Define the Council of Ministers in regards to the functions and powers.

Four functions of the Council: 1. Core of Union's legislative function: Council used to be the Union legislator. Today it is a co-legislator together with the European Parliament. 2. Exercise of budgetary function: shared in the exercise with Parliament 3. Policy-making function: European Council has overtaken the Council. European Council decides on the Union's general policy choices. The Council has been limited to specific policy choices 4. Coordinating function: the idea is an open method of coordination between Member states. An example is the general economic policy