EU Institutions & Decision Making Flashcards
1
Q
Main principles of EU Law
A
Supranational legal system:
- direct effect: EU law can create rights for EU citizens applicable before domestic courts
- primacy: Community law has the final say (e.g., highest French court can be overruled)
- autonomy: independent of members’ legal orders
- state liability for damages (if EU Law had not been properly implemented)
2
Q
Pre and post-Lisbon
A
- Maastricht Treaty: clear line between supranational and intergovernmental policy areas: the 3-pillar organisational structure
- Lisbon Treaty: roof and only 2 pillars: one for supranational issues and one for intergovernmental issues
(For graphical structure see Session 2 slide 3)
3
Q
Big-5 institutions
A
- European Commission
- European Council (national leaders)
- European Parliament
- Council of the EU
- European Court of Justice
4
Q
European Council
A
- highest political-level body in EU
- consisting of national leaders of member states, President of the European Council, President of the European Commission
- presidency changes every 6 months
- meetings 4 times a year
5
Q
The Council of the EU
A
- EU’s main decision-making body
- representatives of every MS
Tasks:
- pass European laws (jointly with the European Parliament)
- coordinate general economic policies of MS
- pass final judgment on international agreements between the EU and other countries or international organizations (shared with the European Parliament)
- approval of EU’s budget (jointly with the European Parliament)
- decisions related to Common Foreign and Security Policies
Rules:
- unanimity for most important issues
- ‘qualified majority voting’ (QMV): for most issues
6
Q
European Commission
A
- EU’s executive branch (for 5 years)
- usually consensus decisions, but not needed theoretically
Tasks:
- enforcement of Treaties
- proposal of legislation to the Council and Parliament
- administration and implementation of EU policies
- providing surveillance and enforcement of EU law (with EU Court)
- managing EU budget
7
Q
European Parliament
A
- sharing legislative powers (with the Council of Ministers and the Commission)
- overseeing EU institutions (especially Commission)
- 750 MEPs, directly voted by citizens
8
Q
European Court of Justice
A
- settlement of disputes that cannot be settled by negation
- based in Luxembourg
- major impact via case-law
- one judge from each MS (for 6 years)
9
Q
Legislative Process in EU
A
- European Commission has near-monopoly on initiating the EU decision-making process
- Commission’s proposal is sent to the Council for approval
- Most EU legislation also requires the European Parliament’s approval (exact procedure depends upon the issue)
10
Q
Procedures of legislative process
A
- ‘ordinary legislative procedure’: Parliament and Council have equal power in terms of approval/rejection and amendment
- ‘consultation procedure’: Parliament only gives opinion
- ‘consent procedure’: Council adopts legislation (proposed by the Commission) after obtaining the consent (without amendments) of Parliament
11
Q
EU Legal Sources
A
Primary sources:
- Treaty on European Union
- Treaty on the Functioning of EU (TFEU)
- Charter of the EU on fundamental rights
- General principles of EU law
- International treaties
Secondary sources:
- Regulations
- Directives
- Decisions
- Recommendations and opinions
Case-law of the EU Court of Justice
12
Q
Competences of EU
A
- ‘exclusive competences’: EU decides alone
- ‘shared competences’: responsibility shared between the EU and Member States
- > two types: members cannot pass legislation in areas where the EU already has AND existence of EU legislation does not hinder members’ rights to make policy in the same area
- ‘supporting, coordinating or complementary competence’: EU can pass laws that support action by members
- ‘national competences’: national or sub-national governments alone decide
13
Q
Subsidarity and Proportionality
A
- Subsidiarity: keep decisions as close as possible to the citizens without jeopardizing win–win cooperation at the EU level
- Proportionality: the EU should undertake only the minimum necessary actions
14
Q
Theory of fiscal federalism
A
- diversity and local informational advantages: if people have different preferences, centralised decisions create inefficiencies
- scale economies: cost savings from centralisation
- spillovers: negative and positive externalities of local decisions argue for centralisation (or, at least, cooperation)
- democracy: control mechanism that favours decentralisation
- jurisdictional competition: ‘exit’ option is a way to influence governments
15
Q
Qualified Majority Voting
A
‘Double majority’:
(1) passing a threshold in terms of the number of nations voting ‘yes’ (min. 55%)
(2) having the population share of the yes voters (min. 65%)
-> balance between the ‘union of states’ and ‘union of peoples’ perspective
