Wikipedia:Peer review/Council of the European Union/archive1

Council of the European Union
I've listed this article for peer review because I want to get this article to FA standard, but I am unsure if the content and the standard of content meets such criteria. So I'd like to know what might keep this article from FA status or any other general suggestions for improvmenet. Thanks! -  J Logan t: 08:30, 27 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Please see automated peer review suggestions here. Thanks, APR t 02:06, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

From User:JayHenry
I'm sorry you've had to wait so long for feedback. I know how frustrating waiting can be for these! This article is in quite good shape, and I'm sure this can get to FA, but I think some work is needed. It looks like you were the primary author of European Parliament, an excellent article, you can largely use that article as your guide.

I've watchlisted this review and the article, and I'm happy to help with further improvements or to clarify my points above. --JayHenry 18:57, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
 * "Special Council of Ministers", set up to counterbalance the High Authority (the supranational executive, now the Commission Did the Special Council ever do anything significant?  Did they make any decisions that are still important today?  If so, this should be outlined; if they never did anything significant, the article should explain why.  Its current powers are outlined by the Maastricht Treaty, but did the special council?  In short, I think the history is still a bit thin.
 * Somebody at FAC will direct your attention to WP:DASH. I consider this fairly trivial, but it's probably better to clean up dashes now.
 * The section "Legislative and budgetary authority" seems to be largely about legislative procedure, rather than legislative authority. Also, an explanation somewhere of the meaning of "There are various legislative procedures used in the Union. The Codecision procedure is the most common (43 areas) which gives the Parliament and Council equal powers, in that legislation can be amended or rejected by both chambers. However older procedures, still used in some cases, give the Council greater power." would be really helpful.  That left me scratching my head.
 * This: Although from 2007 every three member states cooperate for their 18 month period, providing greater cohesion for the agenda. is a bit unclear to me. The example that follows it only says that Portugal is the president, and doesn't explain what Germany and Slovenia are doing, or how their actions contribute to cohesion.  This needs to be spelled out clearly.
 * The lead says, It is composed of 27 national ministers (one per state), the exact minister depending upon the area being addressed; for example agriculture ministers meet to discuss matters regarding agriculture. It's unclear to me what this means. The section on Configurations explains this a bit more clearly.  For an agriculture meeting the 27 national ministers meet with the various countries' agricultural ministers and commissioners?
 * I'm confused by the heading Civil Service -- aren't virtually all European Union jobs Civil Service?
 * Under qualified majority, different states have different voting weights, as follows (of a total of 345 votes) Does this mean that the representative from Germany gets 29 votes on an issue?  European Parliament very clearly explains the membership/voting.  We need more of that clarity here, I think.
 * In whole, the article still needs fleshing out, but is definitely heading in the right direction. The article only briefly touches on what the council does at powers and functions, but as this is the primary role of the council, this really needs to be dealt with in more detail.


 * Thanks for your comments! They're extremely helpful. I am a bit tied up at the moment but I will be getting onto this ASAP so you will probably hear from me soon. Thanks again! - J Logan t: 19:47, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks again. I've gone through most points but I need more time to sort out a proper expansion on history and powers & functions (isn't much in the way of history that is within reach - sometimes I doubt if anyone bothered to record it, although it did meet in secret). But on the other ones I've tried to sort it out. If points I've clarified still are a bit confusing tell me and I'll try again. On civil service: no not all, for a start the ministers forming the council are politicians making policy aren't they, the civil service are those supporting them. On dashes, I've given it a shot but I'm useless at getting the right ones. If there are still some wrong tell me please. Thanks so much. - J Logan t: 16:38, 26 September 2007 (UTC)