Pillars of the EU

the European Union takes decisions in three separate "domains" (policy areas), also known as the three "pillars" of the EU.

•The first pillar is the "Community domain", covering most of the common policies, where decisions are taken by the "Community method" - involving the Commission, Parliament and the Council.
•The second pillar is the common foreign and security policy, where decisions are taken by the Council alone.
•The third pillar is "police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters", where - once again - the Council takes the decisions.

Within the first pillar, the Council normally takes decisions by "qualified majority" vote (see the  glossary). In the other pillars, the Council decision has to be unanimous: it can therefore be blocked by the veto of any one country.

If the Council so decides, it can use the "Community bridge" to transfer certain matters from the third to the first pillar.