Unit 10: EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS, LEGISLATION AND PROJECTS

The European Parliament is elected by the peoples of the Member States. Elections are held every five years. The present parliament has 732 members from all 25 EU countries. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) do not sit in national blocks, but in seven Europe-wide political groups. The European Parliament has three places of work: Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Luxembourg is home to the administrative offices (the 'General Secretariat'). Meetings of the whole Parliament, known as plenary sessions, take place in Strasbourg and sometimes in Brussels. Committee meetings are also held in Brussels. Parliament has three main roles:

• Passing European laws - jointly with the Council in many policy areas.
• Parliament exercises democratic supervision over the other EU institutions, particularly the Commission. It has the power to approve or reject the nomination of commissioners, and it has the right to censure the Commission as a whole.
• Parliament shares with the Council authority over the EU budget and can therefore influence EU spending.

The Council of the European Union is the EU's main decision-making body. Its meetings are attended by one minister from each of the EU's national governments depending on the topic under discussion. It should not be confused with the European Council, which is a 'summit' meeting of the heads of EU governments. It should not be confused either with the Council of Europe, which is a completely separate body independent of the European Union. The Council of the European Union has six key responsibilities:

1. To pass European laws, jointly with the European Parliament in many policy areas.
2. To co-ordinate the broad economic policies of the member states.
3. To conclude international agreements between the EU and other countries or international organisations.
4. To approve the EU's budget, jointly with the European Parliament.
5. To develop the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy, based on guidelines set by the European Council.
6. To co-ordinate co-operation between the national courts and police forces in criminal matters.
7. Decisions in the Council are taken by vote. The bigger the country's population, the more votes it has. In some particularly sensitive areas such as Common Foreign and Security Policy, taxation, asylum and immigration policy, Council decisions have to be unanimous and each member state has the power of veto. On most issues, however, the Council takes decisions by a system called 'qualified majority voting'.

The European Commission is independent of national governments. It drafts proposals for new European laws, which it presents to the European Parliament and the Council. It is also the EU's executive arm - in other words, it is responsible for implementing the decisions of Parliament and the Council, running EU programmes and spending EU funds. A new Commission is appointed by member state governments and the Parliament every five years, within six months of the elections to the European Parliament. The Commission remains politically accountable to Parliament, which has the power to dismiss the whole Commission by adopting a motion of censure. The day-to-day running of the Commission is done by its administrative officials, experts, translators, interpreters and secretarial staff. There are approximately 25,000 of these European civil servants. The 'seat' of the Commission is in Brussels, but it also has offices in Luxembourg, in all EU countries and delegations in capital cities around the world. The Commission has four main roles:

• to propose legislation to Parliament and the Council;
• to manage and implement EU policies and the budget;
• to enforce European law (jointly with the Court of Justice);
• to represent the European Union on the international stage, for example by negotiating agreements between the EU and other countries.

The Court of Justice of the European Communities is based in Luxembourg. Its job is to make sure that EU legislation is interpreted and applied in the same way in all EU countries, so 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. The Court has the power to settle legal disputes between EU member states, EU institutions, businesses and individuals. The Court is composed of one judge per member state, so that all 25 of the EU's national legal systems are represented. For the sake of efficiency, however, the Court rarely sits as the full court. It usually sits as a 'Grand Chamber' of just 13 judges or in chambers of five or three judges. The Court is assisted by eight 'advocates-general'. Their role is to present reasoned opinions on the cases brought before the Court.