The Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU), in collaboration with the Archives of the Council of the EU, has opened the inventory for a new archival series in the Council holdings comprising the documents of the European Council meetings for 1975-1990. The series consists of 255 archival items. The digitalised files are available for consultation and may be downloaded from the HAEU database.
The European Council was created as an informal forum in 1974. It acquired formal status in 1992 and was designated as an official European Union (EU) institution in 2009. The Council meetings or ‘summits’, as they are known, have taken place since 1975. Now regularly scheduled on at least a quarterly basis, they serve as the EU’s internal forum to discuss, negotiate and formulate the EU’s general political direction and priorities concerning issues of import for all member states. Each member state is represented at the meetings by its head of state or government.
The newly opened documents evidence the various EU-wide issues raised at the summit meetings between 1975 and 1990, and include the related policy documents that were discussed.
Archival holdings from the Council of the European Union
Following the Council Regulation 2015/496 amending the original Archives Regulation 354/83, all EU institutions, bodies and agencies are obliged to deposit their archives at the HAEU in Florence, where they are made available to the public according to the 30 years rule governing access to archives of the European Union.
The HAEU’s holdings on the Council go back to the Special Council of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which met for the first time in 1952. More information on the Council Archives is available here.