European Council Explained

The European Council is a gathering of the Heads of State of each of the Member States. So in Ireland’s case the Taoiseach goes to a European Council ‘Summit’ four times a year. These Summits give Europe its overall political direction. The Ministers of each state meet collectively under the Council on a regular basis as well, so – for example – the Irish Minister for Finance will meet up with all the other European Ministers of Finance, the Minister for Agriculture with the equivalents in all other Member States, etc etc. (Note that the European Council should not be confused with the Council of Europe which is the institution that governs the European courts and is made up of 47 Member States from both inside and outside the EU, including Russia.)