The European Council conclusions in figures
The European Council is the EU institution that defines the general political direction and priorities of the European Union, through the adoption of conclusions at most of its meetings.
The conclusions help to identify specific issues of concern and to set out specific EU actions or goals.
Most frequently discussed themes
An analysis of the headings of the conclusions of the European Council between 1975 and 2024 reveals that foreign affairs are by far the most frequently mentioned theme. Competitiveness follows in second place. The third most frequently mentioned theme in conclusions’ headings covers EU treaties and the institutions.
Prominence of foreign affairs over the past 50 years
Bar chart showing how often each of seven topics appeared in the headings of the conclusions of the European Council in the past 50 years. Foreign affairs appeared almost 400 times, competitiveness well over 200 times, and treaties and institutions almost 200 times. Social affairs, society and rights were mentioned around 150 times, justice, borders and security slightly less frequently and the environment was mentioned almost 100 times.
For detailed information about the topics included in each theme and how the frequency was calculated, see the methodological note below.
The prominence of foreign affairs can partly be explained by the history of the EU’s foreign and security policy. Before the creation of the European External Action Service (through the Lisbon Treaty in 2009), responses to global events were typically annexed to the conclusions.
What was trending over time?
The focus on certain themes in the European Council conclusions corresponds to global events such as economic crises and international conflicts, as well as to the developmental stages of the European communities and, later, the European Union.
Competitiveness has often been addressed in the European Council conclusions, almost constantly over the last 50 years. There was a greater focus on treaties and institutions in the 1970s and again in the 1990s and 2000s, due to successive enlargements and the negotiations of each of the European treaties (culminating in the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009).
The focus on the economy and finance was especially intense between 1995 and 2014. This was initially due to preparations for and the introduction of the euro, then the global financial crisis followed by the eurozone crisis. The focus on social affairs in the late 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s reflects the greater emphasis on the social dimension in EU policies at the time, as well as the social consequences of the economic crises.
Most frequently mentioned themes over time
Explore the heatmap to see when each theme was trending throughout time. Hover over tiles to learn about possible related events. Foreign affairs are shown separately in the next section to make the trends easier to read.
A heatmap using different shades of blue, from light to dark, to represent how often each of seven topics was mentioned in five-year periods between 1975 and 2024. The heatmap shows an almost equal occurrence of competitiveness through time. Treaties and institutions peaked in the 1970s, when the foundations for European integration were laid, and then again in the 1990s and 2000s, due to work on new treaties and the preparations for the 2004 enlargement. Economy and finance peaked in the 2000s and 2010s, due to the introduction of the euro and later due to economic crises. The topic of justice, borders and security was mentioned more frequently in the late 2010s and the 2020s, due to migration challenges as well as the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the free movement of people. Social affairs, society and rights appeared particularly often in the late 1990s and the 2000s, when the EU put a special focus on the social dimension. The environment peaked between 2005 and 2009, when climate action became central due to the EU’s commitments to fighting climate change.
Foreign affairs: breakdown per region
The focus on various regions of the world in the European Council conclusions reflects geopolitical developments. The Middle East and North Africa appear more often in the conclusions whenever unrest in the region increases. The strong focus on Eastern Europe in the last 5 years is linked to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Hover or click on darker tiles for more insight.
A heatmap showing which regions of the world have been most frequently addressed in the conclusions of the European Council through time. Two trends are particularly noticeable:
- the Middle East and North Africa is the region that is most often mentioned, especially in the last five years and in the 2000s
- Eastern Europe appeared very often in the last five years, due to Russia’s war against Ukraine, as well as in the 1990s and 2000s, due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition to democracy and a market economy of the former communist countries that later joined the EU in the 2004 and 2007 enlargements
Occurrences of selected topics through time
Below you can find charts for topics where the change of focus through time is the most apparent.
Economy and finance
The main events that had the greatest impact on the frequency of topics related to the economy and finance were the creation and implementation of the euro (late 1990s and early 2000s) and the economic crises of the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Hover or click on darker tiles for more insight.
A heatmap showing which topics within the area of economy and finance were mentioned particularly often between 1975 and 2024. Especially noticeable trends are:
- the coordination of economic policies, which was the topic most often mentioned throughout time, with a peak between the 1990s and the 2000s due to the preparation and introduction of the euro and later due to economic crises)
- and the euro, as well as banking, taxation and capital markets, which all had peaks in the 2000s
Competitiveness
Competitiveness and industry remain high on the EU agenda, but their importance is affected by various events. The focus on the single market in the conclusions reflects various stages of the development of the single market. The focus on climate and energy grew in the late 2000s due to the EU’s climate neutrality commitments.
Hover or click on darker tiles for more insight.
A heatmap showing which topics within the area of competitiveness were addressed particularly often between 1975 and 2024. Particularly noticeable are:
- the topics of competitiveness and industry as well as the single market, which were frequently mentioned throughout the whole 50-year period, with higher peaks in the 2000s and over the last five years
- the topics of energy and the climate, which were especially prominent in the late 2000s and early 2010s
Justice, borders and security
The focus on justice, borders and security is linked to the EU’s expanding competences in this field (e.g. creation and development of the Schengen area in the 1980s and 1990s, the harmonisation of asylum and migration policies). The challenges related to migration flows in the early 2000s and late 2010s are also a visible factor.
Hover or click on darker tiles for more insight.
A heatmap showing which topics within the area of justice, borders and security appeared particularly often between 1975 and 2024. Particularly noticeable is that:
- since the 1990s, all topics within this area have been mentioned frequently due to the EU’s increasing competences in that field
- the topics of migration and asylum, and borders and visas peaked in the early 2000s and early 2010s due to migration challenges
- the focus on fighting crime became particularly prominent in the European Council conclusions in the early 1990s and early 2000s.
Treaties and institutions
Discussions related to welcoming new members into the EU, as well as to treaties, institutional changes and reforms, are clearly visible in the text of the European Council conclusions. The frequency of mentions of enlargement grew from the early 1980s to peak around the time of the 2004 enlargement (when 10 new countries joined the EU). The same pattern applies to treaties and reforms, for which the period between 1990 and 2010 was especially intense.
Hover or click on darker tiles for more insight.
A heatmap showing which topics within the area of treaties and institutions were mentioned particularly often between 1975 and 2024.
How has the length of the conclusions changed?
The length of the conclusions has evolved significantly in the last 50 years. In the 1970s, the conclusions contained on average below 1800 words in English. In the 1980s, the average word count exceeded 2600 words. From 1988 on, the documents became longer and included multiple annexes. The annexes focused mainly on foreign affairs (for example European Council statements on geopolitical developments).
The highest averages were recorded in the 1990s and 2000s, when the annexes were sometimes longer than the first part of the conclusions.
Annexes became less frequent after 2009, when the Lisbon Treaty entered into force and led to the creation of the European External Action Service. Since then, they have rarely appeared, and when they do, they are typically limited to the multiannual financial framework (the EU’s long-term budget) or the strategic agenda (the political priorities that EU leaders agree every five years).
Lisbon Treaty: shaping the EU as we know it
The length of conclusions peaked in 1990s and decreased after the Lisbon Treaty
Stacked bar chart showing the average number of words in the European Council conclusions in five-year periods since 1975. The average started to increase in the 1990s and 2000s, mainly due to longer annexes and declarations. In the 2010s and 2020s, the number of words fell below 4 000 words on average.
Which conclusions were the longest?
The two longest sets of conclusions to date had over 30 000 words with annexes.
The conclusions from the meeting in Madrid in December 1995 contain the road map for the introduction of the single currency (including agreement on its name – euro) and important declarations on preparing the European Union for treaty change and further enlargement.
The conclusions of the European Council meeting held in Nice in December 2000 contain the decision on institutional reform ahead of the 2004 enlargement (details of what leaders agreed were set down in the Treaty of Nice, which entered into force in 2003). The document also includes the European Social Agenda and the report on the European Security and Defence Policy.
All of the European Council conclusions taken together comprise over 900 000 words - it would take around 40-60 hours to read this amount of text.
Methodological note
The content of the conclusions was quantified based on the headings used over time. The headings were then matched with one or more themes (7 broad categories, such as foreign affairs, competitiveness, the economy and finance) as well as one or more topics (more specific, narrower categories).
The categorisation for themes and topics follows the structure used on the Council website – with one additional theme: treaties and institutions.
Topics and themes that are at the beginning of the conclusions score more points than others in order to reflect the importance of the first item mentioned. A bonus is also added in rare cases when the conclusions contain only one heading.
The calculations concerning the length of the conclusions include the annexes. For calculation purposes, the conclusions relating to the European Council (Article 50) that dealt with the UK’s withdrawal from the Union were merged with the part on other topics and treated as an annex.
For older documents, due to the poor quality of the scans, the optical character recognition technology gave rise to some inaccuracies and minor imprecisions in the results (without a major impact on the averages).
See also
European Council conclusions
50 years of the European Council in figures
How the European Council works
Last review: 14 April 2026