2.3.1 Intergovernmental Institutions: The European
Council and the Council of the European Union
2.3.1.1 The European Council
The European Council^26 consists of heads of state or government of the EU’s
member states, the President of the European Council (the post was held in turn by
the member states before 2010) and the President of the European Commission,
while the High Representative for Foreign Policy participates in its work. The
European Council meets at least once every three months to decide on the overall
political direction and priorities of the EU, but it does not perform legislative
functions nor directly participate in the EU’s legislation and policy-making. With
respect to externalfields, the European Council may, by means of a“decision”,
determines strategic interests and objectives of the EU on issues concerning rela-
tions between the EU and a specific country or territory, and the President of the
European Council“externally represents the EU at his/her rank and in his/her
capacity with regard to matters relating to the common foreign and security policy
of the EU”.
Given the functions of the European Council as mentioned above and the
development of China-EU relations in recent decades, the main roles and influences
of the European Council in China-EU relations are summarized as follows.
First, the European Council has played an irreplaceable role in the institution-
alization of China-EU relations, especially that as the principal representative on the
EU side who has been participating in the Summit since between the leaders of
China and the EU ever since its very start in 1998, the President of the European
Council has played an important role in effective exchanges and communication
between China and the EU. As mentioned above, the China-EU Summit is the most
important and the highest level of the dialogue mechanism between the two sides.
Based on this, both sides have established a multi-tiered, systematic and all-around
institutional dialogue system.
Second, as the European Council has a guiding role in identifying the direction
of the EU’s foreign policy, its decisions and attitudes often determine the direction
of China-EU relations. Overall, the European Council has maintained an active
position on the sustainable development and further deepening of China-EU rela-
tions in recent decades. For example, at the European Council held in March 2003,
it confirmed the judgment by the European Commission and agreed to adhere to the
policy goal towards China which had been implemented since the 1990s.
Furthermore, it is because the European Council held that China-EU relations
(^26) For provisions concerning the composition and the functions etc. of the European Council, see
Article 15 and Article 22 of the Treaty on the European Union, quoted from Cheng ( 2010 ). All
texts of the Treaty on the European Union cited in this paper are quoted from this book.
2 China-EU Political Relations 45