EU Notes Flashcards
The european council.
The prime ministers and presidents sit there. They have a permanent president: Herman van Rumpoy.
Gather and summits at least 4 times/year. Decide on future direction of the EU.
Does not take part in day to day work, but sets out directions. The president is elected for 30 months. Can only be renewed once.
The European commission.
The driving force. Each country elects one commissioner for 5 years. They have to be approved by the EP. A proposal is that they should have only 20 commisioners all and all, with a rotation system every 5 years.
They are not allowed to take orders from their countries, and have to think european.
They suggest new laws and check on so that laws are followed.
Work with Directorate Generals that help them. (Compare to ministries.)
Can be compared to the government in every country.
Jean-Claude Junker is the head.
The council of the European Union. (The Council of ministers)
This is where the ministers from the different countries meet. The deciding institution. We used to have an EU minister in sweden, but that’s not the case anymore. Now we send a different minister depending on what the issue to be discussed is. They meet several times per week, but since different matters are discussed by different people, it varies a lot. The votes are spread depending on the countries. Germany have most votes. The ministers are helped by each country’s EU ambassadors - coreper. They discuss the issues so that the ministers can vote on it. The ambassadors are rarely discussed in media, but they do the work. The ministers do much less, but are seen much more.
They have a rotation system on the MS, the precidency.
Qualified Majority. at leas 55% of the member states, comprising at least 15 of them and representing 65% of the population in the EU. Blocking Minority can be formed with at least 4 countries.
The European Parliament.
Only EU institution directly elected by the people in Europe.
Every 5th year, 751 MEP’s are elected throughout Europe, and are represented differently depending on the size of the country. They meet in Strasbourg and in Brussels. The representatives are there to represent their party, not their country. Are a part of bigger groups that cooperate in the questions.
Historically, the EP didn’t have much power. It is gaining more and more power with the different treaties. Today the most common way to create new laws in the Co-descision procedure where the council of the EU and the EP has to agree.
If you are not in a group, you can’t debate and you can’t be a part of a committee.
The court of justice of the Communities.
A supreme court for the EU. There’s a judge from each member states. The court can’t do something on all matters, but it differs from the issue. They are situated in Luxemburg. The Judge is appointed by the Swedish government for 6 years.
They only have jurisdiction over the first pillar. They check that new laws are in accordance with the treaty. Any citizen can sue the EU in the court of justice, and make sure that all proposals are in accordance with the treaties. If a country would refuse to put a law in motion, the comission can sue the country in the court. They can settle disputes within the Eu comissions as well.
