European Union Institutions and decisionmaking

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European Union Institutions and decision-making
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Further links

• The official website of the European Parliament
• http//europarl.europa.eu
• The official website of the European Commission
• http//ec.europa.eu
• The official website of the Council of the
  European Union
• http//consilium.europa.eu
• The official website of the European Court of
  Justice
• http//curia.europa.eu
• The official website of the Finnish Presidency
• www.eu2006.fi

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References, sources of information

• Relevant parts of theTreaty (TEC)
• Article 7 - 10
• Article 105 115
• Article 189 -267
• Rules of Procedure of the respective
• Institutions and bodies
• European Parliament OJ L 28/08/2002
• Council OJ L 176 04/07/1991
• Commission OJ L 308 08/012/2000
• European Court of Justice OJ L 176 04/07/1991
• Link to all Rules of Procedure
• http//www.eurunion.org/profile/institrules.htm

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Institutions and other bodies

• Article 7
• The tasks entrusted to the Community shall be
  carried out by the following institutions
• EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,
• COUNCIL,
• COMMISSION,
• COURT OF JUSTICE,
• COURT OF AUDITORS.
• The Council and the Commission shall be assisted
  by
• Economic and Social Committee
• Committee of the Regions acting in an advisory
  capacity.

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European Parliament TEC Article189-201

• Composition
• 732 Members, for a term of five years elected by
  direct universal suffrage
• MEPs sit in political groups
• President Joseph Borrel Fontelles (PES)
• Works in
• Strasbourg - seat / plenary
• Brussels - Committees, group, additional plenary
• Luxembourg - administrative offices
• Directly elected since 1979

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Political Groups in the EP

• Formation of political groups
• MEPs elected in at least one-fifth of the MSs.
• minimum number of MEPs required 19
• PPE-DE Group of the European Peoples Party and
  European Democrats (266) Pöttering
• PSE Socialist group (201) Schulz
• ALDE Group of the Alliance of Liberals and
  Democrats for Europe (88) Watson
• Verts / ALE Group of the Greens /European Free
  Alliance (42) Co-presidency (!) DanielCohn-Bendit
  Monica Frassoni
• GUE/NGL Confederal Group of the European United
  Left (41) Wurtz
• IND / DEM Independence / Democracy (36)
• UEN Union for Europe of the Nations group (27)
• NI Non-attached (30)
• Note numbers state of play 13 June 2005 there
  are always outgoing and incoming MEPs 

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Functions of the EP

• Legislative power
• Democratic control
• Budgetary powers

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Decision making / main procedures

• Codecision (Article 251)
• Rights of the Institutions in first and second
  reading
• Deadlines
• Composition of Conciliation Committee (50)
• Consultation
• Assent
• Information
• Budgetary
• Cooperation (Article 252)

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Areas covered by codecision

• customs co-operation, the internal market
• non-discrimination on the basis of nationality
• the right to move and reside the free movement of
  workers , social security for migrant workers,
  the right of establishment, EU citizenship
• employment, the fight against social exclusion,
  equal opportunities and equal treatment
• transport, trans-European networks
• implementing decisions regarding the European
  Social Fund and the European Regional Development
  Fund
• the environment
• culture, education and vocational training
• health, consumer protection
• research
• transparency, preventing and combating fraud
• statistics, setting up a data protection advisory
  body

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Areas covered by consultation

• Police and judicial cooperation in criminal
  matters
• Revision of the Treaties
• Discrimination on grounds of sex, race or ethnic
  origin, religion or political conviction,
  disability, age or sexual orientation 
• Agriculture
• Visas, asylum, immigration and other policies
  associated with the free movement of persons
• Transport - to have a significant impact on
  certain regions
• Competition rules
• Tax arrangements
• Economic policy
• Enhanced co-operation 

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Areas covered by assent

• serious breaches of Human Rights
• the uniform electoral procedure for the European
  Parliament
• certain international agreements having serious
  budgetary implications
• the accession of new Member States
• specific tasks of the European Central Bank
• amending the statutes of the European System of
  Central Banks/ European Central Bank

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Democratic control

• Parliamentary approval of the nomination of the
  President of Commission and the Members of the
  Commission as a body - COM is politically
  answerable to the EP
• Exercising control over COM written and oral
  questions, reports
• Motion of censure (Article 201 TEC, Article 100
  of Rules of Procedure)
• Setting up temporary committees of inquiry

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The Council Article 202-210

• One single Institution
• 9 different configurations (reform of 2002 RoP
  Annex I)
• General Affairs and External Relations (including
  European Security and Defence Policy and
  Developmnet Co-operation
• Economic and Financial Affairs (including budget)
• Agriculture and Fisheries
• Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer
  affairs
• Competitiveness (!) comprising
• Internal Market
• Industry
• Research
• Tourism
• Justice and Home affairs (including civil
  protection)
• Environment
• Transport, Telecommunications and Energy
• Education, Youth and Culture (including
  audiovisual matters)

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How does the Council work?

• Working groups
• Coreper (Committee of the Permanent
  representatives off the MSs) responsible for
  preparing the work of the Council
• Coreper II (assisted by Antici group)
• Coreper I (assisted by Mertens group)
• Council of Ministers (9 configuration)
• Seat in Brussels but holds meetings in
  Luxembourg as well (during April, June and
  October Rules of Procedure Article 1)

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Responsibilities of the Council

• Legislation
• Co-ordination of the broad economic policies
• Conclusion of international agreements
• Approval of the EUs budget (together with EP)
• Development of the EUs Common Foreign and
  Security Policy
• Co-ordination between the national courts and
  police forces in criminal matters

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Voting procedure

• Simple majority
• only in procedural cases
• Qualified majority voting (QMV)
• QMV goes in most cases hand in hand with the
  co-decision (Exeptionseg Article 42 TEC
  coordination of social security)
• minimum votes required (232/321 72.3)
• majority of Member States
• a MS may ask for confirmation that the votes in
  favour represent at least 62 of the total
  population of the Union
• Unanimity
• ie. CFSP, taxation, asylum, immigration policy
• Special procedure excessive deficit procedure
  (Art 104)
• a majority of two thirds of the votes cast
• excluding the votes of the representative of the
  Member State concerned.

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Number of votes per MS

• Votes of MSs
• according to population
• but not strictly proporotional, adjusted to the
  less populous coountries
• Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom 29
• Spain and Poland 27
• Netherlands 13
• Belgium, Czech Rep., Greece, Hungary and Portugal
  12
• Austria and Sweden1 0
• Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Finland
  7
• Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovenia
  4
• Malta 3
• TOTAL 321

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Roles of the Council Presidency

• Chairs all meetings at all levels
• Sets the Council agenda in technical and policy
  terms ie. Presidency priorities
• Current presidency (2nd half of 2006) Finland
• Incoming presidencies
• Germany 2007 I.
• Portugal 2007 II.
• Slovenia 2008 I.
• Previous presidencies
• Austria 2006 I.
• UK 2005 II.
• Luxembourg 2005 I.
• Netherlands 2004 II.
• Ireland 2004 I.
• Italy 2003 II.
• Greece 2003 I.

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European Council (The Summit)Article 4 TEU

• neither an EU institution nor a legislator but
  the main EU decision making body (Constitution!)
• introduced by the Single European Act (SEA)
• has an official status since the Maastrichti
  Treaty (TEU)
• provides the Union with the necessary impetus for
  its development and defines the general political
  guidelines
• other duties
• Employment conclusions (Art 128.)
• Broad economic policy conclusions (Art.99)
• Composition Heads of State or Government of the
  Member States and the President of the
  Commission.
• meet at least twice a year
• submit to the European Parliament a report after
  each of its meetings and a yearly written report
  on the progress achieved by the Union.
• Meet in Brussels (! as from Nice onwards)

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European CommissionArticle 211-219

• Representing the interests of the Community
• The term COM is used in two senses
• the Commissioners - the College(25)
• special composition between May-October 2004
• profound knowledge of their portfolio
• principle of collective responsibility - acting
  by simple majority
• the Institution itself and staff
• 37 Directorates General and Services
• Led by the Director General
• Code of good administrative behaviour (Rules of
  Procedure) - dealing with inquiries - reply must
  be sent within 15 working days
• Seat Brussels
• but has offices in Luxembourg
• and representations in MSs / delegations in 3rd
  countries

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Roles of the Commission

• Exclusive right of initiative - power to propose
  legislation
• White Paper, Green Paper
• Obligation to consult the two advisory bodies
  (EESC, CoR)
• (!) Article 192 the EP can request the COM to
  propose
• To manage and implement EU policies and budget
• To enforce Community Law
• infringement procedure
• Representing the EU on the international stage

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European Courts Article 220-246

• Court of Justice of the European Communities
• was set up under the Treaty of Paris 1952 (ECSC)
• Composition - 1 judge per each Member State
• can sit in Grand Chamber (11 judges)
• Appointed for a term of 6 years by joint
  agreement of the MSs
• President for 3 years
• 8 advocates general
• role presenting reasoned opinions to Court
• seat - Luxembourg
• President Vassilios Skouris

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European Courts

• Court of First Instance
• 1 judge per each Member State
• was created in 1989
• powers are extended by the Nice Treaty
• no advocates general
• areas of responsibility
• President Bo Vesterdorf

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European Economic and Social Committee Article
57-263

• EU body with an advisory status
• founded under the Treaty of Rome in 1957
• function as channel in the interests of the
  organised civil society
• Employers, trade unions etc.
• Lobbying?
• currently 317 Members
• In EU15 222 Members
• Romanian / Bulgarian accession 27 is added
  total 344)
• Members are delegated by the MSs
• term of 4 years
• seat - Brussels
• meets in plenary 10 times annually 6
  subcommittes
• President in office Anne-Marie Sigmund

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Committee of the RegionsArticle 263-265

• EU body with an advisory status
• set up under the Treaty of Maastricht in 1994
• Function ensures that the interests of local
  and regional governments are taken into account
• currently 317 Members
• In EU15 222 Members
• Romanian / Bulgarian accession 27 is added
  total 344)
• Members are delegated by the MSs
• term of 4 years
• seat - Brussels
• meets in plenary 5 times a year 6 Commissions
• President in office Michelle Delebarre

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European Court of AuditorsArticle 247-248

• established in 1977
• one Member per each MS for 6 years
• president for 3 years - Hubert WEBER
• seat Luxembourg
• functions
• examines all revenue and expenditure of the
  Community
• Carries out on-the-spot checks
• help the budgetary authorities in sendign a
  statement of assurance
• Gives an opinion before adoption of EUs
  financial regulations
• Annual Report

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European Investment Bank (EIB)Article 266-267

• set up by the Treaty of Rome in 1958
• has a legal personality, members / shareholders
  are the MSs
• MSs subscribe its capital jointly reflecting
  their economic weights
• seat Luxembourg
• function invest in projects that promote the
  objectives of the EU (ie. TEN, SMEs,
  competitiveness)
• Chairman Philippe Maystadt

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European Central BankArticle 105-112 cikk

• set up in 1998
• seat Frankfurt
• role
• maintain price stability
• controlling the money supply
• Monitoring price trends
• Institutional framework
• Executive Board comprising the President of ECB
  (J.C.Trichet), the Vice-President and 4 other
  members appointed by the prime ministers of the
  eurozone MSs
• Governing Council governors of the 12 central
  banks of the eurozone
• General Council ECB president, vice-president
  and the governors of all 25 EU MSs
• ESCB European system of Central Banks

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European OmbudsmanArticle 195

• Created by the Maastricht Treaty
• Elected by the EP (Nikiforos Diamandouros) for 5
  years
• Duties
• Investigate maladminsitration by the European
  Institutions (except the European Courts)
• following by a complaint or on own initiative
• Powers of the Ombudsman
• Information (the Institiution concerned has 3
  months to give a detailed opinion on the matter)
• conciliation
• recommendation
• report to the EP

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European Data Protection Supervisorbased on
Article 286 - Regulation EC 45/2001

• Independent authority
• Duties ensuring that a persons right to privacy
  is respected while processing personal data on an
  identifiable individual
• created in 2001 - operational as from 2004
• Term of office five years
• Mr Peter Hustinx

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European Community Agencies

• a body set up by the EU to carry out a very
  specific technical, scientific or management task
  within first pillar
• set up by a secondary legislation specifiying its
  task
• currently 16 bodies that match the definition of
  a Community Agency under the name
• centre
• institute
• foundation
• office
• authority etc. 
• seats can be a question

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European Community agencies

• Cedefop European Centre for the Development of
  Vocational Training (Thessaloniki)
• EUROFOUND European Foundation for the Improvement
  of Living and Working Conditions (Dublin)
• EEA European Environment Agency (Copenhagan)
• ETF European Training Foundation (Torino)
• EMCDDA European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and
  Drug Addiction (Lisbon)
• EMEA European Medicines Agency (London)
• OHIM Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
  Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (Alicante)
• EU-OSHA European Agency for Safety and Health at
  Work (Bilbao)
• CPVO Community Plant Variety Office (Angers)
• CdT Translation Centre for the Bodies of the
  European Union (Luxembourg)
• EUMC European Monitoring Centre on Racism and
  Xenophobia (Wien)
• EAR European Agency for Reconstruction
  (Thessaloniki)
• EFSA European Food Safety Authority (Parma)
• EMSA European Maritime Safety Agency (temporary
  Brussels final Lisbon)
• EASA European Aviation Safety Agency (Köln)
• ENISA European Network and Information Security
  Agency (temporary Brussels final Heraklion)

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One example

• Which of the following is not an institution
  under the EC Treaty?
• a) European Parliament
• b) Court of Auditors
• c) Committee of Regions
• d) Court of Justice