EU Institutions
The European Union is more than just a confederation of countries, but it is not a federal
state. In fact, its structure does not fall into any traditional legal category. It is historically
unique, and its decision-making system has been constantly evolving.
The Treaties (known as ‘primary legislation’) are the basis for a large body of ‘secondary’
legislation, which has a direct impact on the daily lives of EU citizens. The secondary
legislation consists mainly of regulations, directives and recommendations adopted by the
EU institutions.
These laws, along with EU policies in general, are the result of decisions taken by the
European Parliament (representing the people), the Council (representing national
governments) and the European Commission (the executive body independent of EU
governments that upholds the collective European interest).
*The institutional triangle*
The European Parliament (EP) is the elected body that represents EU citizens. It supervises
the EU’s activities and, together with the Council, enacts EU legislation. Since 1979,
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have been directly elected, by universal
suffrage, every 5 years. The European Parliament also shares with the Council equal
responsibility for adopting the EU budget (proposed by the European Commission;
therefore, the EP can reject the budget proposal, which enables the Parliament to have a
considerable influence over EU policy-making ). Moreover, the European Parliament
exercises democratic supervision over the Union, and in particular over the European
Commission.
The EP takes part in the legislative work of the EU in two ways:
● Via ‘co-decision’, which is the ordinary legislative procedure. Through this
procedure, the EP and the Council can reach an agreement following the first
reading of the proposal. If an agreement is not reached after two readings, the
proposal is brought before a conciliation committee;
● Via the ‘assent’ procedure, the EP must ratify the EU’s international agreements
(negotiated by the Commission), including any new treaty enlarging the EU;
➔ MEPs are grouped by political orientation (e.g. Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats for Europe; European People’s Party etc.);
➔ At any time, Parliament can dismiss the whole Commission by adopting a
motion of censure. This requires a two thirds majority. The EP also supervises
the day-to-day management of EU policies.
➔ The current President of the European Parliament is Antonio Tajani.
The Council (also known as the Council of Ministers or the Council of the European Union -
not to be confused with the European Council) is made up of ministers from the EU’s
national governments. The Member States take turns holding the Council Presidency for a
period of 6 months. Every Council meeting is attended by one minister from each EU
country. Which ministers attend a meeting depends on which topic is on the agenda: foreign
affairs, agriculture, industry, transport, the environment, etc. Sharing responsibility with
the Parliament, its main job is to pass laws and adopt budgets.
The European Commission is a key EU institution. It alone has the right to draw up
proposals for new EU legislation, which it then sends to the Council and Parliament for
discussion and adoption. Its job is to uphold the common interest, which means that it must
not take instructions from any national government. As ‘Guardian of the Treaties’, it has to
ensure that the regulations and directives adopted by the Council and Parliament are being
implemented in the Member States. If they are not, the Commission can take the offending
party to the Court of Justice to oblige it to comply with EU law.
● As the EU’s executive arm, the Commission implements the decisions taken by the
Council in areas such as the common agricultural policy. It has wide powers to
manage the EU’s common policies, such as research and technology, overseas aid
and regional development. It also manages the budget for these policies.
● The current President of the Commission is Jean-Claude Juncker.
Other EU institutions:
The European Council is the EU’s top political institution. It consists of the Heads of State
or Government - the presidents and/or prime ministers - of all EU member countries, plus
the President of the European Commission. Having a permanent President, the European
Council establishes the EU’s goals and sets the course for achieving them. The current
President of the European Council is Donald Tusk.
The Court of Justice: its role is to ensure that EU law is complied with and that the Treaties
are correctly interpreted and applied.
The European Central Bank: its role is to maintain price stability and to supervise banks in
the euro area.
The Court of Auditors: its role is to make sure that all the EU’s income has been received
and all its expenditure incurred in a lawful and regular manner and that the EU budget has
been managed soundly.
The European Economic and Social Committee: it has consultative role when taking
decisions in a number of policy areas.
The Committee of the Regions: it must be consulted on matters of relevance to the regions
and it may also issue opinions on its own initiative.
The European Investment Bank: its role is to provide loans and guarantees to assist the
EU’s less developed regions and to help make business more competitive.
The European Ombudsman: its role is to investigate complains about poor administration
in the EU institutions.
How does the EU work?
With the Treaty of Lisbon officially establishing its existence, the European Union’s
structure and mechanism is unique and in constant development.
● The European Parliament, which represents the citizens of the EU, shares legislative
and budgetary power with the Council.
● The EU’s Heads of State and/or Government meet, as the European Council, to set
the EU’s overall political direction and to take major decisions on key issues.
● The Council, made up of ministers from the EU Member States, meets frequently to
take policy decisions and create EU laws.
● The European Commission, which represents the common interest of the EU, is the
main executive body. It puts forward proposals for legislation and ensures that EU
policies are properly implemented.
EU competences
There are three categories of EU competences (more detailed in the boxes below):
● Exclusive competences: in which only the EU is able to propose and adopt laws;
in these areas, the MS cannot come up with their own legislation (see box no 1)
● Shared competences : in which both the EU and the MS can legislate (see boxes
no 2 &3)
● Special competences : in which the EU only intervenes only to support and
coordinate the MS’ action (see box no 4)
!!! Bear in mind the fact that our topic requires a deep understanding of how the EU
institutions work and what their competences are. This guideline is a rather brief one, which
is why I strongly recommend you to extend your research by using official websites or the
following links:
Institutional triangle
EU guide
Booklet EU
Links to information resources on Europe and the EU
EU decision making process (video)
EU explained (video)
EU competences (video)
