is used for a few specific cases: the consent procedure and the consultation procedure. Once adopted, they have to implement the EU legislation as a national law. Some of the legislations are directly applicable; others take some time to become law in all the countries of the EU.

Council Preparation and Presidency

• Ministers hold their national jobs and sit in the Council thanks to the COREPER.
• All the work of the Council is prepared or coordinated by the Permanent Representatives Committee.
• Moreover, the Council has more than 150 working parties and committees who also help.

The presidency of the Council changes every six months, with different member states taking charge each time. The actual “trio” is composed by Slovakia, the Netherlands, and Malta.

The OSCE and Security Issues

The OSCE was created in 1973 and does not have a legal personality. The OSCE deals with different security issues like media freedom, arms control, human trafficking, terrorism, etc. Moreover, for good security, it is necessary that institutions, all citizens, and organizations must work together.

Principles of Opportunity and Justice

For this organization, everybody must have the same opportunities and rights in a place with justice. However, as the video says, "security begins in and between our countries with safe borders that support travel and business but stop terrorists and traffickers and control the security of weapons when natural resources are shared and preserved for the future."

Focus on Resources and Conflict Resolution

The last point in this sentence involves the issue of energy and natural resources. Finally, for the OSCE, conflicts have to be resolved peacefully through dialogue, which aids in reducing the threat of war.