EU INSTITUTIONS

The European Union (EU) is not a federation like the United States, nor is it simply an organisation for co-operation between governments, like the United Nations. It is, in fact, unique.

Indeed, in its famous decision, 26/62 Van Gend en Loos, the Court of the European Union (CEUI)characterizer the EU as a “new, autonomous legal order”.

The member states of the EU remain independent sovereign nations, but they transfer part of their competences to the EU and limit their sovereignty, in order to gain a strength and world influence none of them could have on their own.

Limiting their sovereignty means, in practice, that the member states delegate some of their decision-making powers to shared institutions they have created, so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European level.

At the beginning, the structure of the EU’s institutions was similar to other international organizations, with the exception of the European Commission, but evolved differently as the decades passed by.

The main institutions of the EU, as mentioned in art. 13 TEU, are the following:

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

(art. 17 TEU and art. 244-250 TFEU)

Four are the important points to remember about the Commission’s role:

a)The Commission is independent of national governments. Its job is to represent and uphold the interests of the EU as a whole.

b)It drafts proposals for new European laws, which it presents to the European Parliament and the Council. It has the “monopoly of initiative” when it comes to suggesting legislative acts to be adopted.

c)It is also the EU’s executive arm. In other words, it is responsible for executing the acts of the Parliament and the Council, and the decisions of the Court, as well as the budget. Generally, it oversees the implementation of EU Law across the Union.

d)It negotiates the international treaties, that will be concluded by the EU.

The Commission has as many members, as the number of the EU’s member states, plus the President and the High Representative for the CFSP. The Commissioners are appointed for 5 years, within six months of the elections for the European Parliament. Each Commissioner is the head of a DG (Directorate-General).

The high number of the Commissioners causes problems in the functioning of the Commission, and that’s why the Treaty of Lisbon gave the Council the power to reduce it to 2/3s of the member sates’ number. Nevertheless, the Council has not yet used this power.

The procedure of the Commission’s appointment is as follows:

  • The European Council agrees (by majority) on whom to designate as the new Commission President (today it’s Jean Claude Juncker), taking into account the results of the European Parliament elections.
  • The Commission President designated by the European Council must then be approved by the Parliament(by majority).
  • The Commission President, in discussion with the Member State governments, chooses the other Members of the Commission. Traditionally each member state suggests its own commissioner.
  • In cooperation with the newly appointed Commission President, the Council adopts the list of nominees by qualified majority and communicates it to the European Parliament for approval.
  • Parliament then approves the Commission as a body, along with the High Representative for the CFSP.
  • Following the Parliament’s vote of approval, the new Commission is formally appointed by the Council, which acts by qualified majority.

The present Commission’s term of office runs until 2019.

The Commission remains politically accountable to Parliament, which has the power to force the whole Commissionto resign, if it approves a suggested motion of censure.

Individual members of the Commission must resign if asked to do so by the President, provided that the other commissioners approve.

The Commission is a supra-national institution and is collectively responsible towards other parties.

EUROPEAN COUNCIL

(art. 15TEU and art.235-236TFEU)

The European Council gathers together the Heads of State(prime ministers or presidents) of the Member States of the European Union, its own President and the President of the Commission. The High Representative of the Union for CFSP also participates without the right to vote.

It came into being in 1974 and was given a formal status by the Single European Act.

The European Council meets at least twice every six months.

Its goal is to define the general political directions and priorities of the EU, that the Union’s institutions are obliged to implement and to follow. It does not exercise legislative powers.

It always acts by unanimityand it elects its president (who is also considered to be the “President of the EU” by qualified majority.

COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

(art. 16 TEU and art. 237-243 TFEU)

The Council is one of the two EU's main decision-making bodies.

Like the European Parliament, the Council was set up by the founding treaties in the 1950s.

It represents the interest of the member states, and its meetings are attended by one minister from each of the EU member states’ national governments. Therefore, the Council meets in different configurations. If, for example, the Council is to discuss agricultural issues, the meeting will be attended by the Ministers of Agriculture from each EU member state and it will be known as the ‘Agricultural Council’. The Council of the Ministers of Finance is the ECOFIN.

Altogether there are nine different Council configurations:

  • General Affairs and External Relations
  • Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN)
  • Justice and Home Affairs (JHA)
  • Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs
  • Competitiveness
  • Transport, Telecommunications and Energy
  • Agriculture and Fisheries
  • Environment
  • Education, Youth and Culture

Each Minister represents his/her government.

The Council has six key responsibilities:

  1. Toadopt EU legislation– jointly with the European Parliament - in many policy areas, which is suggested by the Commission.
  2. To co-ordinate the broad economic policies of the member states (ECOFIN).
  3. To conclude international agreements between the EU and other countries or international organisations (although it’s the Commission that negotiates them).
  4. To approve the EU’s budget, jointly with the European Parliament.
  5. To develop the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), based on guidelines set by the European Council.
  6. To co-ordinate co-operation between the national courts and police forces in criminal matters.

How many votes per country?

Decisions in the Council are taken by a system called “qualified majority voting”. The goal of this system is to balance the interests of the smaller member states, that wish to have their voice heard, and the intersts of the larger populated member states, which are mostly affected by the Council decisions.

According to today’s system of the “qualified majority voting”, a qualified majority is defined as at least:

-- 55 % of themembers of the Council, and

-- representing Member Statescomprising at least 65 % of the population of the Union.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

(Arts. 14 TEU and 223-234TFEU)

The European Parliament (EP) is elected by the citizens of the European Union to represent their interests. Its origins go back to the 1950s and the founding treaties.

Since 1979 its members are directly elected by the citizens of the European Union, namely all the persons who possess the citizenship of at least one member state of the EU.

Elections are held every five years, and every EU citizen is entitled to vote, and to stand as a candidate, no matter where she/he lives within the EU.

The present parliament has 750 members plus its President from all 28 EU member states.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) do not sit in national blocks, but in sevenEurope-wide political groups (e. g. Christian Democrats, Socialists, Greens, Reformists, etc). Between them, they represent all views on European politics, economics and integration, from the strongly pro-federalist to the openly Eurosceptic.

Parliament has three main roles:

  1. Adopting EU legislative acts – jointly with the Council in many policy areas. The fact that the EP is directly elected by the citizens helps guarantee the democratic legitimacy of the EU’s decision making.
  2. Parliament exercises democratic supervision over the other EU institutions, and in particular the Commission. It has the power to approve or reject the nomination of commissioners, and it has the right to censure the Commission as a whole.
  3. The power of the purse. Parliament shares with the Council authority over the EU budget and can therefore influence EU spending. At the end of the procedure, it adopts or rejects the budget in its entirety.

EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

(art. 282-284 TFEU)

The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank for the euro, and administers monetary policy of the Eurozone, which consists today of 18 EU member state,s and is one of the largest currency areas in the world.

It is one of the world's most important central banks and one of the seven institutions of the European Union listed in the TEU. The capital stock of the bank is owned by the central banks of all 28 EU member states.

The Treaty of Amsterdam established the bank in 1998, and it is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. As of 2011[update] the President of the ECB is Mario Draghi, former governor of the Bank of Italy.

The primary objective of the European Central Bank, as mandated in Article 2 of its Statute and art. 282 par. 2 TFEU is to maintain price stability within the Eurozone. The basic tasks, as defined in Article 3 of its Statute, are to:

-Define and implement the monetary policy for the Eurozone,

- Conduct foreign exchange operations, and

- Take care of the foreign reserves of the European System of Central Banks.

The ECB has, under Article 16 of its Statute,the exclusive right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes and to issue euro coins.

The ECB is governed by European law directly, but its set-up resembles that of a corporation in the sense that the ECB has shareholders and stock capital.

The independence of the ECB is instrumental in maintaining price stability. Not only must the bank not seek influence, but EU institutions and national governments are bound by the treaties to respect the ECB's independence. To offer some accountability, the ECB is bound to publish reports on its activities and has to address its annual report to the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Council. The European Parliament also gets to question and then issue its opinion on candidates to the executive board.

The governors of national central banks represented in the Governing Council of the ECB are appointed by their national executives, and can be reappointed.

COURT OF AUDITORS

(Art. 285-287 TFEU)

The Court of Auditors (CoA) was set up in 1975. It is based in Luxembourg.

The CoA’s mission is to control that EU funds, which are provided by the member states, are usedlegally, economically and for the intended purpose, according to the approved EU budget.

The Court has one member from each EU country, appointed by the Council for a renewable term of six years.

To carry out its tasks, the Court investigates any natural or legal person or organisation handling EU funds. It frequently carries out on-the-spot checks. Its findings are also announced in written, annual reports, which are addressed to the European Commission, the Parliament, the Council and the EU member state governments.

The European Parliament examines the Court’s report in detail before deciding whether or not to approve the EU budget, which is drafted by the Commission.

THE ROLE OF NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS

(Art. 12 TEU)

After the Treaty of Lisbon and the constant demand for an increased role for the national parliaments, which are closer to the people of Europe and represent them through the national elections, the Treaties recognize today certain powers to the national parliaments with regard to the EU law.

More specifically, the national parliaments participate in the EU decision-making in the following ways:

1. Every legislative proposal is announced to them, so that they can discuss it.

2. They oversee the application of the principle of subsidiarity.

3. They participate in the evaluation of the EU policies in the field of freedom, security and justice (internal security).

4. Their consent is required for any amendment of the EU Treaties.

5. Their consent is required for the entrance of any new member state in the EU.

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