european union overview

7/31/2019 European Union Overview

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The European Union Market and the

Institutional actors

Mattia Dalle Vedove


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The EUROPEAN UNION

The European Union (EU) is unique. It is not a federal state like

the United States of America because its member countries

remain independent sovereign nations.

Nor is it a purely intergovernmental organisation like the United

Nations because the member countries do poolsome oftheir

sovereignty and thus gain much greater collective strength

and influence than they could have acting individually.


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European Parliament

The EU institutions

Court ofJustice

Court ofAuditors

Economic and SocialCommittee Committee of the Regions

Council of Ministers(The Council) European Commission

European Investment Bank European Central BankAgencies

European Council (summit)


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The European Parliament Voice of the Citizens

The Council of the EU Voice of the Member States

The European Commission promoting the European Interest

The 3 main actors of the legislative process


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The European Commission promoting

the common interest

27 independent members,one from each EU country

Proposes new legislationExecutive organGuardian of the treatiesRepresents the EU on the international stage


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The European Parliament voice of the people

Decides EU laws and budget together with Council of MinistersDemocratic supervision of all the EUs work

Number of members elected in each country (January 2012)

United Kingdom12

22

74

73

13

Italy

Ireland

22Hungary

Greece

99Germany

France

Finland

6Estonia

13Denmark

22Czech Republic

6Cyprus

18Bulgaria

22Belgium

19Austria

Total 753

72

20Sweden

54Spain

8Slovenia

13Slovakia

33Romania

22Portugal

51Poland

26Netherlands

6Malta

6Luxembourg

12Lithuania

9Latvia


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The European political parties

Greens/European Free Alliance58

European Conservatives

and Reformists53

Alliance of Liberals and

Democrats for Europe84

European Peoples Party(Christian Democrats)271

Non-attachedmembers 30

Total : 753

Progressive Alliance of Socialistsand Democrats

190

European UnitedLeft - Nordic Green Left

34

Europe of Freedomand Democracy33

Number of seats in the European Parliamentper political group

(January 2012)


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Council of Ministers voice of the member states

One minister from each EU country

Presidency: rotates every six months

Decides EU laws and budget together

with Parliament

Manages the common foreign and

security policy


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Council of Ministers number of votes per country

345Total:

3Malta

4Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovenia

7Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Finland

10Austria, Bulgaria and Sweden

12Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary and Portugal

13Netherlands

14Romania

27Spain and Poland

29Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom

Qualified majority needed for many decisions:

255 votes and a majority of member states

From 2014: 55% of the Member States with 65% of the population


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How EU laws are made

Citizens, interest groups, experts: discuss, consult

Commission: makes formal proposal

Parliament and Council of Ministers: decide jointly

Commission and Court of Justice: monitor implementation

National or local authorities: implement


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THE THREE MAIN TYPES OF COMPETENCES

Exclusive competences: the EU alone is able to legislate and adopt binding

acts in these fields. The Member States role is therefore limited to applying

these acts

Shared competences: the EU and Member States are authorised to adopt

binding acts. However, Member States may exercise their competence only

in so far as the EU has not exercised, or has decided not to exercise, its own

competence;

Supporting competences : the EU has no legislative power in these fields and

may not interfere in the exercise of these competences reserved for Member

States.


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EU as a Trade Player

Commissioner for TRADE PolicyMr Karel De Gucht

Trade PolicyTrade policy is an exclusive power of the EU so only

the EU, and not individual member states, can legislate

on trade matters and conclude international tradeagreements. The scope of EU's exclusive powers covers

not just trade in goods, but also in services

commercial aspects ofintellectual property and foreign

direct investment.

The EU has exclusive powers in some other areas

which may also be relevant for trade policy, such as

transport, capital movements, etc.


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The EU in the negotiating process - HOW

The European Commission (via the Directorate General for Trade)negotiates- On behalf of the 27 Member States- Regular reporting to the Council and the EP

The Council (EU governments) co-decides- Directives for negotiations- Follows the negotiation process- Council approve the results of the negotiation (generally byqualified majority) sometimes MS ratify as well

The European Parliament (EP) co-decides- EP co-decides with the Council on trade legislations (exceptnegotiating directives)

- EP gives consent on agreements


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The EU a major trading power

Share of world trade

in goods (2007)

Share of world trade

in services (2007)

Others

53.2%

EU17%

United States

14.5%

Japan

5.8%

China

9.5%

Others

40.6%

EU

28.5%

United States

18.2%

Japan

6.8%

China

5.9%


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EU trading partners

Source DG TRADE European Commission


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Enlargement: from six to 27 countries

1952 1973 1981 1986

1990 1995 2004 2007


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The European Union:

500 million people 27 countries

Member states of the European Union

Candidate and potential candidate

countries


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The sub-national level (NUTS)


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23 official languages


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Candidate and potential candidate countries

Area(1000 km)

Population(million)

Wealth(gross domestic product

per person)

Croatia; EU member 2013 56 4.4 15 200

Bosnia and Herzegovina 51 3.8 7 400

Montenegro 13 0.6 10 500

Iceland 100 0.3 28 100

Kosovo under UN SecurityResolution 1244

11 2.2 :

The former YugoslavRepublic of Macedonia

25 2.1 9 100

Albania 27 3.2 6 500

Serbia 77 7.3 8 300

Turkey 770 73.7 13 000

The 27 EU countriestogether

4 234 502 25 200


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EU population in the world

500

35

318

12151354

143

EU Canada USA India China Russia


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The EU GDP in the world


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The Single Market

The single market is all about bringing down barriers and simplifying existing rules to

enable everyone in the EU individuals, consumers and businesses to make the

most of the opportunities offered to them by having direct access to 27 countries and

500 million people.

The cornerstones of the single market are the 4 FREEDOMS:

the free movement ofpeople, goods, services and capital.

Individuals: the right to live, work, study or retire in another EU country

Consumers: increased competition leading to lower prices, a wider choice of

things to buy and higher levels of protection

Businesses:much easier and cheaper to do business across borders


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External dimension of the Single Market Policy

Virtually all Internal Market policies carry to some degree an

international dimension ex. financial services, intellectual

property, public procurement, postal services, professionalservices.

All these policies, including the underlying Internal Market

principles, need adequate and consistent consideration in the

negotiation of international agreements, notably in the contextofenlargement and in regulatory dialogues with third countries

both at bilateral and multilateral level.


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EU industries the role of SMEs


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EU policy for SMEs

The current package of directives on public procurement is

designed to reduce the administrative burden and costs related

to tendering, make procurement systems more transparent andeasier for SMEs (in particular) to access, and to encourage the

use of information technology systems (e-procurement) to

simplify the process.

New Directive Proposal currently under negotiation art. 44: the division of the

contracts in lots is encouraged in order to facilitate the access of the SMEs


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SMALL BUSINESS ACT

Adopted in June 2008, the Small Business Act for Europe

reflects the Commission's political will to recognise the

central role of SMEs in the EU economy and for the first time

puts into place a comprehensive SME policy framework for

the EU and its Member States.

It aims to improve the overall approach to entrepreneurship,

permanently anchor the 'Think Small First' principle in policy

making from regulation to public service, and to promote

SMEs' growth by helping them tackle the remaining problemswhich hamper their development.

An SME Test for new pieces of legislation in different sectors is performed

in order to assess the impact on the Small Business.


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New Multiannual Financial Framework

The Commission has proposed an overall ceiling of1 033 billion

under five headings:

Smart and inclusive growth: 48%

Sustainable growth: natural resources: 37%

Global Europe: 7%

Administration: 6%

Security and citizenship: 2%

The commitment ceiling amounts to 1.08% of EU gross national income

(GNI) compared to 1.12% for the 2007-2013 MFF.

The ceiling for payments equates to 1.03% of EU gross national income (GNI)

compared to 1.06% for 2007-2013.

From Customs, VAT and Countries Payments.


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MFF Breakdown 2014 -2020

Agriculture and rural development total proposed budget: 386.9bn

Economic, social and territorial cohesion total proposed budget: 376bn

Employment and social affairs total proposed budget: 88.3bn

Research and innovation total proposed budget: 80bn

External action total proposed budget: 70bn

Infrastructure 'Connecting Europe' facility total proposed budget: 40bn

Education and culture total proposed budget: 16.8bn

Health and consumers total proposed budget: 2.75bn

Competitiveness and SMEs total proposed budget: 2.4bn

Environment (LIFE+ programme) total proposed budget: 2.4bn

In the EU funding programmes ad hoc thresholds for SMEs participation are

set.

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