Council Working Parties. Organisation and Functioning 2012

This two-day module combines the theory and practice of the organisation and functioning of the Council Working Parties.

The first day starts by placing the Council Working Parties and their role within the Council structure, the planning of its work and the workflow. It then looks in detail into the proceedings of the Working Parties, focusing on the roles of different actors. The session covers both, the formal elements stemming from the Rules of Procedure of the Council, as well as the informal practices that have developed. It then turns to the roles of the General Secretariat of the Council. The last session covers the handling of the documents in the Council.

The second day concentrates on the tasks of the delegates. After the initial overview, the participants will engage in a workshop, where they will approach a draft proposal as if they were a delegate in a Council Working Party. The aim of the workshop is to detect potentially problematic issues, recognise caveats in drafting, enter appropriate reservations and propose alternative solutions. In the afternoon the delegates’ work outside of the Council Working Party meeting will be highlighted, focusing on their relationship with other stakeholders and the coordination within their own PermanentRepresentation and with their administration in the capital. The final session will discuss any outstanding issues from the point of view of representing Spanish interests and working in the Spanish Permanent Representation to the EU. An experienced Spanish official will join the team of trainers.