Council of Ministers

The Council of Ministers, which plays a vital role in charting the course of EU policy and legislation, has taken a keen interest in matters relating to the life sciences and biotechnology.

The Council of Ministers is the EU’s legislative body, which it mainly exercises in conjunction with the European Parliament under the co-decision procedure. It brings together one minister –whose brief covers the area under discussion– representing each Member State. These representatives are empowered to commit and are accountable to their governments.
In addition to legislative matters, the Council co-ordinate the general economic policies of the Member States, concludes international agreements on behalf of the EU, and acts as the Union’s budgetary authority.

Competitiveness Council
The recently formed Competitiveness Council merges three former Council of Ministers’ formations: the internal market, industry and research. Its purpose is to strengthen European competitiveness through a critical synergy between these three closely inter-related fields.
Industry, research and the internal market cover every aspect of biosociety from the inception of fundamental life science research to the development, production, protection and marketing of biotechnology products.

Access the Council website

Read the most important decisions of the Council