The Union Institutions Flashcards
The Council
- Like the EU itself the institutes are not a stable continuous body, they have constantly evolved and developed regarding the powers they have, the voting method, etc
- Formally referred to the Council of Ministers – after TEU it was the council of European unions, after Treaty of Lisbon it is now the council.
- The council is a fluid concept with floating membership
- The Treaty of Lisbon created the concept of team presidencies for different configurations of the council other than foreign affairs.
What does the council consist of?
- The council consists of authorised representatives from each member state:
o The identity of the ministers depends on the subject of the discussions
o But the original intention was a college of delegates. - The council is the major legislative organ, although there are some exceptions.
- It consults parliament and the Economic and Social Committee but makes the final decisions on legislation.
What is the voting procedure of the council?
The voting procedure is of two main types:
1. Unanimous – required for certain prescribed areas, and since Luxembourg Accords, if vital national interest is at stake.
- Qualified majority – with a minimum of 225 votes (representing 62% of the EU population) carrying a measure, so designed to prevent larger states abusing small ones, but originally designed to be used per se. (The bigger your population the more votes you have – unfair on smaller countries).
What is the Qualified Majority System based on?
differential weighting according to the size of the state.
- Since 2014, however the qualified majority is a double majority.
- To be adopted, an act must have the support of at least 55% of the EU member state and at least 65% if the population of the EU.
- A blocking minority must include at least 4 member states
- The council has as its objective ‘to ensure that the objectives set out in the Treaty are attained’
- But of course, it is a political body representing the interests of the individual member states.
- The council is supplemented by two further processes:
o European Council: twice yearly meetings of Heads of State and Foreign Ministers – a political summit
o CORPER: a permanent committee representing Member States – shifting through Commission proposals.
What are the 5 key tasks of the Council?
- The top priority of the council is legislation, which it carries out together with the parliament in the ordinary legislative procedure.
- The council is also responsible for ensuring coordination of the economic policies of the member states.
- It develops the EU’s Foreign and Security policy on the basis of guidelines set by the European Council.
- It is responsible for concluding agreements between ThE EU and non-EU members states or international organisations
- It establishes the budget on the basis of a preliminary draft form the commission, which must then be approved by the parliament. In addition, it issues a recommendation to the parliament on giving a discharge to the commission in respect of the implementation of the budget.
The European Commission
- The commission has the clearest claim to be being a supranational body.
- Sometimes referred to as a civil service, but has much broader powers and roles
- Their Member States undertake not to influence them.
- It is currently composed of 28 members, including:
o President
o First vice president
o High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs
o Etc - The appointment is for a 5-year term
- Each commissioner gets a Directorate General with specific responsibilities
- The commission also includes 24,000 staff
- As noted above the commission is headed by a president who holds office for a renewable term of 2.5 years
What are the tasks and duties of the EC?
- It is the instigator of legislation under Article 352 and can draft proposals on anything covered by the treaties.
- It is the watchdog of the treaties (sometimes referred to as the guardian of the communities)– it must ensure that the provisions of the Treaty and the measures taken by the institutions under them are applied. All member states are obliged to achieve the objectives of the treaties, and the commission can deal with breaches of EU law through Article 258 proceedings
- It has executive functions, for instance the Commission is responsible for implementing policy and for the compulsory budget
- It represents the EU on the world stage.
- Through a process known as comity the council can delegate powers to the commission i.e., to produce detailed regulations following the passing of a framework regulation by the council.
- The commission is sometimes also accountable to the parliament e.g., parliament can pass a motion of censure causing the commission to resign (as occurred in 1999)
The European Parliament
- This was originally known as the Assembly
o It was not democratically elected
o It comprised appointed nominees from member states government
o It had no legislative power and was only consultative - It has been an elected body since 1979.
- Elections are every 5 years.
- Total membership is now 754 – changes
- MEP’s sit by political groupings rather than by national interest, and there is no mandatory voting for Member States interests – MEPs are representatives, not delegates
- Voting is on a majority basis
- Parliament elects its own president and officials.
- The parliament enjoys 3 main powers at present:
o It can censure the commission
o It has powers over the non-compulsory budget
o It has a role in legislation mostly through the co-decision procedure
The court of justice
this is not quite like any other court in the Irish legal system
- It is composed of judge’s rapporteurs (the judges) and they are assisted by 8 advocates general
- One judge is appointed from each member state (article 19 TEU)
- By article 254 TFEU they must be independent beyond doubt and judges or legal academic of their own country.
- They serve a 6-year term
- Removal of a judge is only possible if all colleagues agree that she/he is unfit to sit
- They appoint a president from their numbers
- Majority decision rules, with inquisitorial procedure and no dissenting judgements.
- Cases used to involve a full court but after the treaty of nice can be a general chamber of fewer judges.
- Advocates generals are appointed with the same requirements as for judges
- Cases are assigned to one of these first, who produced an opinion for the court- this does not have to be followed by the court, but it may be.
What is the role of the COJ?
to ensure that in application and interpretation, the law is observed
To provide a forum for resolving disputes between institutions, member states and individuals.
To protect individual rights
What are the 5 main types of actions that the court hears?
o Article 267 references to member states for a preliminary ruling on interpretation of EU law (known as indirect actions)
o Article 258 actions against member states for failing to implement treaty obligations (a direct action known also as infringement proceedings)
o Article 263 actions against institutions for abuse of power
o Article 265 actions against institutions for failure to act.
o Article 340 actions for damages against an institution that has been responsible for loss to the individual e.g. where the commission failed to address a decision to a body engaging in anti-competitive practices and an individual suffers loss as a result.
ECJ
- It is important to note that the ECJ has been responsible for defining the treaties and in particular has been instrumental their enforcement through many landmark decisions e.g., defining and development
- The principle of supremacy
- Direct effect- imposes interpretive obligation
- Indirect effect
- State liability etc.
- Because of the excess workload of the ECJ and resultant delays, the SEA also created a court of first instance (now the general court).
- It has similar requirements to the ECJ and a judge from each member state.
- Its basic purpose is to ease the workload of the ECJ (but it has limited success in doing so)
- It can hear staff cases; and direct actions under article 263 and 265 as well as for compensation arising from art.30
- Art.267 references on a limited range of specific areas.
What are the other major institutions?
- the European council
- Economic and social committee
- The committee of the regions
- The European central bank: ensure inflation is low. Monetary policy since SEA
- The European investment bank
- The European court of auditors- necessary for budget that are paid directly to the European states
Treaty
- EC can take advice from these bodies but does not have to follow through on the advice.
- EC will pass draft regulations to council, parliament and then to the bodies
- ESC made up of a civil society - Committee of regions is at a more local level- their political system is different from the Irish legal system.
- Minor institutions: professional bodies etc
The Council
- This was formally referred to as the Council of Ministers - after TEU it was the Council of the European Union; After the Treaty of Lisbon, it is now the Council
- The council is a fluid concept with floating membership.
- The Treaty of Lisbon creates the concept of team presidencies for different configurations of the council other than foreign affairs.
- The council consists as of authorized representatives from each member state:
o the identity of the ministers depends on the subject of the discussions
o but the original intention was a college of delegates - The council is the major legislative organ, although there are some exceptions.
- It consults parliament and the economic and social committee but makes the final decisions on legislation.
- The voting procedure is of two main types:
o Unanimous - required for certain prescribed areas, and since the Luxembourg accords, if vital national interest is at stake
o Qualified majority (QMV) - with a minimum of 225 votes (representing 62% of the EU population) carrying a measure, so designed to prevent large states abusing small ones, but originally designed to be used per se. - The qualified majority system is based on differential weighting according to the size of the state.
- Since 2014 however, the qualified majority is a double majority.
- To be adopted, an act must have the support of at least 55% of the EU member States and at least 65% of the population of the EU.
- A blocking minority must include at least 4 member states
- The council has as its objective ‘to ensure that the objectives set out in the treaty are attained’.
- But of course, it is a political body representing the interests of the individual member states
