Foreign Affairs Council

European Union

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The Foreign Affairs Council is a configuration of the Council of the European Union and meets once a month. Meetings bring together the Foreign Ministers of the Member States. Ministers responsible for European Affairs, Defence, Development or Trade also participate depending on the items on agenda. The configuration is unique in that is chaired by the High Representative rather than the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

At its sessions, the Council deals with the whole of the EU's external action, including Common Foreign and Security Policy, Common Security and Defence Policy, foreign trade and development cooperation. A priority in recent years for the Council, in cooperation with the European Commission, has been to ensure coherence in the EU's external action across the range of instruments at the EU's disposal.

It was created in 2009 by the Treaty of Lisbon^[1] by splitting it from the "General Affairs and External Relations Council" with the other part becoming the General Affairs Council. The General and Foreign Councils are the only two Councils mentioned in the EU treaties.

References

↑ http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:12007L/TXT/

External links

Foreign relations of the European Union

Bilateral relations

Africa & the Middle East	Bahrain Cape Verde Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Lebanon Morocco Palestine† South Africa Syria Yemen

Americas	Argentina Brazil Canada Cuba Greenland Mexico United States

Asia-Pacific	Australia China (People's Republic of) India Indonesia Japan Kazakhstan Malaysia Nepal North Korea Pakistan Philippines South Korea

Europe	Albania Andorra Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Bosnia and Herzegovina Faroe Islands Georgia Iceland Kosovo† Liechtenstein Macedonia‡ Moldova Monaco Montenegro Northern Cyprus (Turkish Republic of)† Norway Russia San Marino Serbia Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Vatican City

General	Members’ overseas territories Largest trading partners Association Agreements Free trade agreements

†= Disputed state, may not be recognised as an independent state by some or all European Union members. ‡= Name disputed by Greece, EU recognises the Republic of Macedonia as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Multilateral relations and initiatives

Organisations	Arab League ASEAN Commonwealth of Nations ECHR G8 ICC United Nations

Initiatives	African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States Asia–Europe Meeting CARIFORUM Customs Union Eastern Partnership Energy Community Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly European Common Aviation Area European Economic Area Euro-Mediterranean free trade area Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Euronest Economic Partnership Agreements EU CBRN Risk Mitigation CoE Initiative Neighbourhood Policy Northern Dimension Mediterranean Union Stabilisation and Association Process

Organisation

Policy	Common Foreign and Security Policy Economic Relations Everything but Arms Security and Defence Policy Enlargement

Actors	ECHO EuropeAid External Action Service Foreign Affairs Council High Representative Catherine Ashton Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Foreign Policy Instruments Service

Diplomatic missions	of the EU / to the EU Ambassadors Special Representatives

Military and security

Initiatives	Defence Initiative Synchronised Armed Forces Defence Procurement Petersberg tasks Helsinki Headline Goal

Structures	Political and Security Committee Military Committee Military Staff Operations Centre Security & Defence College Defence Agency Institute for Security Studies Satellite Centre Joint Situation Centre

Forces	European Union Force Eurofor Eurocorps EU Battlegroup EU Gendarmerie Force EU Maritime Force Deployments

Council of the European Union

Operation	Presidency (current trio: Netherlands Slovakia Malta) Voting

Configurations	Agriculture and Fisheries Council Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Eurogroup) Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council Environment Council Competitiveness Council Foreign Affairs Council General Affairs Council Justice and Home Affairs Council Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council

Administration	General Secretariat Secretary-General COREPER SCA Directorates-general

Buildings	Justus Lipsius Lex Résidence Palace

European Union Portal

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