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A Brief Guide to the European Union and Its Legislative Processes

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A Brief Guide to the European Union and Its Legislative Processes A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS LEGISLATIVE PROCESSES June 2011 Contents List of acronyms used in this document....................................................................................................... 4 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 What is the European Union (EU)?...........................................................................................5 1.2 The Development of the EU through the Treaties.....................................................................8 1.3 Objectives of the EU ...............................................................................................................10 2. The EU Institutions ............................................................................................................................ 11 2.1 The European Commission (the Commission)........................................................................11 2.1.1 The Commission's main tasks ...................................................................................12 2.1.2 Plan for improving the regulatory environment ........................................................12 2.2 The European Parliament (EP)................................................................................................12 2.2.1 The EP's principal roles.............................................................................................14 2.3 The Council of the EU ( the Council) .....................................................................................14 2.3.1 Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) ................................................16 2.3.2 Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) ..............................................................16 2.3.3 Financial Services Committee (FSC) ........................................................................16 2.3.4 Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER)...........................................16 2.4 The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)..............................................................17 2.5 The European Council (not to be confused with the Council of the EU)................................17 2.6 Subsidiarity..............................................................................................................................18 3. EU legislation ..................................................................................................................................... 19 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................19 3.2 Primary legislation...................................................................................................................19 3.3 Secondary legislation ..............................................................................................................19 3.3.1 Regulations................................................................................................................19 3.3.2 Directives...................................................................................................................19 3.3.3 Decisions ...................................................................................................................20 3.3.4 Opinions and recommendations ................................................................................20 3.3.5 Resolutions and declarations .....................................................................................20 3.4 Case law ..................................................................................................................................20 3.5 The legislative process ............................................................................................................20 3.5.1 Legislative procedures...............................................................................................21 3.5.2 The European Commission (the Commission) and new legislation .........................22 3.5.3 Council of the EU and new legislation......................................................................22 3.5.4 The European Parliament (EP) and new legislation..................................................22 4. European supervisory architecture ..................................................................................................... 23 4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................23 4.2 European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS)................................................................23 4.3 The Lamfalussy process ..........................................................................................................24 5. National Institutions ........................................................................................................................... 30 5.1 The National Institutions in the UK ........................................................................................30 5.1.1 The Treasury..............................................................................................................30 5.1.2 Financial Services Authority (FSA) ..........................................................................30 5.1.3 Bank of England (BoE) .............................................................................................30 2 5.1.4 Cabinet Office (or the Ministerial Committee on European Policy).........................30 5.1.5 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) .............................................31 5.1 Standing committees and committee membership..................................................................31 6. EU terms and acronyms ..................................................................................................................... 33 Annex 1: Ordinary legislative procedure ................................................................................................... 41 3 List of acronyms used in this document BoE Bank of England BTS Binding Technical Standards CBA Cost-benefit analysis COREPER Committee of Permanent Representatives CJEU Court of Justice of the European Union CEBS Committee of European Banking Supervisors CEIOPS Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pension Supervisors CESR Committee of European Securities Regulators EBA European Banking Authority EBC European Banking Committee EC European Community ECON Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs ECOFIN Economic and Financial Affairs Council ECSC European Coal and Steel Community EEA European Economic Area EEC European Economic Community EFC Economic and Financial Committee EFCC European Financial Conglomerates Committee EIOPA European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority EIOPC European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Committee EP European Parliament ESAs European Supervisory Authorities ESC European Securities Committee ESFS European System of Financial Supervision ESMA European Securities and Markets Authority ESRB European Systemic Risk Board EU European Union Euratom European Atomic Energy Community FSC Financial Services Committee MEP Members of the European Parliament QMV Qualified Majority Voting SEA Single European Act TEU Treaty on European Union TFEU Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union WTO World Trade Organization 4 1. Introduction 1.1 What is the European Union (EU)? The EU, created by the Treaty of Maastricht1, is a union of 27 independent states. It was founded to enhance political, economic and social cooperation. Its origins date back to the 1950s and the establishment of three organisations: European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) established by the Treaty of Paris2 European Economic Community (EEC) and established by the Treaties European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) of Rome 3 Under the Treaty of Maastricht, these three organisations (collectively, under the Treaty of Brussels4, the ‘European Communities’) were brought together to comprise the first of three conceptual pillars, which together formed the EU. The Treaty also renamed the EEC the ‘European Community’ (EC), reflecting the determination of the Member States to expand the European Communities’ powers to non-economic domains. The second and third pillars were borne out of a desire to add powers to the European Communities in the areas of: foreign policy, security and defence policy, asylum and immigration policy, criminal cooperation, and judicial cooperation. However, some Member States deemed these areas too sensitive to national sovereignty for the community method to be used, so they were kept outside the European Communities as Pillars II and III. More intergovernmental in nature, Pillars II and III had reduced roles for the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the EU (as it is now known). The European Union Pillar I Pillar II Pillar III European Common Foreign Justice and Home Community Pillar and Security Policy Affairs Pillar Pillar (renamed Police ECSC, and Judicial EEC (renamed the European Political Cooperation in EC), Cooperation (EPC) Criminal Matters) Euratom 1 Signed in 1992; entry into force 1 November 1993. 2 Signed in 1951; entry into force 23 July 1952 (expired 23 July 2002). 3 Signed in 1957; entry into force 1 January 1958. 4 Signed in 1965;
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