Governance and Legal System

Organization and Structure

How the EU works

The EU is a unique economic and political partnership between 28 European countries that together cover much of the continent. What began as a purely economic union has evolved into an organisation 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.

 In the EU's unique institutional set-up: the EU's broad priorities are set by the European Council, which brings together national and EUlevel leaders directly elected MEPs represent European citizens in the European Parliament the interests of the EU as a whole are promoted by the European Commission, whose members are appointed by national governments governments defend their own country's national interests in the Council of the European Union.

European Parliament
Directly elected by EU voters every 5 years, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent the people. The European Parliament has three main roles:
debating and passing European laws, with the Council scrutinising other EU institutions, particularly the Commission, to make sure they are working democratically debating and adopting the EU's budget, with the Council.

Council of the European Union

Also informally known as the EU Council, this is where national ministers from each EU country meet to adopt laws and coordinate policies. What does it do?
Passes EU laws. Coordinates the broad economic policies of EU member countries. Signs agreements between the EU and other countries. Approves the annual EU budget Develops the EU's foreign and defence policies. Coordinates cooperation between courts and police forces of member countries.

Voting
Decisions in the Council of the EU are taken by qualified majority as a general rule. The bigger a countrys 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

European Commission
The European Commission is one of the main institutions of the European Union. It represents and upholds the interests of the EU as a whole. It drafts proposals for new European laws. It manages the day-to-day business of implementing EU policies and spending EU funds. The Commission represents and upholds the interests of the EU as a whole. It oversees and implements EU policies by:

proposing new laws to Parliament and the Council managing the EU's budget and allocating funding enforcing EU law (together with the Court of Justice) representing the EU internationally, for example, by negotiating agreements between the EU and other countries.

How EU decisions are made

Drafting EU law: Before the Commission proposes new initiatives it assesses the potential economic, social and environmental consequences that they may have Review and adoption: The European Parliament and the Council review proposals by the Commission and propose amendments. If the Council and the Parliament cannot agree upon amendments, a second reading takes place. Ratification: If the two institutions agree on amendments, the proposed legislation can be adopted. If they cannot agree, a conciliation committee tries to find a solution. Both the Council and the Parliament can block the legislative proposal at this final reading.

How is legislation adopted?

Ordinary legislative procedure (formerly known as Codecision): Step-by-step explanation of the ordinary legislative procedure where the European Parliament passes laws jointly with the EU Council and list of past laws subject to this method Official Rules of Procedure of the European Council: How the European Council operates European judicial cooperation in civil cases: Cooperation between national courts in civil cases