Council Decision

of 19 December 2011

amending the Council’s Rules of Procedure

(2011/900/EU)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Article 2(2) of Annex III to the Council’s Rules of Procedure(1),

Whereas:

(1) Article 3(3), first and fourth subparagraphs, of the Protocol (No 36) on transitional provisions annexed to the Treaties provides that, until 31 October 2014, when an act is to be adopted by the Council by a qualified majority, and if a member of the Council so requests, it must be verified that the Member States constituting the qualified majority represent at least 62 % of the total population of the Union calculated according to the population figures set out in Article 1 of Annex III to the Council’s Rules of Procedure (hereinafter ‘Rules of Procedure’).

(2) Article 2(2) of Annex III to the Rules of Procedure provides that, with effect from 1 January each year, the Council, in accordance with the data available to the Statistical Office of the European Union on 30 September of the preceding year, must amend the figures set out in Article 1 of that Annex.

(3) The Rules of Procedure should therefore be amended accordingly for 2012,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Article 1 of Annex III to the Rules of Procedure shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 1

For the purposes of implementing Article 16(5) of the TEU and Article 3(3) and (4) of the Protocol (No 36) on transitional provisions annexed to the Treaties, the total population of each Member State for the period from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2012 shall be as follows:

Member StatePopulation(× 1 000)
Germany81 751,6
France65 075,4
United Kingdom62 435,7
Italy60 626,4
Spain46 152,9
Poland38 200,0
Romania21 413,8
Netherlands16 655,8
Greece11 325,9
Belgium10 918,4
Portugal10 637,0
Czech Republic10 532,8
Hungary9 985,7
Sweden9 415,6
Austria8 404,3
Bulgaria7 504,9
Denmark5 560,6
Slovakia5 435,3
Finland5 375,3
Ireland4 480,9
Lithuania3 244,6
Latvia2 229,6
Slovenia2 050,2
Estonia1 340,2
Cyprus804,4
Luxembourg511,8
Malta417,6
Total502 486,7
Threshold (62 %)311 541,8’

Article 2

This Decision shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 1 January 2012.

Done at Brussels, 19 December 2011.

For the Council

The President

M. Korolec