Coreper

Coreper, the French acronym by which the Permanent Representatives Committee is known, consists of the Member States' Permanent Representatives (Ambassadors) and is responsible, at a stage involving preliminary negotiations, for assisting the Council of the European Union in dealing with the items on its agenda (proposals and drafts of instruments put forward by the Commission). It occupies a pivotal position in the Community decision-making system, in which it is at one and the same time a forum for dialogue (among the Permanent Representatives and between them and their respective national capitals) and a body which exercises political control (by laying down guidelines for, and supervising, the work of the expert groups). It is in fact divided in two to enable it to deal with all the tasks it has to carry out:

•Coreper I, consisting of the Deputy Permanent Representatives, and
•Coreper II, consisting of the Permanent Representatives themselves.

The smooth running of the Council is dependent on the standard of the work done in Coreper.

See:

•Council of the European Union 
•European Commission