The European Institutions

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The European Institutions
Bolot Batilov, The Kassel University ,Winter
semester 2005
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Contents

• History of European Union
• What is the European Union?
• The 3 main European Institutions
• The other European Institutions

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History of the European Union

• In 1950, in a speech inspired by Jean Monnet, the
  French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposed
  integrating the coal and steel industries of
  Western Europe. A a result, in 1951, the European
  Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was set up, with
  six members Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg,
  France, Italy and the Netherlands. The power to
  take decisions about the coal and steel industry
  in these countries was placed in the hands of an
  independent, supranational body called the "High
  Authority". Jean Monnet was its first President.

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History of the European Union
From three communities to the European Union

• The ECSC was such a success that, within a few
  years, these same six countries decided to go
  further and integrate other sectors of their
  economies. In 1957 they signed the Treaties of
  Rome, creating the European Atomic Energy
  Community (EURATOM) and the European Economic
  Community (EEC). The member states set about
  removing trade barriers between them and forming
  a "common market".
• In 1967 the institutions of the three European
  communities were merged. From this point on,
  there was a single Commission and a single
  Council of Ministers as well as the European
  Parliament.

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History of the European Union

• Originally, the members of the European
  Parliament were chosen by the national
  parliaments but in 1979 the first direct
  elections were held, allowing the citizens of the
  member states to vote for the candidate of their
  choice. Since then, direct elections have been
  held every five years.
• The Treaty of Maastricht (1992) introduced new
  forms of co-operation between the member state
  governments - for example on defence, and in the
  area of "justice and home affairs". By adding
  this inter-governmental co-operation to the
  existing "Community" system, the Maastricht
  Treaty created the European Union (EU).

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History of the European Union
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The European Union

• The European Union or EU is an intergovermental
  and supranational union of 25 European
  countries, known as member state. The European
  Union was established under that name in 1992 by
  the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht
  Treaty).

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The European Union

• The European Union or EU is an intergovermental
  and supranational union of 25 European
  countries, known as member state. The European
  Union was established under that name in 1992 by
  the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht
  Treaty).

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The European Union

• Depending on the area in question, the EU may
  therefore resemble
• -a federation (for example, on monetary affairs,
  agricultural, trade and environmental policy)
• -a confederation (for example, on social and
  economic policy, consumer protection, home
  affairs)
• -an international organisation (for example, in
  foreign affairs)

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The European Union

• A key activity of the EU is the establishment and
  administration of a common single market,
  consisting of a customs union, a single currency
  (adopted by 12 of the 25 member states), a Common
  Agricultural Policy, a common trade policy, and a
  Common Fisheries Policy

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The Main European 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 EUs 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.

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The European Parliament

• The European Parliament (EP) is elected by the
  citizens of the European Union to represent their
  interests. Its origins go back to the 1950s and
  the founding treaties, and since 1979 its members
  have been directly elected by the people they
  represent.

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The European Parliament

• Elections are held every five years, and every EU
  citizen who is registered as a voter is entitled
  to vote. Parliament thus expresses the democratic
  will of the Union's citizens (more than 455
  million people), and it represents their
  interests in discussions with the other EU
  institutions. The present parliament, elected in
  June 2004, has 732 members from all 25 EU
  countries. Nearly one third of them (222) are
  women.

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The European Parliament

• The European Parliament has three places of work
  Brussels (Belgium), Luxembourg and Strasbourg
  (France).
• Luxembourg is home to the administrative offices
  (the General Secretariat). Meetings of the
  whole Parliament, known as plenary sessions,
  take place in Strasbourg and sometimes in
  Brussels. Committee meetings are also held in
  Brussels. 

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The European Parliament

• Parliament has three main roles
• 1. 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. 

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The European Parliament

• 2. 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

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The European Parliament

• 3. 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

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The Council of EU

• The Council of the European Union forms, along
  with the European Parliament, the legislative arm
  of the European Union (EU). It contains ministers
  of the governments of each of the member-states.
  The Council of the European Union is sometimes
  referred to in official European Union documents
  simply as the Council, and it is often informally
  referred to as the Council of Ministers

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The Council of EU

• There are nine different Council configurations
• General Affairs and External Relations
• Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN)
• Justice and Home Affairs (JHA)
• Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer
  Affairs
• Competitiveness
• Transport, Telecommunications and Energy
• Agriculture and Fisheries
• Environment
• Education, Youth and Culture

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The Council of EU

• 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.

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The Council of EU

• To approve the EUs budget, jointly with the
  European Parliament.
• To develop the EUs 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.

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The European Commission

• The European Commission (formally the Commission
  of the European Communities) is the executive of
  the European Union. Alongside the European
  Parliament and the Council of the European Union,
  it is one of the three main institutions
  governing the Union. Its primary roles are to
  propose and enact legislation, and to act as
  'guardian of the treaties' which provide the
  legal basis for the EU. The role of the European
  Commission has many parallels with the executive
  body of a national government

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The European Commission

• The Commission currently consists of 25
  Commissioners, one from each member state of the
  EU, supported by an administrative body of
  several thousand European civil servants. Each
  Commissioner takes responsibility for a
  particular area of policy, and heads a department
  called a Directorate-General. The Commission is
  headed by a President (from November 2004, José
  Manuel Durão Barroso of Portugal).

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The European Commission

• The Commission is intended to be a body
  independent of member states. Commissioners are
  therefore not permitted to take instructions from
  the government of the country that appointed
  them, but are supposed to represent the interests
  of the citizens of the EU as a whole

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The European Commission

• The seat of the Commission is in Brussels
  (Belgium), but it also has offices in Luxembourg,
  representations in all EU countries and
  delegations in many capital cities around the
  world

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The European Commission

• The European Commission has 4 main roles
• To propose legislation to Parliament and the
  Council
• To manage and implement EU policies and the
  budget

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The European Commission

• 3. To enforce European law (jointly with the
  Court of Justice)
• 4. To represent the European Union on the
  international stage, for example by negotiating
  agreements between the EU and other countries

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The other European Institutions

• Two institutions have a vital part to play
• The Court of Justice upholds the rule of European
  law
• The Court of Auditors checks the financing of the
  Unions activities.

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The other European Institutions

• In addition to its institutions, the EU has a
  number of other bodies that play specialised
  roles
• -the European Economic and Social Committee
  represents civil society, employers and
  employees
• -the Committee of the Regions represents regional
  and local authorities

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The other European Institutions

• -the European Investment Bank finances EU
  investment projects, and helps small businesses
  via the European Investment Fund
• -the European Central Bank is responsible for
  European monetary policy
• -the European Ombudsman investigates complaints
  about maladministration by EU institutions and
  bodies

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The other European Institutions

• -the European Data Protection Supervisor
  safeguards the privacy of peoples personal data
  
• -the Office for Official Publications of the
  European Communities publishes information about
  the EU
• -the European Communities Personnel Selection
  Office recruits staff for the EU institutions and
  other bodies.

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Thank you !!!