2 Euro BU

The Council of the European Union is the institution in which the governments of the Member States are represented. Depending on the policy area, the finance, interior, agriculture or environment ministers, for example, meet for this purpose. Together with the European Parliament, the Council adopts a large part of European legislation. It should not be confused with the European Council of heads of state or government or with the Council of Europe, which is outside the EU.

The presidency rotates every six months between the Member States according to a set order. The country holding the presidency organises the meetings, prepares agendas and mediates between differing national positions. It also assumes a coordinating role in negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission. An exception is the Foreign Affairs Council, which is generally chaired by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. To ensure continuity despite the six-month rotation, three successive presidencies work together in a so-called Trio Presidency.

Ireland has been a member of the then European Economic Community since 1973. Accession, which was preceded by a referendum, brought the country closer to the European single market and to political cooperation in Europe. Earlier Irish Council presidencies coincided several times with important phases of European integration. During the 2004 presidency, ten Central and Eastern European and Mediterranean states joined the EU. Ireland last chaired the Council in 2013, during a period still shaped by the effects of the financial and sovereign debt crisis.

The issue of a commemorative coin presents the presidency as a publicly visible expression of Ireland’s participation in the EU institutions. Such presidencies are repeatedly used by Member States as coin themes because they represent both a national occasion and the common European decision-making structure. The coin thus refers less to a single event than to a time-limited institutional task undertaken by Ireland within the Union.