The summits were only formalised in the period between 1974 and 1988 . At the December summit in Paris in 1974 , following a proposal from then-French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing , it was agreed that more high level , political input was needed following the " empty chair crisis " and economic problems . The inaugural '' European Council '' , as it became known , was held in Dublin on 10 and 11 March 1975 during Ireland 's first Presidency of the Council of Ministers . In 1987 , it was included in the treaties for the first time ( the Single European Act ) and had a defined role for the first time in the Maastricht Treaty . At first only a minimum of two meetings per year were required , which resulted in an average of three meetings per year being held for the 1975-1995 period . Since 1996 , the number of meetings were required to be minimum four per year . For the latest 2008-2014 period , this minimum was well exceeded , by an average of seven meetings being held per year . The seat of the Council was formalised in 2002 , basing it in Brussels . Three types of European Councils exist : Informal , Scheduled and Extraordinary . While the informal meetings are also scheduled 1 ½ years in advance , they differ from the scheduled ordinary meetings by not ending with official '' Council conclusions '' , as they instead end by more broad political '' Statements '' on some cherry picked policy matters . The extraordinary meetings always end with official '' Council conclusions '' - but differs from the scheduled meetings by not being scheduled more than a year in advance , as for example in 2001 when the European Council gathered to lead the European Union 's response to the 11 September attacks
11 September attacks
September 11 attacks
European Council