The European Union: The Institution and Laws Unit 3

1. The European Union:The Institution and LawsUnit 3 INS 591 The European Union Professor Roy

2. The Institutions of the European Union - Outline • Major Institutions & other bodies • Institutional dynamics • EU Law • EU Budget

3. European Council 15 Heads of State or government and the President of the Commission European Council 25 Heads of State or government Council of the EU 15 ministers Council of the EU 25 ministers European Court of Justice 15 ministers Committee of The Regions 317 members European Parliament 626 members Econ. & Social Committee 317 members Court of Auditors 25members European Commission 20 Commissioners European Central Bank European Investment Bank 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. The Council of Ministers Known as the Council of the European Union since the Maastricht Treaty, is the EU’s 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):

9. 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

10. 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 EU’s legislative and decision-making processes.

11. 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)

12. 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

13. 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

14. Enlargement and the EuropeanCommission • 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.

15. The European Parliament • Legislative Power (with Council) • Democratic supervision • Authority over the EU budget II. The Institutions of the European Union

16. 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

17. 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

18. The European Parliament

19. 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.

20. 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

21. EU Court of Justice (Luxembourg)

22. 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 EU’s 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.

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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 EU’s monetary policy and manages the Euro currency

27. EU Economic and Social Committee (Brussels)

28. EU Committee of the Regions (Brussels)

29. EU Central Bank (Frankfurt/Germany)

30. 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

31. 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.

32. 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):

33. 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

34. 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.

35. 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.

36. 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

37. Developing an EU Identity

38. 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.

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

41. 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

42. Nature & CharacteristicsCon’t 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

43. 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?”

44. 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

45. 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”

46. NGOs in Brussels • Soros Foundation Sierra Club