The making of German European policy
Nowadays all policy fields have a European dimension. To be an effective advocate of German interests in Europe, the Federal Government must clearly have efficient mechanisms in place to coordinate its policy.
The process of initiating new European legislation generally begins with proposals drawn up by the European Commission (draft regulation or directive). These proposals are subsequently deliberated by the Council, on which member states' governments are represented, and the European Parliament, which is directly elected by the citizens, amended as appropriate and finally adopted or enacted.
How Germany's European policy is coordinated
In practice the process of coordinating the Federal Government's position on a given proposal is normally as follows: Once the European Commission has adopted a proposal for new legislation on a particular matter, the federal ministry responsible for that matter (the relevant lead ministry) must ensure that the Federal Government adopts an agreed position on the proposal before it is deliberated for the first time in the Council. This ministry informs all other ministries whose areas of responsibility are affected by the new proposal and invites their opinions. On the basis of these opinions the Federal Government adopts an agreed negotiating position for subsequent deliberations on the proposal in the Council.
Coordinating the whole process of preparing an agreed German position on a draft European proposal is the responsibility of the respective lead ministry. This involves in particular:
- keeping the Bundestag and the Bundesrat (two chambers of parliament) informed of all pertinent matters,
- inviting all other relevant ministries to communicate their views on the proposal,
- preparing negotiating documents for the Federal Government's representatives in Brussels.
Since it is not always possible to quickly reach an agreed position on EU matters, a number of bodies exist at various levels of the Federal Government to help settle differences of opinion.
European Affairs Officers in the federal ministries
Every federal ministry has a so-called European Affairs Officer, usually a head of division. Meetings of the European Affairs Officers take place not at fixed intervals but ad hoc under the chairmanship of the Federal Foreign Office to clarify specific issues or settle technical matters.
European Affairs Directors-General
The federal ministries also have senior officials responsible for European affairs (EU directors-general). This group meets generally every three weeks, the venue alternating between the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Finance, and is chaired jointly by representatives of both ministries. Its meetings are also attended by an official from Germany's Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels. The role of this group is to
- identify at an early stage differences of opinion between the ministries,
- ensure that all concerned clarify the nature of their differences in good time,
- document the issues at stake in any disputes that cannot be resolved at this level, so that they can be dealt with speedily by the Federal Committee of State Secretaries for European Affairs,
- follow up decisions by that body.
At its regular meetings the group also seeks to develop at an early stage agreed German positions on major EU issues and explore ways of resolving differences of opinion with other EU member states.
Federal Committee of State Secretaries for European Affairs
This Committee is the top interministerial body responsible for coordinating Germany's European policy. It was established as early as 1963 to provide a forum for the discussion of fundamental European issues. The Committee's decisions are prepared in advance at working level. If the ministries themselves (up to director-general level) cannot agree on an important EU matter of relevance to a number of ministries, the matter is referred to the Committee for discussion and decision. Its role is to settle all contentious matters wherever feasible so as to obviate the need for such issues to be discussed in Cabinet.
The Committee's chair is the Minister of State for Europe at the Federal Foreign Office, who holds Cabinet rank; the vice-chair is a representative of the Federal Ministry of Finance; the Committee's secretariat is provided by the Federal Foreign Office.
In addition, there are some more mechanisms to optimize german decisions on EU issues - considering also attitudes in the respective EU-institutions and in neighbouring EU member states: the most important are the EU coordination group at the Federal Foreign Office and the EU Affairs Officers at Germany’s embassies.
An EU Policy "Early Warning System"
The EU Coordination Group, part of the European Directorate-General at the Federal Foreign Office, constantly analyzes the opinion-formation process in the European institutions so as to identify potential conflicts at an early stage and, where necessary, to specify the required action, for example: What proposals and initiatives does the European Commission intend to launch? Might these lead to conflicts with current German legislation or our interests? How can we effectively bring our position into this process? Is there a danger of Germany becoming isolated during the negotiations with the other Member States within the Council? Must we therefore adapt Germany's negotiating position? Does the ongoing coordination between the ministries on individual EU policy proposals function smoothly, or are there potential conflicts which must be resolved?
The EU Affairs Officers at Germany’s embassies
Alongside the ambassador, the EU Affairs Officer is the initial point of contact for all European policy inquiries at our embassies. The system of EU Affairs Officers has been in place since 1995 and has been progressively extended. There are now EU Affairs Officers at our embassies in all EU Member States, in the four candidate countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Turkey) and at our Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels.
This close network of EU Affairs Officers enables us to directly lobby our partners in favour of German positions and to fully assess those of the other Member States on European policy issues. This is a major prerequisite for successfully bringing our interests into the process of formulating European policy objectives and demands.
To carry out their tasks the EU Affairs Officers need up-to-date, comprehensive and specific information from the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin on European policy actions. The EU Coordination Group, as part of its function, provides the EU Affairs Officers with that information.
Last updated 14.09.2005