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How the European Union Works a Citizen's Guide to the EU Institutions

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How the European Union Works a Citizen's Guide to the EU Institutions How the European Union works A citizen's guide to the EU institutions European Union Published in all the official languages of the European Union: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish and in Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Lithuanian, latvian, Maltese, Polish, Slovak and Slovene. European Commission Directorate-General for Press and Communication Publications B-1049 Bruxelles/Brussel Manuscript completed in June 2003 Cover illustration: European Parliament Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2003 ISBN 92-894-5283-8 ©European Communities, 2003 Reproduction is authorised. Printed in Belgium PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER How the European Union works A citizen's guide to the EU institutions E.uropean Commission De1~ation lrbrary 2300 M Street, NW Washington, DC 20037 Contents Introducing the European Union 3 Treaties and decision-making 5 The European Parliament: voice of the people 10 The Council of the European Union: voice of the member states 14 The European Commission: promoting the common interest 20 The Court of Justice: upholding the law 25 The European Court of Auditors: getting value for your money 28 The European Central Bank: managing the euro 30 The European Economic and Social Committee: 32 voice of civil society The Committee of the Regions: voice of local government 34 The European Investment Bank: financing EU projects 36 The European Ombudsman: investigating your complaints 38 Agencies 40 Looking to the future 46 Introducing the European Union n just half a century of existence, the European Union (EU) has achieved remarkable things. It has delivered peace between its members and prosperity for its citizens. It has created a single European currency (the euro) and a frontier­ free 'single market' where goods, people, services and capitol move around freely. The EU has grown from six to fifteen countries and it is preparing to embrace a dozen more. It has become a major trading power, and a world leader in fields such as environmental protection and development aid. The EU's success owes a lot to its unique nature and the way it works. For the EU is not a federation like the United States. Nor is it simply an organisation for co­ operation between governments, like the United Notions. The countries that make up the EU (its 'member states'l remain independent sovereign notions but they pool their sovereignty in order to gain a strength and world influence none of them could have on its own. Pooling sovereignty means, in practice, that the member states delegate some of their decision-making powers to European institutions they have created, so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European level. The three main decision-making institutions are: • the Eu ropean Parliament, which represents the EU's citizens and is directly elected by them; • the Council of the European Union, which represents the individual member states; • the European Commission, which seeks to uphold the interests of the Union as a whole. 3 How the Eu ropean Union wo~ks This 'institutional triangle' produces the policies and laws (directives, regulations and decisions) that apply throughout the EU. The rules and procedures that the institutions must follow are laid down in the treaties, which are agreed by the member states' presidents and prime ministers and ratified by their parliaments. In principle, it is the Commission that proposes new EU laws but it is the Parliament and Council that adopt them. The Court of Justice upholds the rule of European law, and the Court of Auditors checks the financing of the Union's activities. Five other bodies complete the system : • the European Economic and Social Committee represents civil society and the two sides of industry; • the Committee of the Regions represents regional and local authorities; • the European Central Bank is responsible for European monetary policy; • the European Investment Bank finances EU investment projects; • the European Ombudsman guards EU citizens and organisations against mal­ administration. In addition, specialised agencies have been set up to handle certain technical, scientific or management tasks. This booklet offers a comprehensive overview of what each institution or agency does, and how it works. Its aim is to provide a helpful guide to the EU's present decision-making system. 4 Treaties and decision-making The EU is founded on four treaties: • The Treaty establishing the Europea n Coa l and Stee l Community (ECSC), which was signed on 18 April 1951 in Paris, came into force on 23 July 1952 and expired on 23 July 2002; • The Trea ty es tablishing the European Econ omic Community (EEC), which was signed on 25 March 1957 in Rome and came into force on 1 January 1958; • The Treaty es tablishing the Europea n Atomic En ergy Community (Euratom), which was signed in Rome along with the EEC Treaty. These two treaties are often referred to as the 'Treaties of Rome'. When the term 'Treaty of Rome' is used, only the EEC Treaty is meant; • Th e Trea ty on Europea n Union (EU), which was signed in Maastricht on 7 February 1992, and came into force on 1 November 1993. The first three of these treaties created the home affairs: By adding this intergovern­ three 'European Communities', i.e. the sys­ mental co-operation to the existing tem of joint decision-making on coal, steel, 'Community' system, the Maastricht Treaty nuclear power and other major sectors of the created a new structure with three 'pillars' member states' economies. The Community which is political as well as economic. This is institutions- set up to manage this system­ the European Union (EU). were merged in 1967, resulting in a single Commission and a single Council. The EEC, in addition to its economic role, gradually took on a wide range of responsibilities including social, environmental and regional policies. Since it was no longer a purely economic community, the fourth Treaty (Maastricht) renamed it Community Police simply 'the European domain and judicial Community' (EC). (most of Common co-operation the common Foreign and in criminal The Maastricht Treaty poliey areas) Security Polley matters also introduced new forms of co-operation between the member THE m&\TIES state governments for I I example on defence and Th e European Union is founded on its treaties. in the area of 'justice and Its three 'pillars' represent different policy areas with different decision-making systems 5 Ho w the Euro pean Union wor~s The treaties are the foundation for every­ • The Treaty of Nice, signed on 26 February thing the European Union does. Whenever 2001, entered into force on 1 February the treaties have to be reviewed and amend­ 2003. It further amends the other treaties, ed, this is done by a special conference of the streamlining the EU's institutional system EU's national governments (an 'inter-gov­ so it can continue to work effectively after ernmental conference' or IGC). a new wave of member states joins in 2004. The treaties have been amended each time new member states have joined. Moreover, Decision-making at European Union level every decade or so, the treaties have been involves various European institutions, in ame nded to reform the EU institutions and particular: give them new areas of responsibility. • the European Commission, • the European Parliament, • The Single European Act (SEA) was signed in February 1986 and came into force on 1 • the Council of the European Union. July 1987. It amended the EEC Treaty and paved the way for completing the single market. • The Treaty of Amsterdam was signed on 2 October 1997 and came into force on 1 May 1999. It amended the EU and EC treaties, giving numbers (instead of letters) to the EU Treaty articles. • Th e ideas that led to the European Union were first put forward on 9 May 7950 in a speech by Robert Schuman (French Foreign Minister). So 9 May is celebrated each year as Europe Day. 6 Three 'councils' : which is which? It's easy to become confused about which European body is which - especially when very different bodies have very similar names, such as these three 'councils'. The European Council This means the heads of state and government (i.e. presidents and/or prime ministers) of all the EU countries, plus the President of the European Commission. The European Council meets, in principle, four times a year to agree overall EU policy and to review progress. It is the high­ est-level policymaking body in the European Union, which is why its meetings are often called 'summits'. The Council of the European Union Formerly known as the Council of Ministers, this institution consists of government ministers from all the EU countries. The Council meets regularly to take detailed decisions and to pass European laws. A fuller description of its work is given later in this booklet. Th e Council of Europe This is not an EU institution at all. It is an intergovernmental organisation which aims (amongst other things) to protect human rights, to promote Europe's cultural diversity and to combat social problems such as racial prejudice and intolerance. It was set up in 1949 and one of its early achievements was to draw up the European Convention on Human Rights. To enable citizens to exercise their rights under that Convention it set up the European Court of Human Rights. The Council of Europe now has 44 member states, including the 15 European Union countries, and its headquarters are the Palais de !'Europe in Strasbourg (France). The European Commission proposes new legis­ the co -decision procedure, Parliament gen­ lation, but it is the Council and Parliament uinely shares power with the Council.
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