Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology presents majority calculator for decisions by the Council of the European Union

Source: Duits voorzitterschap Europese Unie 1e helft 2007 i, published on Thursday, February 15 2007.

On the occasion of Germany's European Council Presidency, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology has produced an online calculator that can be used to simulate all the Council members' voting variants. The calculator is for delegates, Commission and Council members, but also for interested citizens, and it is available in three languages.

Do we even have a majority? The decisions taken by the European Council, regardless of whether they concern energy policy, competition or telecommunications, set the course for the future of the world's largest internal market. Michael Glos, Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, chairs the Competitiveness and Energy and Telecommunications Councils, among other things, and he is also the Minister for Trade.

Anyone can use the new majority calculator to simulate the "Yes" or "No" votes of Member States with a click of the mouse. Three separate results fields then show which of the different majority conditions have been fulfilled or blocked. The key data, depending on the voting procedure, are the country votes, the weighting of votes in any particular case and the size of the population. If one of the conditions is fulfilled, the result field turns green.

The majority calculator has been realised as an online application and may also be downloaded for offline use. This service is targeted at professional users and interested citizens. With its interactive map of the EU, the calculator also provides background information, for example on population figures, the weighting of votes and countries' accession to the EU. It is a contribution to transparency in the EU.

The calculator is to be found in the new European Council Presidency section at www.eu2007-wirtschaft.de

It is available in German, English and French, as is the entire online information on the Presidency of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

Date: 19.02.2007

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