COUNCIL DECISION

of 1 January 2007

amending the Council’s Rules of Procedure

(2007/4/EC, Euratom)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 207(3) thereof,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 121(3) thereof,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Articles 28(1) and 41(1) thereof,

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

Whereas:

(1)

Article 11(5) of the Council’s Rules of Procedure (hereinafter referred to as Rules of Procedure) provides that when a decision is to be adopted by the Council by a qualified majority, and if a member of the Council so requests, it shall be verified that the Member States constituting the qualified majority represent at least 62 % of the total population of the European Union calculated according to the population figures set out in Article 1 of Annex III to the Rules of Procedure.

(2)

Article 2(2) of Annex III to the Rules of Procedure on detailed rules for implementing the provisions concerning the weighting of votes in the Council provides that, with effect from 1 January each year, the Council shall, in accordance with the data available to the Statistical Office of the European Communities on 30 September of the preceding year, amend the figures set out in Article 1 of that Annex.

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

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

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 205(4) of the EC Treaty, Article 118(4) of the Euratom Treaty, and the third subparagraph of Article 23(2) and Article 34(3) of the EU Treaty, the total population of each Member State for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2007 shall be as follows:

Member State	Population (× 1 000 )
Germany	82 438,0
France	62 886,2
United Kingdom	60 421,9
Italy	58 751,7
Spain	43 758,3
Poland	38 157,1
Romania	21 610,2
Netherlands	16 334,2
Greece	11 125,2
Portugal	10 569,6
Belgium	10 511,4
Czech Republic	10 251,1
Hungary	10 076,6
Sweden	9 047,8
Austria	8 265,9
Bulgaria	7 718,8
Denmark	5 427,5
Slovakia	5 389,2
Finland	5 255,6
Ireland	4 209,0
Lithuania	3 403,3
Latvia	2 294,6
Slovenia	2 003,4
Estonia	1 344,7
Cyprus	766,4
Luxembourg	459,5
Malta	404,3
Total	492 881,2
Threshold (62 %)	305 586,3 ’

Article 2

This Decision shall take effect on 1 January 2007.

It shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Done at Brussels, 1 January 2007.

For the Council

The President

F.-W. STEINMEIER

(1) Council Decision 2006/683/EC, Euratom of 15 September 2006 adopting the Council’s Rules of Procedure (OJ L 285, 16.10.2006, p. 47).