eu organisation the european parliament the council of the european union the european commission...

EU organisation

The European Parliament

The Council of the European Union

The European Commission

The Court of Justice

The Court of Auditors

The European Economic and Social Committee

The Committee of the Regions

The European Central Bank

The European Investment Bank

¿Who decides?

Commission proposal Council adoption

or

Commission proposal Council+Parliament adoption

European central bank proposal and adoption of monetary policy (eurozone)

The European ParliamentThe European Parliament

The European Parliament is elected every five years by the people of Europe to represent their interests.

The present parliament, elected in June 2004, has 732 members from all 25 EU countries. Nearly one third of them (222) are women.

The main job of Parliament is to pass European laws. It shares this responsibility with the Council of the European Union, and the proposals for new laws come from the European Commission.


Parliament and Council also share joint responsibility for approving the EU’s €100 billion annual budget.

Parliament has the power to dismiss the European Commission.


Areas summited to a co-decision procedure (Cuncil+Parliament):

non-discrimination on grounds of nationality

combating discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation

freedom of movement and of residence free movement of workers

social security for migrant workers,

right of establishment visas, asylum, immigration and other policies relating to the free movement of persons and transport



the internal market

employment

customs cooperation

social policy

equal opportunities and equal treatment

implementing decisions relating to the European Social Fund ,

education

culture (except recommendations)



public health

consumer protection

trans-European networks

industry

economic and social cohesion

European Regional Development Fund


Areas summited to a co-decsion procedure (Cuncil+Parliament):

research and technological development vocational training

the environment

development cooperation

political parties at European level

access to the institutions’ documents

fraud (Article 280),

statistics (Article 285),

establishing a supervisory body for data protection


Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) do not sit in national blocks, but in seven Europe-wide political groups. The largest of these are the centre-right European People’s Party (Christian Democrats), followed by the Socialists, the Liberals and the Greens. Between them, MEPs represent all views on European integration, from the strongly pro-federalist to the openly Eurosceptic.

• 266: Grupo del Partido Popular Europeo (Demócrata-Cristianos) y de los Demócratas Europeos

• 201 PSE - Grupo Socialista en el Parlamento Europeo

• 89 ALDE/ADLE - Grupo de la Alianza de los Demócratas y Liberales por Europa

• 42 Verts/ALE - Grupo de los Verdes/Alianza Libre Europea

• 41GUE-NGL - Grupo Confederal de la Izquierda Unitaria Europea/Izquierda Verde Nórdica

• 36 IND/DEM - Grupo Independencia/Democracia

• 27 UEN - Grupo Unión por la Europa de las Naciones

• 29 NI

Parliamentaries by country


The main meetings of the Parliament are held in Strasbourg, others in Brussels. Like all other EU institutions, it works in all 20 official EU languages.

The Parliament elects the European Ombudsman, who investigates citizens’ complaints about maladministration by the EU institutions.

The Council of the European UnionThe Council of the European Union

The Council consists of ministers from the national governments of all the EU countries. Meetings are

attended by whichever ministers are responsible for the items to be discussed: foreign ministers, ministers of the

economy and finance, ministers for agriculture and so on, as appropriate.

The Council of the European UnionThe Council of the European UnionThe Council has six key responsibilities:

• on the basis of proposals put forward by the Commission, the Council adopts Community legislation; in many fields it legislates jointly with the European Parliament;

• it coordinates the broad economic policies of the Member States;

• in the name of the European Community it concludes international agreements between the Community and one or more States or international organisations;

The Council of the European UnionThe Council of the European UnionThe Council has six key responsibilities:

• it adopts, jointly with the European Parliament, the budget of the European Union;

• it defines the European Union’s common foreign and security policy on the basis of guidelines set by the European Council;

• it coordinates cooperation between the national courts and police forces in criminal matters.

The Council of the European UnionThe Council of the European Union

Each country has a number of votes in the Council broadly reflecting the size of their population, but

weighted in favour of smaller countries. Most decisions are taken by majority vote, although sensitive issues in areas like taxation, asylum and immigration, or foreign

and security policy, require unanimity.

Up to four times a year the presidents and/or prime ministers of the Member States meet as the European

Council. These ‘summit’ meetings set overall EU policy.

The European CommisiónThe European Commisión

The European Commission represents and upholds the interests of Europe as a whole. It is

independent of national governments.


The European Commission has four main roles.

1. It has a near-monopoly in initiating legislation: the Commission is responsible for drawing up proposals for new legislative instruments which it forwards to the Parliament and the Council. It also plays an active part in the successive stages of the legislative procedures.



2. It puts policies into effect and implements the budget of the European Union: the Commission is responsible for managing and carrying out the budget and puts into effect the policies and programmes adopted by Parliament and the Council..



3. It is the guardian of the treaties: the Commission ensures that the legal provisions adopted by the Community institutions are applied by individuals, by the Member States and by the other institutions. In exercising its powers, the Commission can in particular impose sanctions on individuals and companies for infringements of Community law. It can institute infringement proceedings against Member States, as part of which it invites Member States to rectify the situation within a specified period. Lastly, the Commission can bring actions before the Court of Justice on the grounds of infringements of Community law by the Member States or by other institutions.



4. It represents the Community: on behalf of the Community the Commission conducts negotiations with a view to concluding international agreements with non-member countries or international organisations, in conjunction with special committees appointed by the Council and within the framework of negotiating directives established by the Council


The Commission consists of 25 women and men — one from each EU country. They are assisted by about 24 000 civil servants, most of whom work in Brussels.

The President of the Commission is chosen by EU governments and endorsed by the European Parliament. The other commissioners are nominated by their national governments in consultation with the in-coming President, and must be approved by the Parliament. They do not represent the governments of their home countries. Instead, each of them has responsibility for a particular EU policy area.

The President and members of the Commission are appointed for a period of five years, coinciding with the period for which the European Parliament is elected.


Also very important on a day-to day basis, on the proposals made by the Commision are the Directorates-General and Services

José Manuel Barroso President

Margot Wallström Vicepresident

Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy

Günter Verheugen Vicepresident

Enterprise e Industry

Jacques Barrot Vicepresident

Transport

Otros comisarios

EU Competences

Exclusive

Only the Union may legislate and adopt legally binding acts, the Member States being able to do so themselves only if so empowered by the Union or for the implementation of Union acts.

EU Competences

Shared

When the Treatise confers on the Union a competence shared with the Member States in a specific area, the Union and the Member States may legislate and adopt legally binding acts in that area.

The Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised, or has decided to cease exercising, its competence.

EU Competences

Support actions

The Union shall have competence to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States, without thereby superseding their competence in these area (no harmonization allowed)

UNION EXCLUSIVE COMPETENCES

(a) customs union;

(b) the establishing of the competition rules necessary for the functioning of

the internal market;

(c) monetary policy for the Member States whose currency is the euro;

(d) the conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries policy;

(e) common commercial policy.

UNION EXCLUSIVE COMPETENCES

The Union shall also have exclusive competence for the conclusion of an international agreement

when its conclusion is provided for in a legislative act of the Union or

is necessary to enable the Union to exercise its internal competence,

or insofar as its conclusion may affect common rules or alter their scope.

SHARED COMPETENCES BY THE UNION AND M.S.

Comisión europea

(a) internal market;

(b) social policy, for the aspects defined in Part III;

(c) economic, social and territorial cohesion;

(d) agriculture and fisheries, excluding the conservation of marine biological resources;

(e) environment;

(f) consumer protection;

(g) transport;

(h) trans-European networks;

(i) energy;

(j) area of freedom, security and justice exclusive defense policy in the future

(k) common safety concerns in public health matters,

COORDINATION, COMPLEMENTARY OR SUPPORT ACTIONS

(a) protection and improvement of human health;

(b) industry;

(c) culture;

(d) tourism;

(e) education, youth, sport and vocational training;

(f) civil protection;

(g) administrative cooperation.

The Court of JusticeThe Court of Justice

The job of the Court of Justice is to make sure that EU law is interpreted and applied in the same way in all EU countries, thereby ensuring that the law is equal for everyone. It ensures, for example, that national courts do not give different rulings on the same issue. The Court also makes sure that EU member states and institutions do what the law requires them to do. The Court is located in Luxembourg and has one judge from each member country.

The Court of AuditorsThe Court of Auditors

The Court of Auditors checks that the EU’s funds, which come from the taxpayers, are spent legally, economically and for the intended purpose. The Court is based in Luxembourg and has the right to audit any organisation, body or company which handles EU funds.

The Comité European Economic and The Comité European Economic and Social CommitteeSocial Committee

The 317 members of the European Economic and Social Committee represent a wide range of interests: from employers to trade unionists, from consumers to ecologists. The Committee is an advisory body which must give its opinion on proposed EU decisions about employment, social spending, vocational training, etc.

The Committee of the RegionsThe Committee of the RegionsThe Committee of the Regions is a consultative body. Its role is to raise awareness of local and regional points of view with regard to European legislation in fields such as transport, health, employment or education.. To this end, it submits opinions on Commission proposals.

The Commission and the Council must consult the Committee of the Regions where specific regional interests are involved, but they may also consult it at any time. The Committee can adopt opinions on its own initiative and submit them to the Commission, the Council and Parliament.

Its 317 members are often leaders of regional governments or mayors of cities.

The European Central BankThe European Central Bank

Based in Frankfurt, the Central Bank is responsible for managing the euro — for example, by setting interest rates. Its prime concern is ensuring price stability so that the European economy is not damaged by inflation. The Bank takes it decisions independently of governments and other bodies. Its president is Jean-Claude Trichet.

The European Investment BankThe European Investment Bank

The bank lends money for projects of European interest, particularly in the less well-off regions. It finances infrastructure projects such as rail and road links, airports or environmental schemes. It provides credit for investments by small businesses (SMEs). The Luxembourg-based bank also lends to candidate states and developing countries. Because it is owned by EU governments, the bank can raise capital and provide credits at favourable rates.

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