The document summarizes the key EU institutions and how their powers have evolved over time. It discusses the five main institutions established under the TEU:
1) The European Parliament, which was originally just representatives from national parliaments but is now directly elected. It has gained legislative powers through successive treaties to jointly pass most legislation with the Council.
2) The European Council, composed of heads of state, which sets the overall political agenda and goals for the EU.
3) The Council of Ministers, representing national governments, which also jointly passes most legislation with Parliament.
4) The European Commission, which originally proposed almost all legislation but has lost some powers, now jointly adopting legislation with Parliament and
The document summarizes the key EU institutions and how their powers have evolved over time. It discusses the five main institutions established under the TEU:
1) The European Parliament, which was originally just representatives from national parliaments but is now directly elected. It has gained legislative powers through successive treaties to jointly pass most legislation with the Council.
2) The European Council, composed of heads of state, which sets the overall political agenda and goals for the EU.
3) The Council of Ministers, representing national governments, which also jointly passes most legislation with Parliament.
4) The European Commission, which originally proposed almost all legislation but has lost some powers, now jointly adopting legislation with Parliament and
The document summarizes the key EU institutions and how their powers have evolved over time. It discusses the five main institutions established under the TEU:
1) The European Parliament, which was originally just representatives from national parliaments but is now directly elected. It has gained legislative powers through successive treaties to jointly pass most legislation with the Council.
2) The European Council, composed of heads of state, which sets the overall political agenda and goals for the EU.
3) The Council of Ministers, representing national governments, which also jointly passes most legislation with Parliament.
4) The European Commission, which originally proposed almost all legislation but has lost some powers, now jointly adopting legislation with Parliament and
The document summarizes the key EU institutions and how their powers have evolved over time. It discusses the five main institutions established under the TEU:
1) The European Parliament, which was originally just representatives from national parliaments but is now directly elected. It has gained legislative powers through successive treaties to jointly pass most legislation with the Council.
2) The European Council, composed of heads of state, which sets the overall political agenda and goals for the EU.
3) The Council of Ministers, representing national governments, which also jointly passes most legislation with Parliament.
4) The European Commission, which originally proposed almost all legislation but has lost some powers, now jointly adopting legislation with Parliament and
According to the Treaties, Article 13 of the TEU (Treaty of the European Union main governing body) the Union has 7 institutions (we only cover fi rst 5) The European Parliament o Each country is split into zones and each zone elects their representative o Works together with the Council of Ministers to jointly pass most legislation The European Council o Composed of the heads of state and parliament (government) o They meet a few times a year o Set political goals of EU set the political agenda The Council of Ministers o Are the ministers who meet all the time o Have day jobs so they cant meet all the time so they have embassies o Embassies represent the ministers o Works together with the European Parliament to jointly pass most legislation The Commission o Originally 12,000 people now around 30,000 people o Based in Brussels o Propose most legislation o Must to bear in mind the political priorities of the European Council The Court of Justice o Based in Luxemburg o Rules on all law coming out of the EU o If there is a legal dispute there are different ways by which it can go to the court of Justice o It is like the EUs supreme court The European Central Bank o In charge of the Euro The court of Auditors o Responsible for ensuring there is no corruption in the EU o Look into all accounts
1957 versus 2013
Legislative Powers of the Institutions 1957 The Commission (known then as the High Authority) proposes almost all legislation o This still remains the case now The Council passes most laws (composed of Members states) BUT: o Could only change the Commission proposal by unanimity o Commission had limited powers to pass legislation on its own o The High Authority would get their will unless all the Member states objected (unanimity) The European Parliament (known then as the Assembly) consulted o Not exactly a power because you could simply consult but then ignore what they say o Not directly elected reps reps from national parliament The Commission drafts all secondary legislation under supervision of the Council 2013 The Commission proposes almost all legislation The Council and the European Parliament jointly adopt most primary legislation o If the EP agrees with the Commissions proposals the only way to override this would be for the Council to have full unanimity o Previously the EP could simply be ignored but now they are one of the main bodies adopting most legislation Commission has limited powers to pass legislation on its own o The commission has lost a lot of power The Commission drafts all secondary legislation under supervision of the Council (sometimes but rarely under supervision of the EP as well) The EU Commission What is it? Is roughly 33,000 European Civil servants o Roughly 23,000 civil servants in Brussles o Roughly 10,000 in agencies around the EU o Is headed by a College of Commissioners and the President of the Commission in Brussels 33,000 people o 80percent are lawyers and general policy employees
o 20 percent are translators and interpreters
24 official languages o 80 percent of this 33,000 are permanent employees Very difficult to get rid of these employees These employees have very good job security so they owe their loyalty to the European Commission rather than their countries o 20 percent falls into 4 categories First Category - National experts who have been loaned out from the member state Second Category - Contract Employees Contract guys have to pass an exam Third Category - Temporary Employees Apply just by CV and cover letter Fourth Category - Trainees / Interns The EU Commission Powers 1. Executive Powers - supervising Implements a number of very important policies: competition, external trade, agriculture and state aid o Ex. How many / what farmers can grow o Running all of these policies In areas where EU has executive powers where they can control legislation o Ensure that companies and everyone is following their treaties Effectively the member states have no power in this area 2. Guardian of the treaties Take actions against member states who breach EU law Take actions against companies in certain areas (usually where it has executive power) Roughly 200 a year Goes before the European Court of Justice Manage EU agencies o Agencies are created by EU primary legislation o Similar to ministries o Agencies are linked with ministries 3. Legislative Powers Have the right to initiate almost all EU legislation / set the legislative agenda Acts as mediator between the Council of Ministers and the EP when they pass legislation Can pass its own legislation in limited but important fields
Primary legislation is past by the government and allows for
secondary legislation to be passed by ministers o Secondary legislation can be passed by the commission usually under the supervision of the member states o Council and EU parliament will pass primary legislation and then the commission will pass secondary legislation under the supervision of member states
The EU Commission The President and the Commissioners
President: o Article 14(1) Appointed by EP o but the candidate is put forward by the European Council Article 17(7) o Rejection by EP -> another candidate within a month o President is appointed by the European parliament but all candidates are put forward by the European Council BUT the European Parliament can reject the person and the European Council will have to put forth another candidate within a month Number of Commissioners: o There are 28 commissioners 1 per member state o From October 2014 it will go down to 27 unless the heads of state and government decide otherwise Each Commissioner covers: o In charge of policy areas Appointment / Removal: o Appointed by member state -> appointed by member sate or appointed by European Council????? o Can be removed by Court of Justice for gross misconduct o European Parliament can call on the whole Commission to resign o European Parliament will hold a hearing and they must approve the person being appointed European parliament technically has a vito The EU Commission The Bureaucracy and its Hierarchy How are the 23,000 civil servants organized in Brussels o Directorates General (DG) o And Services Hierarchy o Commissioner Appointed by member state 28 in total o Director General / Head of Service Each department has one
o Director o Head of Unit Commission was organized from a French model
The EU Commission Who: Decision making
Formally the Commission acts through the College of Commissioners o The 28 commissioners and the president o When legislation is proposed form the commission it is approved by this college o Legislation must be approved by everyone in the college all 28 plus the president (usually a majority vote) Each of the 28 commissioners has a cabinet usually comprised of about 70 different field experts to advise on different issues This helps so that all members of the commission have their own say o They meet every week on Wednesday o Role of Cabinet The cabinet is comprised of experts each with different areas of expertise o 4 ways of working: Weekly meeting (chef de Cabinet meeting before) MAIN WAY THEY WORK Written Procedure Pretty much means emails Empowering individual Commissioner delegate to a commissioner to work out issues Delegating to Director-General / Head of Service You do this to get a quick decision o College of Commissioners Either gets the deputies to work something out Or they delegate to one person Or they do it over email o EU COMMISSION DOES LEGISLATIVE WORK, ENFORCING WORK AND GOVERNMENTAL WORK LEGISLATIVE POWER HAS CHANGED BECAUSE IT USED TO BE THAT THE COUNCIL COULD ONLY PASS A LAW IF THE COMMISSION ALLOWED IT NOW WE MOVED TO LEGISLATION BEING PASSED BY THE COUNCIL AND THE PARLIAMENT AND NOW THE COMMISSION DOESNT HAVE MUCH SAY SO THERE IS A HUGE DECREASE IN LEGISLATIVE POWERS
European Parliament Legislative Powers
Has had a huge transformation for the better o Started out as an unelected assembly o Now one of the co legislators Previously primary legislation o Commission proposes, Council agrees Assembly at the start of EEC: o SEA (Single European Act): introduced cooperation procedure in some areas Parliament can delay legislation Began to have cooperation procedure pretty much just allowed them to delay o Maastrict Treaty (1992) introduced co-decision to some areas, Nice and Amsterdam extended areas co-decision applied Later treaties like the Nice treaty and Amsterdam Treaty added the power of co decision to more areas o Does not have the right of initiative cannot initiate or propose legislation o Commission holds this power Eurpean Parliament Legislative Powers Now Lisbon Treaty (last major treaty change): co-operation (gone) Ordinary legislative procedure o Brought in co decision to almost everything and got rid of this delaying procedure that had existed before Previously Secondary legislation o Secondary legislation was supervised primary by member states also somewhat by EP Now Secondary legislation o Almost exclusively supervised by member states No power to initiate legislation key difference with national parliaments DECREASE IN POWER WAS IN SECONDARY LEGISLATION PREVIOUSLY THEY SUPERVISED SECONDARY LEGISLATION A LITTLE BIT AND NOW ALL THE POWER IS WITH THE MEMBER STATES They questions each commissioner and president of the commission prior to appointment Eurpean Parliament Who MEPs (members of EP) o Until 1979 they were just reps from national parliaments
o Now directly elected form each member state
Since 1986 o 751 MEP limit Done by population in each country Its allocated according to the population of the country but its weighted to allow the smaller countries to have more involvement this upset the larger countries including Germany o Favoring small countries Small countries are allowed to have a member in the parliament even if they are extremely small European Parliament Burea o Administrative leadership of EP o They can sue other institutions Secretariat General o Lawyers o Translators o Policy experts Standing Committees: o Brussels is the administrative capitol of EP o Luxemburg is where they sometimes sit o Strasburg is where they physically sit Rappotuer Council of the EU / Council of Ministers A gathering of ministers who meet regularly Main function before Maastricht (1992): to pass legislation alone Now most legislation requires the EP and Council to agree (ie they are co-legislators) Single institution but referred to by the subject matter of the meeting: o Eg: Agricultural Council o Eg: Fisheries Council Day to day work done by the diplomats of each MS to the EU Council of the EU / Council of Ministers (The Council) Voting o Each country assigned a number of votes depending on its size o Treaty sets out thresholds needed for each area of policy
Qualified majority voting the norm (exceptions exist)
o To pass legislation by Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) from April 2014 55% of weighted votes At least 15 member states Covering 65% of the EU population To block: at least 4 countries must oppose