The European Union - Institutions and bodies online

 

“Some day, following the example of the United States of America, there will be a United States of Europe” George Washington, 1st US President (1789-97)

Political institutions

There are three political institutions which hold the executive and legislative power of the Union. The Council represents governments, the Parliament represents citizens and the Commission represents the European interest. Essentially, the Council, Parliament or another party place a request for legislation to the Commission. The Commission then drafts this and presents it to the Parliament and Council, where in most cases both must give their assent. Although the exact nature of this depends upon the legislative procedure in use. Once it is approved and signed by both chambers it becomes law. The Commission's duty is to ensure it is implemented by dealing with the day-to-day running of the Union and taking others to Court if they fail to comply.

European Parliament

The European Parliament shares the legislative and budgetary authority of the Union with the Council. The Parliament's President (its speaker) is Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP), who was elected from the Parliament's members in 2007.

Its 785 members are elected every five years by universal suffrage and sit according to political allegiance. They represent nearly 500 million citizens (the world's second largest democratic electorate) and form the only directly elected body in the Union. Despite forming one of the two legislative chambers of the Union, it has weaker powers than the Council in some areas, and does not have legislative initiative. It does, however, have powers over the Commission which the Council does not. It has been said that its democratic nature and growing powers have made it one of the most powerful legislatures in the world.

European Parliament

Council of the European Union

The Council of the European Union (informally known as the Council of Ministers or just the Council) is a body holding legislative and executive powers and is thus the main decision making body of the Union. Its Presidency rotates between the states every six months, but every three Presidencies now cooperate on a common programme. This body is separate from the European Council which is a similar but is composed of national leaders: see below.

The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers (one per state). However the Council meets in various forms depending upon the topic. For example, if agriculture is being discussed, the Council will be composed of each national minister for agriculture. They represent their governments and are accountable to their national political systems. Votes are taken either by majority or unanimity with votes allocated according to population. In these various forms they share the legislative and budgetary power of the Parliament, and also lead cooperation in the second and third pillars: the Common Foreign and Security Policy along with Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters.

Council of the European Union

European Commission

The Commission of the European Communities is the executive arm of the Union. It is a body composed of one appointee from each state, currently twenty-seven, but is designed to be independent of national interests. The body is responsible for drafting all law of the European Union and has a monopoly over legislative initiative within the European Community pillar. It also deals with the day-to-day running of the Union and has a duty to uphold the law and treaties (in this role it is known as the "Guardian of the Treaties").

The Commission is led by a President who is nominated by the Council (in practice the European Council) and approved by Parliament. The remaining Commissioners are proposed by member states, in consultation with the President, and then have to be approved by the Parliament as a whole before the Commission can take office. The current President is José Manuel Barroso (EPP), his commission was elected in 2004 and has a mandate until 2009.

European Commission

Non-political institutions:

Court of Justice

The Court of Justice of the European Communities (commonly known as the European Court of Justice) is the highest court of the Union on matters of Union law and is composed of 27 judges (one per state) with a President elected from among them (currently Vassilios Skouris). Its role is to ensure that Union law is applied in the same way across all states and to settle legal disputes between institutions or states. It has become a powerful institution as Union law overrides national law. In 2001 it ruled that parts of the German Constitution were illegal according to the treaties and had to be amended. This related to the ban on women participating in military combat.

The Court of Justice is assisted by a lower court called the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (CFI) and a Civil Service Tribunal which are designed to reduce the workload of the main court.

Court of Justice

Court of Auditors

The fifth institution is the European Court of Auditors, which despite its name has no judicial powers. Instead, it ensures that taxpayer funds from the budget of the European Union have been correctly spent. The court provides an audit report for each financial year to the Council and Parliament. The Parliament uses this to decide whether to approve the Commission's handling of the budget. The Court also gives opinions and proposals on financial legislation and anti-fraud actions.

It is the only institutions not mentioned in the original treaties, being set up in 1975. It was created as an independent institution due to the sensitivity of the issue of fraud in the Union (the anti-fraud agency, OLAF, is also built on its independence). It is composed of one member from each state appointed by the Council every six years. Every three years one of them is elected to be the president of the court, who is currently Hubert Weber.

Last modified: 7/12/2009