The Council of the EU, the European Council and the Council of Europe are three different bodies

Background

The European Union's own description of its institutions separates three bodies with confusingly similar names. The Council of the European Union, informally the Council, is the voice of EU member governments, adopting EU laws and coordinating EU policies: government ministers from each EU country meet in it, and the EU dates it to 1958 (as Council of the European Economic Community). Each EU country holds the presidency on a 6-month rotating basis, and the Council meets in 10 different configurations, one for each policy area. The Foreign Affairs Council has a permanent chairperson - the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy - while the other configurations are chaired by the relevant minister of the country holding the rotating presidency. Council meetings take place in Brussels, except for three months (April, June and October) when they are held in Luxembourg. Decisions usually require a qualified majority: 55% of countries - with 27 current members, this means 15 countries - representing at least 65 % of total EU population; to block a decision, at least 4 countries are needed (representing at least 35% of total EU population). Sensitive topics like foreign policy and taxation require a unanimous vote. The European Council is a separate institution. It is made up of the heads of state or government of all EU countries, the European Council President and the European Commission President; it usually meets 4 times a year, it generally decides issues by consensus, and it does not pass laws. The EU lists it as established in 1974 (informal forum), 1992 (formal status), 2009 (official EU institution), and as one of the EU's 7 official institutions; its President is elected by the European Council itself for a once-renewable two-and-a-half-year term. The EU's own page adds a third warning: Council of Europe - not an EU body at all.