EU Institutions

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Press releases and statements

 Three political institutions
The EU's decision-making process in general
and the co-decision procedure in particular
involve three main institutions:
– the European Parliament (EP), which represents
the EU’s citizens and is directly elected by them;
– the Council of the European Union, which
represents the individual member states;
– the European Commission, which seeks to uphold
the interests of the Union as a whole
 European Parliament
• origins go back to the 1950s and the founding treaties,
• since 1979 its members have been directly elected by
the people they represent (more than 490 million
people )
• latest elections were in June 2014, the next will be in
2019
• the present parliament has 750 members from all 28 EU
countries.
• Antonio Tajani was elected President of the EP on the
17th of January 2017 and will hold that post for two and
a half years
 Function of the Parliament
• Passing European laws – 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
European law.
• 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.
• 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.
 Official seats
• Parliament has two meeting places,
– namely the Louise Weiss building in Strasbourg,
France, which serves for twelve four-day plenary
sessions per year and is the official seat,
– and the Espace Léopold (Dutch: Leopoldruimte)
complex in Brussels, Belgium, the larger of the two,
which serves for committee meetings, political
groups and complementary plenary sessions.
– The Secretariat of the European Parliament, the
Parliament's administrative body, is based in
Luxembourg
 The Council of the European Union
• is the EU's main decision-making body
• It represents the member states, and its
meetings are attended by one minister from
each of the EU’s national governments
• Which ministers attend which meeting
depends on what subjects are on the agenda
 The Function of the Council
• The Council has six key responsibilities:
– To pass European laws – jointly with the European Parliament
in many policy areas.
– To co-ordinate the broad economic policies of the member
states.
– To conclude international agreements between the EU and
other countries or international organisations.
– To approve the EU’s budget, jointly with the European
Parliament.
– To develop the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy
(CFSP), based on guidelines set by the European Council.
– To co-ordinate co-operation between the national courts and
police forces in criminal matters (see the Freedom, security
and justice section).
 Permanent Representatives
Committee – COREPER
• each EU member state has a permanent team
(‘representation’) that represents it and defends its
national interest at EU level
• these ambassadors (known as ‘permanent
representatives’) meet weekly within the Permanent
Representatives Committee (COmité des
REprésentants PERmanents )
• there are in fact two committees:
– COREPER I consists of deputy heads of mission and deals
largely with social and economic issues;
– COREPER II consists of heads of mission and deals largely
with political, financial and foreign policy issues
 Decision making
• The Council votes in one of three ways:
• unanimity, (complete agreement by
everyone)
• simple majority (a voting requirement of
more than half of mninsiters) , or
• qualified majority
 Qualified Majority Voting
• On most issues, however, the Council takes decisions
by ‘qualified majority voting’ (QMV).
• A qualified majority is reached
– if a 55% of member states (in some cases a two-thirds
majority) approve; and
– if a minimum of 224 votes is cast in favour - which is 65% of
the total.
• The Treaty of Lisbon mandates a change in voting
system most cases to double majority Qualified
Majority Voting, replacing the voting weights system.
Decisions made by the council have to be taken by
55% of member states representing at least 65% of
the EU's population.
 European Council
• It comprises the heads of state or
government of the Union's member states,
along with its President and the President of
the Commission.
• The High Representative takes part in its
meetings, which are chaired by its President:
• currently Donald Tusk (PL)
 Tasks of the European Council
• defining approaches to further the
construction of Europe;
• issuing guidelines for Community action
and political cooperation;
• initiating cooperation in new areas; and
• expressing the common position in
questions of external relations.
 The European Commission
• The Commission is independent from national governments.
• Its job is to represent and uphold the interests of the EU as a
whole
• Each memberstate delegate a commissoner
• The Commission meets once a week, usually on Wednesdays
in Brussels
• The Commission’s staff is organised in departments, known as
‘Directorates-General’ (DGs) and ‘services’ (such as the Legal
Service). Each DG is responsible for a particular policy area
and is headed by a Director-General who is answerable to one
of the commissioners
 Function of the Commission
• The European Commission has four main
roles:
– to propose legislation to Parliament and the
Council;
– to manage and implement EU policies and the
budget;
– to enforce European law (jointly with the
Court of Justice);
– to represent the European Union on the
international stage, for example by negotiating
agreements between the EU and other
countries.
Court of Justice of the European Union
• One Judge per Member State, so there are currently
28.
• Former Two main bodies:
– Court of Justice of the European Communities
– Court of First Instance
• From 2010 the Court of Justice of the European
Union, consists of three courts:
– The Court of Justice (created in 1952)
– The General Court, previously called the Court of First
Instance (created in 1988)
– The Civil Service Tribunal (created in 2004)
 Function of the Court
• references for a preliminary ruling; (if a national court is in
any doubt about the interpretation or validity of an EU law it
may, and sometimes must, ask the Court of Justice for advice )
• actions for failure to fulfil an obligation; (if it has reason to
believe that a member state is failing to fulfil its obligations
under EU law )
• actions for annulment; (If any of the member states, the
Council, the Commission or (under certain conditions)
Parliament believes that a particular EU law is illegal they may
ask the Court to annul it )
• actions for failure to act; (failure of decisionsmaking, the court
can recorded )
• actions for damages. (in case if any person or company has
suffered damage as a result of the action or inaction of the
Community)
 The European Court of Auditors
• The Court of Auditors was set up in 1975. It is based in
Luxembourg
• The Court has one member from each EU country,
appointed by the Council for a renewable term of six
years.
• The aim is to ensure that the taxpayers get maximum
value for their money, and it has the right to audit any
person or organisation handling EU funds
• has approximately 800 staff, including translators and
administrators as well as auditors
• The Court of Auditors has no legal powers of its own. If
auditors discover fraud or irregularities they inform
OLAF – the European Anti-Fraud Office
 Function of the Court
• The Court’s main role is to check that the EU budget is
correctly implemented – in other words, that EU income
and expenditure is legal and above board and to ensure
sound financial management. So its work helps
guarantee that the EU system operates efficiently and
openly.
• To carry out its tasks, the Court investigates the
paperwork of any person or organisation handling EU
income or expenditure. It frequently carries out on-the-
spot checks. Its findings are written up in reports which
bring any problems to the attention of the Commission
and EU member state governments.
 Function of the Court
• To do its job effectively, the Court of Auditors must remain
completely independent of the other institutions but at the
same time stay in constant touch with them.
• One of its key functions is to help the European Parliament
and the Council by presenting them every year with an audit
report on the previous financial year. Parliament examines
the Court’s report in detail before deciding whether or not to
approve the Commission’s handling of the budget. If satisfied,
the Court of Auditors also sends the Council and Parliament a
statement of assurance that European taxpayers' money has
been properly used.
• Finally, the Court of Auditors gives its opinion on proposals
for EU financial legislation and for EU action to fight fraud.
 The European Economic and Social
Committee (EESC)
• Founded in 1957
• membership numbers 350
• is an advisory body representing employers, trade
unions, farmers, consumers and the other interest
groups that collectively make up ‘organised civil
societ
• bridge between the Union and its citizens, promoting
a more participatory, more inclusive and therefore
more democratic society in Europe
 Function of the EESC
• The European Economic and Social Committee
has three main roles:
– to advise the Council, Commission and European
Parliament, either at their request or on the
Committee’s own initiative;
– to encourage civil society to become more
involved in EU policymaking;
– to bolster the role of civil society in non-EU
countries and to help set up advisory structures.
 The Committee of the Regions (CoR)
• Set up in 1994 under the Treaty on European
Union
• (CoR) is an advisory body composed of
representatives of Europe’s regional and local
authorities
• Committee has 350 members
 Function of the Committee of the
Regions
• The role of the Committee of the Regions is to put
forward the local and regional points of view on EU
legislation. It does so by issuing opinions on
Commission proposals.
• The Commission and the Council must consult the
Committee of the Regions on topics of direct
relevance to local and regional authorities, but they
can also consult the Committee whenever they wish.
For its part, the Committee can adopt opinions on its
own initiative and present them to the Commission,
Council and Parliament.
 The European Investment Bank (EIB)
• The European Investment Bank (EIB) was set up in 1958 by the
Treaty of Rome
• sustainable development in the candidate and potential
candidate countries, in EU neighbour countries to the south and
to the east, and in partner countries elsewhere.
• The EIB lends money to the public and private sectors for projects
of European interest, such as:
– Cohesion and convergence of EU regions
– Support for small and medium-sized enterprises
– Environmental schemes
– Research, development and innovation
– Transport
– Energy
• The EIB is active in the EU and in some 140 countries worldwide
with which the EU has a Cooperation agreement
 Function of the Bank
• The EIB is a non-profit, policy driven bank
• The EIB makes long-term loans for capital investment projects
(mainly fixed assets) but does not provide grants
• The EIB is owned by the Member States of the European
Union
• Because the EU Member States are the EIB’s shareholders, it
carries the highest possible credit rating (AAA) on the money
markets. As a result, the EIB can raise large amounts of capital
on very competitive terms.
• The projects the Bank invests in are carefully selected
according to the following criteria:
– they must help achieve EU objectives;
– they must be economically, financially, technically and environmentally
sound;
– they should help attract other sources of funding.
 The European Central Bank
• The European Central Bank (ECB) was set up in 1998,
under the Treaty on European Union based in
Frankfurt (Germany)
• Its job is to manage and to safeguard price stability
the euro, the EU's single currency,
• To carry out its role, the ECB works with the European
System of Central Banks (ESCB), which covers all
Central Banks 28 EU countries.
• However, only 19 of these countries have so far
adopted the euro. The 19 collectively make up the
‘euro area’ and their central banks, together with the
European Central Bank, make up what is called the
‘Eurosystem’
 Function of the Bank
• One of the ECB’s main tasks is to maintain price stability in the
euro area, so that the euro’s purchasing power is not eroded by
inflation.
• The ECB aims to ensure that the year-on-year increase in
consumer prices is less than, but close to, 2% over the medium
term.
• It does this in two ways:
– First, by controlling the money supply. If the money supply is excessive
compared to the supply of goods and services, inflation will result.
– Second, by monitoring price trends and assessing the risk they pose to
price stability in the euro area
• Controlling the money supply involves, amongst other things,
setting interest rates throughout the euro area. This is perhaps
the Bank’s best-known activity
EU LAW
 Legal System of the European Union
• The main sources of EU law are:
1. EU primary legislation, represented by the treaties
2. EU secondary legislation, in the form of regulations, directives,
decisions, recommendations and opinions
3. Other instruments
• Unwritten Community law
• Common position
• International agreements
• Case-law
• Judgments.
• EU law is created by the legislative powers with which the EU member
states have invested the EU institutions. The law created by EU institutions
is also binding on all EU member states (Article 10 EC) who must: ‘take all
appropriate measures, whether general or particular, to ensure fulfillment
of the obligations arising out of this Treaty.
 Secondary legislation
the binding legal instruments
• regulations,
• directives and
• decisions
the non-binding instruments
• recommendations,
• opinions