EUROPEAN UNION LAW

Sources: Europe in 12 lessons

http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/hong_kong/documents/education/edu
cation_material/europe_in_12_lessons_booklet_2011.pdf How the
European Union works http://europa.eu/about-eu/index_en.htm EU
institutions and other bodies http://europa.eu/about-eu/institutions-
bodies/index_en.htm

What is the European Union?

The EU is a unique economic and political partnership between 28

European countries that together cover much of the continent.

The EU was created in the aftermath of the Second World War.

The first steps were to foster economic cooperation: the idea being that
countries that trade with one another become economically
interdependent and so more likely to avoid conflict.

The result was the European Economic Community (EEC), created in

1958, and initially increasing economic cooperation between six countries:
Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Since
then, a huge single market has been created and continues to develop
towards its full potential.

From economic to political union

What began as a purely economic union has evolved into an organization

spanning policy areas, from development aid to environment. A name
change from the EEC to the European Union (EU) in 1993 reflected
this.

The EU is based on the rule of law: everything that it does is founded on

treaties, voluntarily and democratically agreed by all member countries.
These binding agreements set out the EU's goals in its many areas of
activity.

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 Mobility, growth, stability and a single currency

The EU has delivered half a century of peace, stability and prosperity,

helped raise living standards, and launched a single European currency,
the euro.

Thanks to the abolition of border controls between EU countries, people

can travel freely throughout most of the continent.

The single or 'internal' market is the EU's main economic engine,

enabling most goods, services, money and people to move freely. Another
key objective is to develop this huge resource to ensure that Europeans can
draw the maximum benefit from it.

Law-making

There are 3 main institutions involved in EU legislation:

1) The European Parliament, which represents the EU’s citizens and is

directly elected by them;

2) The Council of the European Union, which represents the governments

of the individual member countries. The Presidency of the Council is
shared by the member states on a rotating basis.

3) The European Commission, which represents the interests of the Union

as a whole.

Together, these three institutions produce through the "Ordinary

Legislative Procedure" the policies and laws that apply throughout the EU.

In principle, the Commission proposes new laws, and the Parliament and
Council adopt them. The Commission and the member countries then
implement them, and the Commission ensures that the laws are properly
applied and implemented.

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 EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Composition: 28 Commissioners, one from each EU country, provide the

Commission’s political leadership during their 5-year term. Each
Commissioner is assigned responsibility for specific policy areas by the
President.

It drafts proposals for new European laws. It manages the day-to-day

business of implementing EU policies and spending EU funds.

It oversees and implements EU policies by:

1) Proposing new laws to Parliament and the Council

2) Managing the EU's budget and allocating funding

3) Enforcing EU law (together with the Court of Justice)

4) Representing the EU internationally, for example, by negotiating

agreements between the EU and other countries.

1. Proposing new laws

The Commission has the 'right of initiative' – it can propose new laws to
protect the interests of the EU and its citizens. It does this only on issues
that cannot be dealt with effectively at national, regional or local level
(subsidiarity principle).

The Commission’s departments produce a draft of the proposed new law.

If at least 14 of the 28 Commissioners agree with it, the draft is then sent
to the Council and Parliament. After debating and amending the draft,
they decide whether to adopt it as a law.

2. Managing the EU’s budget and allocating funding

With the Council and Parliament, the Commission sets broad long-term
spending priorities for the EU in the EU 'financial framework'. It also
draws up an annual budget for approval by Parliament and the Council, and
supervises how EU funds are spent – by agencies and national and regional
authorities, for instance. The Commission’s management of the budget is
scrutinized by the Court of Auditors.

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The Commission manages funding for EU policies (e.g. agriculture and
rural development) and programs such as 'Erasmus' (student exchanges).

3. Enforcing European law

As 'guardian of the Treaties', the Commission checks that each member

country is applying EU law properly.

If it thinks a national government is failing to apply EU law, the

Commission first sends an official letter asking it to correct the problem.
As a last resort, the Commission refers the issue to the Court of Justice.
The Court can impose penalties, and its decisions are binding on EU
countries and institutions.

4. Representing the EU internationally

The Commission speaks on behalf of all EU countries in international

bodies like the World Trade Organization.

It also negotiates international agreements for the EU

COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

This is where national ministers from each EU country meet to adopt laws
and coordinate policies.

What does it do?

1. Passes EU laws.
2. Coordinates the broad economic policies of EU member countries.
3. Signs agreements between the EU and other countries.
4. Approves the annual EU budget
5. Develops the EU's foreign and defence policies.
6. Coordinates cooperation between courts and police forces of member
countries.

EU member countries have decided they want an overall economic policy

for Europe, coordinated by the economics and finance ministers of each
country.

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A further objective is to create more jobs and improve education,
healthcare and welfare systems. Although each country is responsible for
its own policy, they can agree on common goals and learn from each
other’s experience.

The Council signs agreements on behalf of the EU – on subjects as diverse

as the environment, trade, development, textiles, fisheries, science,
technology and transport.

Who are the members of the Council?

There are no fixed members as such. At each Council meeting, each

country sends the minister for the policy field being discussed – e.g. the
environment minister for the meeting dealing with environmental matters.
That meeting will then be known as the "Environment Council".

Voting

Decisions in the Council of the EU are taken by qualified majority as a

general rule. The bigger a country’s population, the more votes it has, but
in fact the numbers are weighted in favour of the less populous countries:

 Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom: 29 votes

 Spain and Poland: 27
 Romania: 14
 Netherlands: 13
 Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary and Portugal: 12
 Austria, Bulgaria and Sweden: 10
 Croatia, Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Finland: 7
 Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovenia: 4
 Malta: 3

TOTAL: 352

When the Council votes, 'qualified majority voting' applies. A qualified

majority is reached when:

 a majority (sometimes even two thirds) of the 28 EU countries vote

in favour
 at least 260 of the possible 352 votes are cast

Furthermore, a member country can ask for a check to see whether the
majority represents minimum 62% of the total population. If this is not the
case, the proposal cannot be adopted.

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In votes concerning sensitive topics - like security and external affairs and
taxation - decisions by the Council have to be unanimous. This means that
one single country can veto a decision.

From 2014 a system known as 'double majority voting' will be introduced.

For a proposal to go through, it will need the support of 2 types of majority:

a majority of countries (at least 15) and a majority of the total EU
population (the countries in favor must represent at least 65% of the EU
population).

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Directly elected by EU voters every 5 years, members of the European

Parliament (MEPs) represent the people. Parliament is one of the EU’s
main law-making institutions, along with the Council of the European
Union ('the Council').

The European Parliament has three main roles:

 debating and passing European laws, with the Council

 scrutinizing other EU institutions, particularly the Commission, to
make sure they are working democratically
 debating and adopting the EU's budget, with the Council.

The number of MEPs for each country is roughly proportionate to its

population. No country can have fewer than 6 or more than 96 and the total
number cannot exceed 751 (750 plus the President). MEPs are grouped by
political affiliation, not by nationality.

EU Treaties

The European Union is based on the rule of law. This means that every
action taken by the EU is founded on treaties that have been approved
voluntarily and democratically by all EU member countries.

The Treaty of Lisbon increased the number of policy areas where 'Ordinary
Legislative Procedure' is used. The European Parliament also has more
power to block a proposal if it disagrees with the Council.

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 Regulations, Directives and other acts

The aims set out in the EU treaties are achieved by several types of legal
act. These legislative acts include regulations, directives, recommendations
and opinions. Some are binding, others are not. Some apply to all EU
countries, others to just a few.

Application of EU law

EU law - which has equal force with national law - confers rights and
obligations on the authorities in each member country, as well as
individuals and businesses. The authorities in each member country are
responsible for implementing EU legislation in national law and enforcing
it correctly, and they must guarantee citizens’ rights under these laws.

EU legislation takes the form of:

1) Treaties establishing the European Union and governing the way it

works

2) EU regulations, directives and decisions - with a direct or indirect effect

on EU member states.

3) EU case-law is made up of judgments from the European Union's Court

of Justice, which interprets EU legislation.

Other EU institutions

Two other institutions play vital roles:

 the Court of Justice of the EU upholds the rule of European law

 the Court of Auditors checks the financing of the EU's activities.

The powers and responsibilities of all of these institutions are laid

down in the Treaties, which are the foundation of everything the EU
does. They also lay down the rules and procedures that the EU
institutions must follow. The Treaties are agreed by the presidents
and/or prime ministers of all the EU countries, and ratified by their
parliaments.
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 The EU has a number of other institutions and interinstitutional
bodies that play specialized roles:

 the European Central Bank is responsible for European monetary

policy
 the European External Action Service (EEAS) assists the High
Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,
currently Catherine Ashton. She chairs the Foreign Affairs Council
and conducts the common foreign and security policy, also ensuring
the consistency and coordination of the EU's external action.
 the European Economic and Social Committee represents civil
society, employers and employees
 the Committee of the Regions represents regional and local
authorities
 the European Investment Bank finances EU investment projects and
helps small businesses through the European Investment Fund
 the European Ombudsman investigates complaints about
maladministration by EU institutions and bodies
 the European Data Protection Supervisor safeguards the privacy of
people’s personal data
 the Publications Office publishes information about the EU
 the European Personnel Selection Office recruits staff for the EU
institutions and other bodies
 the European School of Administration provides training in specific
areas for members of EU staff
 a host of specialised agencies and decentralised bodies handle a
range of technical, scientific and management tasks.