Descriptive note on the instruments available to the European Union and the Community for the exercise of their competences, forwarded to the Members of the Convention by the Praesidium on 15 May 2002. The document was intended to serve as a basis for the debate of the Convention on 23 and 24 May 2002 on how the missions of the Union should best be carried out.

Given that, after 50 years, the Community method remains the essential component for the smooth functioning of the European Union, Commissioners Michel Barnier and António Vitorino outline, in this contribution to the European Convention on 3 September 2002, what the characteristics of this decision-making method are with a view to facilitating its efficient application and its extension to other fields.

On 20 May 2003, in Brussels, Jacques Delors gives a speech at the conference organised by the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Agence Europe. At a time when the work of the European Convention is the focus of attention, Jacques Delors, as a reply to those who call for the ‘refoundation of Europe', advocates a ‘Europe continued' on the basis of the institutional legacy of the founding fathers of Europe, the indispensability of the Community method and the principle of ‘differentiation'.

‘Josy, good old Josy, so you managed to bring something back from Paris?' On 5 August 1952, in the Socialist daily newspaper Tageblatt, the Luxembourg cartoonist Simon portrays the key role played by Joseph Bech, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, in the agreement reached by the Six to have the seat of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) located provisionally in Luxembourg.

En 1986, le caricaturiste français Plantu ironise sur les difficultés liées à la multiplicité des sièges des institutions communautaires.

Aerial view of the Leopold district in Brussels. In the foreground is the European Parliament. Behind it is the Council’s ‘Justus Lipsius’ building and the Commission’s ‘Berlaymont’ building.

Aerial view of the Kirchberg district in Luxembourg. On the left: in the foreground are the buildings of the Court of Justice of the European Communities; in the middle distance is the European Commission's ‘Jean Monnet' Building. On the right: in the foreground are the buildings of the Secretariat of the European Parliament; behind them is the European Court of Auditors.

This film, produced in 2004, gives an overview of the Council of the European Union. It outlines the composition, powers, operation and activities of the institution which represents the Member States of the European Union.

Group photo of the first European Council attended by the Heads of State or Government of the Twenty-Five, as well as by the President of the Commission, held in Brussels on 17 and 18 June 2004. Front row: Bertie Ahern, Ireland’s Prime Minister and President-in-Office of the European Council (centre), with the French, Finnish and Cypriot Heads of State, the Heads of Government and the President of the Commission (left) as well as the President of the European Parliament and the Secretary-General of the Council (right). Second row: Heads of Government. Third row: Ministers for Foreign Affairs and two other members of the Commission.

‘For once, I can understand English!’ ‘For the next Summit, we’ve ordered in supplies of aspirin!’ ‘I’m not the one who’s going to pay!!’ ‘What a nightmare.’ It is at European Councils that delicate issues are dealt with in the last instance by the Heads of State or Government. The discussions, often very heated, are followed with interest by the general public. In 1984, the French cartoonist, Plantu, illustrates the trial of strength between the French President, François Mitterrand, and the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, on the issue of the United Kingdom’s contribution to the Community budget.