UNIT 25:
INSTITUTIONS OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION
.
English for Lawyers IV
Snježana Husinec, PhD; shusinec@pravo.hr
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Institutions of the EU
Which EU institutions do you know of? What are their
tasks?
Study the diagram on EU institutions on p. 252 and
discuss the questions in ex. I.
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Institutions of the EU
Scan the text and find which of the institutions of the EU exercise
which of the three powers.
LEGISLATIVE
POWER
EXECUTIVE
POWER
JUDICIAL
POWER
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The Main EU institutions
I Join in groups of 5. Each student chooses one of the following EU
institutions, finds its official web page and studies it in detail, and takes
notes on its role and membership.
Role
Membership
Who are the members? Are they elected,
appointed or member states’ officials?
What is their term of office?
European Parliament
European Council
Council of the EU
European Commission
European Court of
Justice
II Join back in groups and report on ¨your¨ institution to your colleagues.
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European Parliament
THE LEGISLATURE OF THE EU - directly-elected EU’s law-making body with
supervisory, and budgetary responsibilities
Comprises: 751 MEPs (Members of the European Parliament): directly elected
by EU voters every 5 years; proportional representation of the Member
States depending on the size and population
3 MAIN ROLES
• LEGISLATIVE - Passing EU laws, together with the Council of the EU, based
on European Commission proposals; Deciding on international agreements;
Deciding on enlargements; Reviewing the Commission's work programme
and asking it to propose legislation
• SUPERVISORY - Democratic scrutiny of all EU institutions; Electing the
Commission President and approving the Commission as a body; Granting
discharge, i.e. approving the way EU budgets have been spent; Examining
citizens' petitions and setting up inquiries ; Discussing monetary policy with
the European Central Bank; Questioning Commission and Council; Election
observatio
• BUDGETARY - Establishing the EU budget, together with the Council;
Approving the EU's long-term budget, the "Multiannual Financial Framework"
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European Council
• Role: Defines the general political direction and priorities of the EU
• Members: Heads of state or government of EU countries, European
Commission President, High Representative for Foreign Affairs & Security
Policy
• Tasks in particular:
• Decides on the EU's overall direction and political priorities – but does not
pass laws.
• Deals with complex or sensitive issues that cannot be resolved at lower
levels of intergovernmental cooperation
• Sets the EU's common foreign & security policy, taking into account EU
strategic interests and defence implications
• Nominates and appoints candidates to certain high profile EU level roles,
such as the ECB and the Commission
• On each issue, the European Council can:
• ask the European Commission to make a proposal to address it
• pass it on to the Council of the EU to deal with
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Council of the European Union
• previously called the Council of Ministers – referred to simply as “the
Council” ; different from the European Council
• it is where national ministers from each EU country meet to adopt laws and
coordinate policies
• exercises legislative and budgetary functions (Article 16(1) TEU); interacts
with the other institutions as part of the EU’s legislative procedure
(changes after the Lisabon treaty)
• consists of a representative of each Member State at ministerial level from
the relevant government department; its composition depends on the
subject matter under discussion (e.g. discussion on North Sea fishing
stocks – agriculture ministers attend)
• Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) - ambassadors of
each member state in Brussels, prepare the meetings of the Council, keep
the ministers informed of any political problems
• the presidency of the Council rotates among the EU member states every 6
months – Three member states holding the presidency work together
closely in groups of three, called 'trios‘ (the current, previous and next
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state presiding)
European Commission
THE EXECUTIVE OF THE EU
• Role: Promotes the general interest of the EU by proposing and
enforcing legislation as well as by implementing policies and the
EU budget
• Members: Comprises: 1. 28 Commissioners, one per Member
State; selected by Member States; once selected must act on the
general interest of the EU rather then on the interests of their
Member State)
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European Commission
SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS AND POWERS
•Proposes new laws for adoption by the Parliament and the Council that;
protect the interests of the EU and its citizens on issues that can't be dealt
with effectively at national level; get technical details right by consulting
experts and the public.
•Manages EU policies & allocates EU funding; Sets EU spending
priorities, together with the Council and Parliament; Draws up annual
budgets for approval by the Parliament and Council; Supervises how the
money is spent, under scrutiny by the Court of Auditors.
•Enforces EU law
Together with the Court of Justice, ensures that EU law is properly applied
in all the member countries.
•Represents the EU internationally
•Speaks on behalf of all EU countries in international bodies, in particular
in areas of trade policy and humanitarian aid.
•Negotiates international agreements for the EU.
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European Court of Justice
THE JUDICIAL ORGAN OF THE EU
consists of two courts:
the Court of Justice, the General Court (created in 1988)
Court of Justice comprises:
1. 28 judges, one per Member State; each holds office for a
renewable 6-year term;
2. assissted by 8 Advocates-General (A-G)
(legal experts who give highly persuasive advisory opinions
to the Court before the judges retire to consider their
judgment in some cases – judges usually follow their
opinions)
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European Court of Justice
• The mission: to ensure "the law is observed" "in the
interpretation and application" of the Treaties.
• reviews the legality of the acts of the institutions of the European
Union
• ensures that the Member States abide by EU law (in cooperation
with the courts and tribunals of the Member States, it ensures the
uniform application and interpretation of European Union law)
• interprets European Union law at the request of the national courts
and tribunals
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Court of Auditors
-
set up in 1975, based in Luxembourg
• audits EU revenue & expenditure, to check EU funds are correctly
raised, spent
• checks any person or organisation handling EU funds
• writes up findings and recommendations in audit reports, for the
European Commission and national governments
• reports suspected fraud, corruption or other illegal activity to
the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
• produces an annual report for the European Parliament and Council
of the EU, which the Parliament examines before deciding whether
to approve the Commission's handling of the EU budget
• gives its expert
opinion to EU policymakers on how EU finances
could be better managed
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Composition and function of EU
institutions
• Read the text carefully and do ex. IV.
• Practice vocabulary by doing ex. V, VI and VII.
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Other institutions of the EU
.
Find in the text other insitutions of the EU and match them
with their Croatian translation.
Europski revizijski sud
Europski sud pravde
Odbor regija
Europski pučki pravobranitelj
Europska investicijska banka
Gospodarski i socijalni odbor
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Other institutions of the EU
• Read about the functions and members of other intitutions in ex.
VIII on p. 258 and do the exercise.
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National Courts and the Court of
Justice of the EU
• Remember what you have learned about the Court of Justice so far.
Think about the following and fill in the table.
STRUCTURE
JUDGES
TYPES OF CASES
JURISDICTION OF
THE GENERAL
COURT
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More on the jurisdiction of the General
Court …
It hears and determines:
•actions brought by natural or legal persons against acts of the institutions,
bodies, offices or agencies of the European Union, and against regulatory
acts or against a failure to act on the part of those institutions, bodies,
offices or agencies (eg. a case brought by a company against a Commission
decision imposing a fine on that company);
•actions brought by the Member States against the Commission;
•actions brought by the Member States against the Council relating to acts
adopted in the field of State aid, trade protection measures and acts by
which it exercises implementing powers;
•actions seeking compensation for damage caused by the institutions or
the bodies, offices or agencies of the European Union or their staff;
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• actions based on contracts made by the European Union which
expressly give jurisdiction to the General Court;
• actions relating to intellectual property brought against the
European Union Intellectual Property Office and against the
Community Plant Variety Office;
• disputes between the institutions of the European Union and their
staff concerning employment relations and the social security
system.
• The decisions of the General Court may, within two months, be
subject to an appeal before the Court of Justice, limited to points of
law
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Court of Justice of the EU
• The mission: to ensure
A) "the law is observed" "in the interpretation and application" of
the Treaties;
B) that EU institutions and Member States abidy by EU laws
• reviews the legality of the acts of the institutions of the European
Union
• ensures that the Member States comply with obligations under the
Treaties (in cooperation with the courts and tribunals of the
Member States, it ensures the uniform application and
interpretation of European Union law)
• interprets European Union law at the request of the national courts
and tribunal
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Types of cases
The most common types of cases are:
•REFERENCE FOR PRELIMINARY RULING (odluke u prethodnim
pitanjima / prethodne odluke) – when national courts ask the Court
of Justice to interpret a point of EU law
•ACTIONS FOR FAILURE TO FULFILL
AN OBLIGATION (tužbe
zbog neispunjenja obveze) – brought against EU governments for
not applying EU law
•ACTIONS FOR FAILURE TO ACT (tužbe zbog propuštanja
djelovanja)– against EU institutions for failing to make decisions
required of them
•ACTIONS FOR ANNULMENT (tužbe radi poništenje) – against EU
laws thought to violate the EU treaties or fundamental rights
(brought by EU institutions or individuals)
•APPEALS (žalbe na presude Općeg suda EU - postupci za
naknadu štete) – appeals against decisions of the General Court in
cases brought by individuals, companies or organisations against EU
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decisions or actions
Reference for a preliminary ruling
• Read the authentic text about the REFERENCE FOR A
PRELIMINARY RULING on p. 260 – 261.
• Do ex. III – VI.
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