International and EU

Law
Budapest Business School
Faculty of International Management and Business
2022/23. Fall Semester
Dr. Krisztina Kusnyér-Gedey
 WEEK 10

INSTITUTIONS OF THE EUROPEAN

UNION

November 7, 2022
 Questions of the day

• What are the major institutions of the EU?

• Which institutiton sets the agenda of the EU?
• Which institutions are involved in law-making?
 Institutions – TEU Art 13.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:2bf140bf-a3f8-4ab2-b506-fd71826e6da6.0023.02/DOC_1&format=PDF

The Union's institutions shall be:

— the European Parliament,

— the European Council,
— the Council,
— the European Commission (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Commission’),
— the Court of Justice of the European Union,
— the European Central Bank,
— the Court of Auditors.

The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission shall be assisted by an Economic
and Social Committee and a Committee of the Regions acting in an advisory capacity.
 Setting the agenda – the European Council
Art. 15 TEU & Art. 235-236 TFEU
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/european-council/

• Sets the EU's overall political direction, incl. common foreign and security policy –but has no
powers to pass laws
• Deals with complex or sensitive issues that cannot be resolved at lower levels of
intergovernmental cooperation → asks the Commission to make a proposal / passes the issue to
the Council of the EU (ministerial level)
• Led by its President (who is he?)
• Members: -President
-national heads of state or government (who are they now?)
-and the President of the Commission
• What did they discuss during their latest meeting?
 Law-making 1: the Council of the EU
Art 16 TEU & Art 237- 243 TFEU
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/council-eu/
Main tasks:
• Negotiates and adopts EU laws
• Coordinates member states' policies
• Concludes international agreements
• Adopts the EU budget

Members: ministers of member states (depending on the topic discussed) who promote their national interest on EU level
Voting: simple or qualified majority (55% of MS + 65% population) or consensus (common foreign, security &defense policy
since Treaty of Lisbon)
-What is the ’trio’?
-What is the voting system?
 Law-making 2: the Commission
Art 17 TEU & Art. 244 – 250 TFEU
https://ec.europa.eu/info/index_en

• Represents the interests of the Union as a whole

• „Guardian of EU law” (many cases are „Commission v xy Member State”)
• Proposes new laws + ensures that the laws are properly applied and
budget is implemented
• How many people are working there in total? Who are the members of the College and how
do they work?
• What are the 6 Commission priorities for 2019-24?
 Law-making 3: the European Parliament
Art 14 TEU & Art. 223 – 234 TFEU
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/portal/en

Its powers:
•Legislative powers
•Budgetary powers
•Supervisory powers
MEPs are elected directly by population of Member States, for 5 yrs.
https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/video/the-political-groups-of-the-european-parliament_N01-
PUB-190724-WRAP
What are the 7 political groups and what do they stand for?
 Other major EU institutions
1/ European Court of Auditors (ECA) https://www.eca.europa.eu/en/Pages/ecadefault.aspx
What is in their latest annual report (2019)?

2/ Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/j_6/en/

Uniform application of EU law; compulsory jurisdiction; court of last resort
What were the latest judgments about?

3/ European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en

Advisory body representing employers' and workers' organisations and other interest groups.
What are they working on now?
 Other major EU institutions (cont.)

4/ European Committee of the Regions (CoR) https://cor.europa.eu/en

Advisory body representing Europe's regional and local authorities.
What are their 3 political priorities?

5/ European Central Bank (ECB)

Responsible for monetary policy (price stability)

6/ Specialized agencies (Europol; European Space Agency)

Democratic deficit

Democratic deficit: members to institutions

participating in law-making are not directly elected by
Europeans and EU Council does not have a direct
interest to represent people of Europe.
→Lisbon Treaty intended to make EUParliament the
„Voice of the people”
But EUParliament still does not have the power to
draft legistlation by itself.
 Videos
Legislative procedures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoVB1FPwq9w

Political groups in the EU Parlament:

https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/video/the-political-groups-of-the-european-
parliament_N01-PUB-190724-WRAP

EU Institutions and structure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NePw--osGM
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !