Meetings of the European Semester, the importance of being ‘informal’
What the so-called ‘informal meetings’ of the Semester are and what is their purpose?
Technically their name is ‘informal ministerial meetings’ - referred to as the ‘informal meetings’ in the jargon - and they are a characteristic feature and, indeed, one of the most interesting, of the six-month Presidencies of the Council of the European Union. In fact, they are meetings of the European Ministers, divided into subject areas, but with very precise characteristics which distinguish them from the formal meetings of the EU Council.
Decisions are not adopted. Informal meetings have a purely political and coordination role, they cannot adopt any decision or approve any text and hence, in particular, the Council cannot use them to exercise its legislative function, which is its main prerogative.
Confrontation does not have any binding effect. The work carried out in the ‘informal meetings’ is not recorded in documents of the Council and can, at most, be summed up in a report drafted by the member state holding the Presidency of the EU Council and which is not binding on the other participants.
Not only Ministers. ‘Informal meetings’ are divided into subject areas and are led by the competent Ministers of the country holding the Presidency of the EU Council. For instance, in this case, the informal meeting on Environment gathers the European Ministers for the Environment and is presided by the Italian Minister. Due their informal nature, as expressed by their name, such meetings allow to invite not only all Ministers from the 28 EU member states but possibly also external persons and institutions.
Critical dossiers. Given their nature, ‘informal meetings’ lend themselves to considering in depth particularly difficult and controversial dossiers.
Calendar. During the six-month Italian Presidency seventeen ‘informal meetings’ are scheduled: the debut meeting will be held on 8 July and it will be on Justice and Home Affairs, the last one will take place in October and it will be on Sport. It is possible to read the complete list of such meetings with all related information in the ‘Calendar’ section of this website. Almost all informal meetings of the Italian Presidency will be held in Milan, the host city of EXPO 2015.
Costs. All Presidencies of the EU Council host the Semester informal meetings at their own expenses.