Mertens group
The Mertens Group (Engl. Mertens Group ) is a preparatory body of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States of the European Union . The Mertens group was set up to regulate technical details and questions relating to the organization of work when the agendas for Coreper I were reviewed . This preparatory stage aims to provide an initial overview of the positions of the delegations at the Coreper meeting. It was established in 1993 and named after Vincent Mertens de Wilmars (* 1953), the group's first chairman.
The Mertens Group consists of the direct employees of the deputy permanent representatives and a representative of the European Commission . A member of the Cabinet of the General Secretariat and an official from the Legal Service also attend the group's meetings .
The group is tasked with determining the order of the items on the agenda, preparing the decisions on the items under Part I of the agenda (A items) and the deliberations of Coreper and the Council on transparency . In addition, it should be ensured that the abstracts of the previous Coreper meetings can be approved by the deputy permanent representatives. At the meeting in question, the delegations also indicate which requests for items to be included under "Other" they will be making.
The meetings of the Mertens group usually take place in the afternoon before the meeting of AstV I under the chairmanship of the Mertens presidency .
The counterpart to the Mertens group as a preparatory body of Coreper II is the Antici group .
Web links
- Tasks and working methods of the AstV (PDF file; 113 kB)
- Council of the EU. Working methods of an enlarged council - code of conduct (PDF file; 124 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Coreper paves the way for political harmony . In: Europeanvoice.com . May 2, 1996.