The European Union: The Institution and Laws Unit 3

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The European UnionThe Institution and LawsUnit
3

• INS 591
• The European Union
• Professor Roy

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The Institutions of the European Union - Outline

• Major Institutions other bodies
• Institutional dynamics
• EU Law
• EU Budget

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The Institutions of the European Union
European Court of Justice 25 judges
European Parliament 732 members
European Commission 25Commissioners
European Central Bank
II. The Institutions of the European Union
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Major Institutions

• The European Council
• Supreme political decision-making body of the
  European Union
• It is composed of the Heads of State or
  Government of the Member States and the President
  of the European Commission
• Defines the general political objectives and
  directives of the EU. It meets at least twice a
  year, always at the end of a Presidency in the
  country, which holds the six-monthly rotating
  Presidency

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The Council of the EU (Ministers)

• General Affairs and External Relations
• Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecofin)
• Justice and Home Affairs
• Consumer Affairs
• Competitiveness (Internal Market, Industry and
  Research)
• Transport, Telecommunications and Energy
• Agriculture and Fisheries
• Environment
• Education, Youth and Culture

II. The Institutions of the European Union
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The Council Presidency

• Rotates every six months to represent each member
  state
• However, the constitution proposes a longer-term
  solution to make policy-agendas more stable

II. The Institutions of the European Union
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The Council

• Legislative Powers (with Parliament)
• Co-ordinate economic policies
• External agreements
• Approves EU budget (with Parliament)
• Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
• Justice and Home Affairs (JHA)

II. The Institutions of the European Union
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• The Council of Ministers
• Known as the Council of the European Union since
  the Maastricht Treaty, is the EUs primary
  legislative body in the first pillar
• Composed of one minister from each member state
  (intergovernmental), the frequency and importance
  of the different types of sessions vary depending
  upon the degree to which an issue area is subject
  to EU competence (e.g. Agriculture)
• Leads in formulating and implementing policy in
  the second and third pillars and is supported by
  the Committee of Permanent Representatives
  (Coreper)
• The Council votes either by unanimity or by
  Qualified Majority Voting (QMV), and the
  weighting of votes is based roughly on population
  size, (see next slide)

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Council of Ministers cont.

• The weighting of votes is based roughly on
  population size, but the weights do not fully
  compensate the larger member states for the size
  of their populations

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COMMITTEE OF PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVES (COREPER).

• COREPER is a European Union (EU) body, first
  recognized in the Merger Treaty of 1965.
• Responsible for assisting the Council of the
  European Union.
• COREPER is composed of the ambassadors (better
  known as permanent representatives) of each of
  the member states to the EU.
• Meeting in Brussels on a regular basis and in
  continuous contact with the European Commission
  instrumental in completing the preparations and
  establishing the agenda for the meetings of the
  Council (except those of the Agriculture
  Council).
• Its ability to shape the agenda and in effect
  its influence over the Council makes COREPER a
  powerful element in the EUs legislative and
  decision-making processes.

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European Commission

• The European Commission- guardians of the
  treaties
• Executive body of the EU
• Implements and enforces EU policy and proposes
  legislation in the 1st pillar
• Responsible for drawing up the EU budget for EU
  administration
• Exercises much more limited powers in the second
  and third pillars

José Manuel Barroso, President of European
Commission (2004-present)
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Major institutions Commission cont.

• 25 commissioners
• One from each member state, with each one
  responsible for a specific portfolio
  (Directorate-General)
• Supranational institution, however, national
  competition for important portfolios exists

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President José Manuel Barroso

• Born in Lisbon 1956
• Degree in Law with honors from the Law Faculty,
  University of Lisbon
• Masters Degree in Political Science, University
  of Geneva
• Prime Minister of XV Constitutional Government
  since April, 2002
• Elected Member of Parliament six times
  consecutively since 1985, Chairman of the
  Portuguese Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee
  between 1995 and 1996.
• President of the Academic Association of the Law
  Faculty, University of Lisbon, 1975-76

II. The Institutions of the European Union
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Enlargement and the European Commission

• Once Bulgaria and Romania join the Union it will
  have 27 Member States.
• At that point, the Council by a unanimous
  decision will fix the maximum number of
  commissioners.
• There must be fewer than 27 of them, and their
  nationality will be determined by a system of
  rotation that is absolutely fair to all countries.

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The European Parliament

• Legislative Power (with Council)
• Democratic supervision
• Authority over the EU budget

II. The Institutions of the European Union
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Major Institutions

• The European Parliament
• Since 1979 the citizens of the EU Member States
  have sent their representatives to the European
  Parliament by holding direct elections
• There are 626 members which has its seat in
  Strasbourg, are elected for five years in each
  case. The seating arrangement in the Chamber is
  defined by party allegiance and not by
  nationality

• Has a consultative opinion (the right to be
  heard) or the same decision making authority as
  the Council of Ministers (co-decision) depending
  on the subject concerned.
• Adopts the annual budget with the Council of
  Ministers and controls its implementation
• A supervisory body in the sense that it confirms
  the appointment of the Commission and can even
  oblige that body to resign

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The European Parliament
Administrative Building of the EP in Luxemburg
Building of the EP in Brussels
Plenary Building of the EP in Strasbourg
II. The Institutions of the European Union
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The European Parliament
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POLITICAL GROUPS IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

• Political activity in the European Parliament
  (EP) is organized by political groups which are
  obligatorily transnational and based on political
  affinity.
• Political groups must have at least 19 Members of
  the EP (MEPs) from at least one-fifth of the
  European Union member states.
• Levels of political cohesion with regard to
  issues and values vary amongst the different
  political groups.
• Committee formations, speaking times, and
  administrative funding is determined by political
  groups, including independent MEPs who are
  grouped together for organizational purposes
  and have the same rights as the other political
  groups.
• Representing the European citizens and not the
  member states, during parliamentary sessions MEPs
  do not sit in national delegations but rather
  with their political groups. In addition to the
  independents, the 2004-2009 EP has seven
  political groups Confederal Group of the
  European United Left-Nordic Green Left, Group of
  the Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe,
  Group of the European Peoples Party and European
  Democrats, Group of the Greens/European Free
  Alliance, Independence and Democracy Group,
  Socialist Group in the European Parliament, and
  Union for Europe of the Nations Group.

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Major Institutions

• The Court of Justice
• Located in Luxembourg is the supreme judicial
  body of the European Union
• Its task is to safeguard EU law in the
  application and interpretation of the Community
  Treaties
• 15 judges are appointed for a six-year term by
  joint agreement between the governments of the
  Member States
• The ECJ has sole authority to decide on the
  interpretation of the EU law

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EU Court of Justice (Luxembourg)
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EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE (ECJ).

• The ECJ, officially the Court of Justice of
  the European Communities, deliberately located in
  Luxembourg, distanced from the political hub of
  the European Union (EU) in Brussels.
• The ECJ is one of the EUs most independent
  institutions. Its primary obligation is to
  ensure that the EU body of law is uniformly
  interpreted and applied throughout all 25 EU
  member states.
• Twenty-five judges, one from each of the EU
  member states are appointed to six-year renewable
  terms by the European Council. Along with the
  judges, eight advocate generals are responsible
  for preliminary rulings and direct actions.
• Preliminary rulings are brought to the ECJ by
  national courts of the member states for
  interpretation when the case involves Community
  law. In direct action cases, the ECJ serves as a
  dispute tribunal, establishing opinions on
  disputes between EU institutions and EU
  institutions and the member states.

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EU Law

• EU law is different from international law, in
  that it has direct effect on citizens and other
  legal persons and that it must be obeyed by
  sovereign states that are members of the Union
• It has not replaced member state law, which
  co-exists with and is supposed to be consistent
  with EU law
• The supremacy of EU law over national law is a
  remarkable development in the integration
  process

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EU law cont.

• EU law has to main categories
• Primary law- the founding treaties, made by
  unanimous agreement among the member states,
  require national ratification
• Secondary law- consists of legislation passed by
  the institutions of the EU, used to translate the
  objectives and intentions in the treaties into
  specific rules and policy measures

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EU law cont.

• The Treaty of Rome specifies three main types
• 1.Regulations
• - are binding and are directly applicable
  throughout the Union
• - do not require legal action by the member
  states to take effect, although states are needed
  for implementation
• - passed by either the Council of Ministers, or
  by the European Council and the European
  Parliament
• 2.Directives
• - are binding and specify, usually in
  considerable detail, an EU-wide result, but allow
  the member states to achieve this result in ways
  that reflect national legal traditions
• 3.Decisions
• - are binding measures that are addressed to
  specific parties and that do not have general
  applicability
• - Can be addressed to all of the member states,
  often to assist them in clarifying the details

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Other important EU bodies

• The Economic and Social Committee
• advisory group on social/econ. issues
• The Committee of the Regions
• established after Maastricht, it gives
  advisory opinion regarding transregional issues)
• The Court of Auditors monitors the EU budget
• The European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany
  formulates the EUs monetary policy and
  manages the Euro currency

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EU Economic and Social Committee (Brussels)
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EU Committee of the Regions (Brussels)
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EU Central Bank (Frankfurt/Germany)
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Specialized Agencies

• In addition to the treaty-based law- and
  policy-making institutions, the EU has
  established an array of specialized agencies that
  are responsible for monitoring and helping to
  implement policy in particular fields
• EU Agencies and Bodies
• European Police Office (EUROPOL)- The Hague
• European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
• European Environment Agency - Copenhagen
• European Monitoring Center on Racism and
  Xenophobia - Vienna

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EuroPol (DenHaag/TheHague)

• Since the incorporation of JHA in the Treaty of
  Maastricht, two European agencies have been
  created to support JHA objectives and policies
  EUROPOL and EUROJUST. EUROPOL is the EU agency
  responsible for cross-border police cooperation
  in areas of EU competence, those involving
  trans-border criminal activities. Criminal
  justice cooperation is the primary mission of
  EUROJUST.

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The EU budget

• The EU has its own sources of revenue, comprised
  of part of the VAT (Value Added Tax), external
  custom duties levies contributions by each
  member state (based on its GNP). Budget
  represents about 1.2 of combined GDP of all
  states
• (see sample budget from 2003 below)

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Institutional dynamics

• Relationship between institutions
• consensual AND conflictual
• Recognized need to work together but
  inter-institutional rivalry also exists to guard
  their competence areas
• Power relationships change over time with the
  inclusion of new treaties, e.g. the increase of
  EP-power relative to the Council of Ministers

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SUBSIDIARITY

• The word subsidiarity is derived from the
  Latin word subsidiarius and has its origins in
  Roman Catholic social thought. The principle of
  subsidiarity was developed in the encyclical
  Rerum Novarum of 1891 by Pope Leo XIII, to
  compromise between laissez-faire capitalism and
  totalitarianism.
• At the European level, the principle of
  subsidiarity was explicitly recognized in the
  Treaty on European Union. Subsidiarity regulates
  the exercise of powers and is use to determine
  whether, in areas of shared competence, the
  European Union takes action or leaves the matter
  to the member states. The subsidiarity principle
  is intended to ensure that decisions are taken as
  closely as possible to the citizen.

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INTERGOVERNMENTALISM

• A method of regional or international
  integration in which the participant member
  states preserve their national sovereignty.
• Intergovernmentalism is characterized in
  part by decision-making based on the protection
  and advancement of national interests despite any
  ancillary benefit to the organization.
• In this approach to integration,
  intergovernmental negotiations dominate the
  decision-making processes in which compromises
  are made according to individual net cost-benefit
  analyses.
• Constant debate concerning its nature whether
  it should be more intergovernmental or more
  supranational. Given the complexities of the EU,
  however, it is difficult to completely separate
  the two concepts into a zero-sum analysis.

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EU Identity and Perception

• Has had multiple names during its evolution
• European Coal and Steel Community
• Common Market
• European Communities
• European Economic Community
• European Community
• European Union

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Developing an EU Identity
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EU Identity Unity through diversity

• The constitutional treaty is dedicated to the
  fundamental theme of achieving unity through
  diversity as specifically elaborated in its
  preamble
• Convinced that, while remaining proud of
  their own national
• identities and history, the peoples of
  Europe are determined to
• transcend their ancient divisions and,
  united ever more closely,
• to forge a common destiny.
• In united in its diversity with regard for the
  rights of each individual and in awareness of
  their responsibilities towards future generations
  and the earth, the great venture Europe offers a
  special area of human hope.

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• Perception and image
• Working for the European Union insurance?
• Jacques Delores UPO
• Madeleine Albright you must be French or very
  intelligent

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Nature and Characteristics

• Power sharing
• Pooling of sovereignty
• Supranationalism
• What is it?
• More than an international regime
• Not a federation
• Not a confederation
• Multilevel government

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Nature CharacteristicsCont

• Four options for research and observation
• Mix of state and international organization
• Unique entity
• Regional state
• Intergovernmental federalism
• Governance not for, by and for the people
• but the EU is for and with the people,
• but by and from the peoples belong to national
  governments

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• Central functions and priorities of EU
  institutions
• European Council presides, controls, and writes
  script
• Commission guards the treaties
• Council of Ministers represents states
• Parliament represents citizens
• Court of Justice keeps an eye on law
• Court of Auditors tracks the funds
• Ombudsman cares about wrongdoings to individuals
• Committee of Regions represents sub-state
  entities
• Economic and Social Committee and lobbies ask
  and, what about me?

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Facts and Trends

• Institutions politely ignore the CES but take the
  lobby community seriously
• Two armies of over 15,000 soldiers
• Machiavelli in Brussels
• Democratic deficit and pressure
• Transparency and the fishbowl syndrome
• Deepening and lobbying
• Commission takes the heat
• Parliament would prefer pan-Europe entities
• Rules of engagement codes and ethics

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Facts and Trends cont.

• Parliament from begging for attention to
  tendering to national interests
• Intergroups
• Power and NGOs
• Control of expenses OLAF and others
• Deepening of EU impact on EU-Civil Society links
• Parliament and CES
• Globalization and Americanization

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NGOs in Brussels

• Soros Foundation
• Sierra Club

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