Institutional structure of the EU

the CJEU (and General Court) functions as a collegiate body and that a single judgment is given for the whole court without dissenting judgment.

Does the CJEU and General Court allow for dissenting judgements?

As originally conceived in the EEC Treaty, the Commission was endowed with an exclusive right of legislative initiative, conferring a role of political leadership. The Commission's exclusive right of legislative initiative still exists in most areas of Union law other than the Common and Foreign Security Policy (where the right of legislative initiative is essentially in the hands of Member States and of the Union Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy)

Describe the Commissions political and legislative initiative

Since Lisbon, there is now a permanent President of the European Council elected for a period of 2.5 years renewable once by the European Council acting by qualified majority. The decision to have a permanent European Council President has to be read in the context of the increasing role played by the European Council, reflected in four yearly meetings instead of the previous two and also in the context of the increased political stature of the President of the Commission following the move to indirect election to that post through the European Parliament. At the same time as the more supranational Commission is strengthened through that move, so is the more inter-governmental institution of the European Council. The existence of a permanent European Council President also allows for more coordination among the institutions.

Describe the Presidency of the European Council

appointed by "common accord of the Member States". In practice, this means that the government of each Member State designates "its" judges with the acquiescence of the other Member States. The Lisbon Treaty introduced a new step in the process consisting of an opinion by a panel of legal experts (former judges of the CJEU; members of national supreme courts; "lawyers of recognised competence") on the suitability for the job of each nominee (Article 255 TFEU). the role of the panel is limited to excluding patently unsuitable candidates rather than playing an active role in selecting candidates.

How are Judges and Advocate-Generals in both the Court of Justice and the General Court appointed?

The Commission takes its decisions on the basis of a simple majority.

How does the Commission make its decisions?

How the Council reaches decisions is not uniform throughout the Treaty. In some (rare) cases, the Council can act by simple majority of its members. In other cases, the Council has to act on the basis of unanimity. In the majority of cases, however, the Council acts on the basis of qualified majority. Under qualified majority, votes in the Council are weighted in a manner which is related to the size of the population of the Member.

How does the Council make decisions?

The Presidency of the Council rotates between each Member State on a six-monthly basis. With 28 Member States, this means that each Member State can expect to hold the presidency every 14 years.

Is does the Council's presidency work?

the European Parliament has, under Article 234 TFEU the power to force the Commission to resign by means of a vote of no-confidence. We have also seen that the President of the Commission is elected by the European Parliament thereby allowing the Parliament to ensure that the political orientation of the Commission President matches that of the dominant group in the European Parliament or indeed even of designating in fact itself the Commission President leaving little choice to the European Council other than selecting the candidate favoured by the European Parliament, as happened with the current president of the Commission. The appointment of the whole Commission as well is subject to the consent of the European Parliament.

How does the European Parliament control the Commission?

MEPs sit in the European Parliament according to their political affiliation rather than nationality. The two largest groupings are the European People's party (Christian Democrats: centre-right) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (centre-left) which together account for approximately 54% of MEPs, the rest being distributed across the political spectrum. Elections to the European Parliament in the Member States, however, are normally fought along national party political divides rather than European ones. elections to the European Parliament are very different from national elections, which are designed to bring a party (or coalitions of parties) to power so as to carry out a programme derived from their electoral manifesto and may give rise to a sense of disempowerment for voters who do not see how their votes to the European Parliament actually enables them to meaningfully influence the governance of the European Union.

How does the European Parliament function?

the fact that the assent of the Parliament is needed would in practice make it difficult for the European Council not to put forward someone who reflects the current political composition of the European Parliament and expectation of the main political grouping within the European Parliament. Indeed, Article 17(7) TEU implicitly recognises this by requiring the European Council to "take into account the elections to the European Parliament" and to hold "appropriate consultations" before designating the nominee for Commission President.

How does the mode of designation reflect what the European Council wants?

Historically, the status and powers of the president would not have been very different from other members of the Commission, making him a primus inter pares (first among equals) among commissioners. However, successive Treaty amendments have tended to strengthen the powers of the President, giving the presidency a somewhat more distinctive character.

How has the role of The Commission President changed?

There was until the Lisbon Treaty at least one national from each Member State in the College of Commissioners. With the large number of Member States since the 2004 wave of accessions, there was a feeling among many that the Commission had reached a size that affected its capacity to act as a cohesive collegiate body and the question of whether the Commission should be slimmed down. In so far as Commissioners do not represent their own Member State, there is no strict necessity for there to be a national of each Member State among the College of Commissioners. While there is clearly an advantage to the Commission to be familiar with the social, legal and political climate in all the Member States and having a Commissioner who is a national of each Member State helps in that respect, this has to be balanced with the extent to which too large a size hampers the functioning of the Commission. The solution adopted at Lisbon and reflected in Article 17(5) TEU is to depart from the principle that all EU nationalities should be represented in the College of Commissioners. Instead the number of Commissioners should consist of two thirds of the number of Member States with a rotation between Member States over time and ensuring that the demographic and geological variety in the Union is reflected in the Commission and equality between Member States respected.

How has the size of the commission changed?

Article 247 TFEU allows for the compulsory retirement of a Commissioner by the Court of Justice on application by either the Council (acting by a simple majority) or the Commission in case of inability to fulfil his or her functions or of serious misconduct.

How is a member of the Commission removed?

The Commission is responsible for the execution of the budget, which in practice, involves important powers concerning allocation of funds. The Commission also has various responsibilities for the management and implementations of certain Union policies, although this role is to some extent shared with the Member States themselves and also sometimes delegated to outside agencies; The Commission is also responsible for ensuring that Member States comply with their Union law obligations and, where necessary, can bring infringements proceedings before the Court of Justice against non-compliant Member States; In some limited fields, the Commission also has the power to adopt administrative sanctions such as fines against private parties, primarily in the field of competition law.

How is the Commission "guardian of the Treaties?"

the Commission is collectively responsible before the European Parliament and, under Article 234 TFEU, the Parliament can force the Commission to resign by voting a motion of censure by a 2/3rd majority representing more than half of its members. There is, however, no mechanism of individual responsibility of Commissioners before the European Parliament. The Parliament has not, to date, forced the Commission to resign on purely political grounds.

How is the Commission politically responsible?

The Council is made up of one representative for each Member State. They must have ministerial level in their home Member State and the authority to commit the government of their Member State. They can be ministers at regional level rather than national level where appropriate, a possibility which is of particular relevance for Member States with a Federal structure, such as Belgium or Germany. Member of the Council will therefore typically be prominent or semi-prominent politicians in their home Member State and accountable to national parliaments according to national rules on ministerial and governmental responsibility in their Member State. There is no single, unique membership of the Council. Rather, which national Ministers takes part in the deliberations of the Council will depend on the subject-matter. Thus, where the Council discusses environmental policy, ministers responsible for the environment will attend; when discussing economic affairs, Ministers in charge of economic affairs will attend, etc... There are 10 different Council formation, which include a "General Affairs" formation of the Council that brings together Ministers for Foreign Affairs to deal with cross-sectoral and institutional questions. Compared with the Commission, the Council is not a Collegiate body speaking with one voice but is rather (one of) the way(s) in which each Member State takes part in EU decision-making processes.

How is the Council made up?

The overall size of the "Brussels bureauracy" is fairly modest compared to the breadth of its functions. There are approximately 32,000 persons employed by the Commission. By way of comparison, the UK government still has at its disposal circa 400,000 civil servants. The Commission is organised in Directorate-Generals (usually abbreviated as DG), each headed by one of the Commissioners and each corresponding to a particular portfolio such as "Economic and Financial Affairs" or "Environment" or "Health and Food Safety", etc.

How is the European Civil Service organised?

The Commission is only one of several actors contributing to shaping the policy agenda of the European Union. It has to compete, in particular with the European Council and hte Council in that role, in contrast to what happens in national polities where governments are firmly in control of the agenda. Indeed, it is precisely this balance of power between the more supranational institutions like the Commission and the Parliament on the one hand and the more intergovernmental ones like the European Council and the Council on the other that constitutes the specificity of the European Union.

How is the functioning of the EU different to that of a parliamentary democracy?

a tendency to push power away from the centre (centrifugal tendencies), i.e away from the common institutions and towards the Member States, for which we have used the label "inter- governmentalism" versus a tendency to push power towards the centre (centripetal tendencies), towards the common institutions and away from the member States, for which we have used the label "supranationalism". That tension is reflected in the sharing of power between institutions with different characteristics and situated at different points alongside the supranational-intergovernmental axis. Thus, the power conferred on the more "supranational" institutions like the Commission and the European Parliament is balanced with the conferral of powers to the more "inter-governmental" institutions of the Council and European Council. That tension also exists not just in the balance of power between institutions but also by features within the individual institutions themselves. For instance, the mode of voting in the Council can give the latter more or less inter-governmental characteristics (eg: unanimity versus QMV).

How is the institutional structure of the European Union the result of a tension between opposing tendencies?

Judges and Advocate-Generals are appointed for a period of six years, which can be renewed.

How long are judges appointed for?

The President of the Commission, like the other Commissioners, is in principle in function for a period of five years. This corresponds to the interval between elections to the European Parliament allows the new Parliament to elect the Commission President after each election.

How long is the President of the Commission in function for?

Although the President plays an important role in designating his team of Commissioners, he does not have an entirely free hand since the selection of Commissioners is made by common accord of the President-elect and of the Council based on proposals made by individual Member States and the team is, in addition, subject to a vote of consent by the European Parliament. Again, we find here a balance between the role recognised to Member States in the process and that of the European Parliament. While the President cannot unilaterally choose who the Commissioners are, it is within his or her power under Article 248 TFEU to decide which portfolio (other than foreign affairs and security policy) is attributed to each commissioner

How much power does the President have in choosing his Commissioners?

The presidency of the Council gives a Member State the opportunity to shape to some extent the agenda and priorities of the Council. However, the margin of manoeuvre is somewhat limited. The success of a presidency is generally judged by its achievements, which in turn is a function of the current presidency in mediating potential divergences of views between different Member States. A significant aspect of the presidency role is therefore to act as an effective broker between Member States rather than pushing its own interests. The trio system as well as the need to coordinate with the President of the European Council (see below) has further limited the scope for an individual Member State to push its own agenda during its period of presidency of the Council.

How much power does the president of the Council have?

it is still the case that the Commission remains a major actor in initiating policy in the European Union. However, unlike national governments who largely control policy initiatives in the Member States, the Commission is only one of several actors capable of influencing the policy agenda in the European Union.

How powerful is the commission in political and legislative initiative?

The very fact that the political system of the European Union rests on a balance between supranational and intergovernmental characteristics makes comparisons with domestic political systems difficult and may prevent the reproduction at EU level of certain mechanisms or features of governance that work reasonably well at national level. For instance, the mechanisms of parliamentary democracy are difficult to reproduce at EU level without calling into question what the EU is and transforming it into a quasi-state. On the other hand, the reverse is also true: certain mechanisms and features which do not work at national level do work at EU level. For instance, there is less concentration of power in the hands of a single institution at EU level than is the case with governments at national level. Evaluation of the satisfactory or unsatisfactory character of EU institutional arrangements has to take into account those differences rather than merely placing on the EU an evaluation grid designed for national systems.

Is it easy to compare EU to domestic systems?

evolves over time. Thus, the role of the European Parliament has significantly been strengthened over time, to the detriment of the pre- eminence of the Council, thereby pushing the balance of power in a more supranational direction. Conversely, the creation of the European Council could arguably be seen as undermining the monopoly of political and legislative initiative of the Commission, thereby pushing the balance of power in a more intergovernmental direction.

Is the balance of power between institutions static?

Following a report establishing financial improprieties by one of the Commissioners, the European Parliament precipitated the resignation of the Santer Commission in 1999. This episode led to a change in the Treaties to allow the President of the Commission to request the resignation of an individual Commissioner (cf: Art 17(6) TEU) Thus, there is collective responsibility of the Commission before the European Parliament and individual responsibility of Commissioners before the President.

Is there collective responsibility in the Commission?

For instance, while the emergence of the European Council and its ascendency could be read as move in an intergovernmental direction, it was also important in allowing the development of European integration further by extending cooperation to new fields as well as giving new dynamics to European integration.

One should avoid equating greater European integration to more supranational government- why?

there is a system of coordination across a period of 18 months, viz three successive presidencies. These 3 presidencies (preceding, current and next presidency) are referred to as the "trio" and coordinate their work to ensure better continuity of the work of the Council.

Six months is a very short period and it was felt that the change of presidency every six months affects the continuity of the work of the Council. How is this problem combatted?

While the President used to be chosen by common accord of the Member States, under Article 17(7) TEU (s)he is now elected by the European Parliament. However, the European Parliament can only elect a candidate proposed by the European Council.

The mode of designation of the President of the Commission reflects the balancing of inter-governmental and supranational tendencies, what is the mode of designation?

the Commission has, overall, rather little decision-making power and the development of the European Council has also affected its role of political leadership/initiative. That said, it cannot be denied that the Commission does have an important place in the institutional structure of the European Union.

What are issues with the description of " the main locus of power within the Union decision-making"?

The Commission has two core functions: one of political and legislative initiative and one of ensuring the application and enforcement of Union law.

What are the Commissions two core functions?

the number of Commissioners should be kept equal to the number of Member States for the appointment of the 2014 Commission but that the Decision should be reviewed before the appointment of the next Commission (or accession of the 30th Member State, whichever comes first).

What did The European Council decide in Decision 2013/272/EU?

Although Commissioners are nationals of Member States and national governments propose individuals from which the Council and Commission President-elect select Commissioners, Commissioners are not representatives of the Member State of which they are a national. This independence of the Commission is one of its key characteristic and is strongly affirmed in Article 17(3) TEU. This is further reinforced by Article 245 TFEU which requires Commissioners to refrain from any action incompatible with their duties and from engaging in any other occupation, remunerated or not. Member States are also required in the same article to respect the independence of Commissioners and not to seek to influence them in the performance of their tasks. This independence of the Commission from the Member States is especially valued by the smaller Member States as it acts as a counter-weight to the political dominance of the larger Member States.

What is a key characteristic of the Commission?

The College of Commissioners and European civil servants

What is the Commission made up of?

If Coreper is a kind of downwards extension of the Council, the European Council would be an upward one. Like the Council, the European Council allows the Member States to influence the EU agenda and shape Union policies. Although some specific powers are recognised to it in the Treaty, it is primarily though the (non-binding) conclusions reached by the European Council after each of its meeting and the inter-action between its president and other EU actors that its impact on EU policies is felt. 6

What is the European Council?

Broadly speaking, there are three main categories of cases capable of being brought before the CJEU or the GC: Infringement proceedings brought by the Commission against a Member State which has failed to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty: these actions are brought before the Court of Justice; Preliminary rulings: these are references from national courts before which a point of Union law has been raised and which seek clarification from the Corut of Justice on this point of EU law: the Court of Justice has jurisdiction over these requests; Actions in annulment of EU acts, actions for failure to act and actions in damages based on the non-contractual liability of the Union: these cases concerns illegalities committed by the Union institutions themselves, where the annulment of an illegal act (or conversely the adoption of an act by the institutions) or compensation for damages is sought: these case fall, for the most part, within the jurisdiction of the General Court, whose decisions can be subject to appeal before the Court of Justice.

What is the Jurisdiction of the CJEU and of the General Court?

The Court of Justice is composed of one judge from each Member State and the General Court of "at least one judge per Member State" (Article 19 TEU). Both courts are assisted by Advocate-Generals, which are members of the Court whose role is to submit a written Opinion recommending how a case should be decided.

What is the composition of The Court of Justice?

Article 14 TEU provides the European Parliament shall consist of representatives of Union citizens totalling no more than 750 MEPs (not including the President) with a degressively proportional system where the maximum number of seats for a Member State will be 96 and the minimum 6. Thus the system is only roughly proportional to population rather than strictly proportional.

What is the composition of The European Parliament?

The holder of this post has the peculiarity of straddling functions across the Commission, the Council and the European Council. In the Commission, the High Representative is in charge of the External Relations Portfolio and takes part in Commission's deliberations like any other Commissioner. In the Council, the High Representative chairs the Foreign Affairs Council and has general responsibility for the conduct of the CFSP and is expected to put forward proposals for the development of the CFSP. Finally, the High representative also takes part in the work of the European Council. The idea behind the post was to present a single, unified voice of the EU vis-à-vis the outside world and ensure coherence and consistency between actions of the Commission, the Council and European Council in external affairs.

What is the function of The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy?

The role and composition of the European Council are defined in Article 15 TEU. The European Council consists of Heads of State or Government of the Member States, together with its President and the President of the Commission. the European Council normally meets four times a year in Brussels.

What is the role and composition of the European Council?

The Parliament has gone a long way from its origin as the consultative Assembly in the original EEC Treaty, especially since the introduction of direct elections in the second half of the 1970s. It is now a powerful player in the EU decision-making system, almost co-equal legislator with the Council and with an increased role over the appointment of the Commission.

What is the role of The European Parliament?

not binding but it is often followed by the Court, making those cases where the Court does not follow the Opinion of the Advocate-General all the more noticeable. Opinions of Advocate-Generals can also throw more light on the context and help understanding cases where the reasoning of the Court seems somewhat obscure.

What is the role of the Advocate-Generals opinion?

National ministers are only in Brussels for a limited amount of time and EU-related work only represent part of their activity. Much of the day-to-day work that falls on the Council is prepared by permanent representatives meeting together in a Committee known as "Coreper". Which is made up of senior national officials that prepare decisions of the Council and liaise with the Commission notably in relation to legislative work. A significant role of Coreper is to sift through legislative proposals, identifying non- controversial points which do not require detailed consideration by ministers so that meetings of the Council can focus on the more difficult points requiring further discussion. Its composition mirrors that of the Council, albeit at a lower point in the political hierarchy (at ambassadorial level rather than ministerial level) .

What is the role of the Coreper?

In the case of the Court of Justice, an adjective that is often used to describe its interpretive style is "teleological." Although teleological interpretation is often assimilated to purposive interpretation, there are subtle differences between the two. Purposive interpretation seeks to identify the intention of the author in adopting the act. Teleological interpretation is slightly different. It is not so much an enquiry into second guessing what the author meant or what the author would have meant had it directed its mind to the problem at issue before the judge. Rather, the question to ask oneself is: what is the objective that the rule or set of rules is aiming at and what needs to be done to achieve that objective (regardless of what the author historically might have subjectively intended)? The emphasis here is on making the rule effective to achieve the ultimate goal that it aims at and may sometimes go beyond what might have been the original intention of the author of the act.

What is the style of reasoning of the Court of Justice?

The Council is the institution endowed with most decisional power in the institutional structure of the European Union. Virtually all legislation must be adopted by the Council, either on its own or, in the majority of cases, together with the European Parliament. As we saw, although the Commission formally has a quasi-monopoly over legislative initiative, the Council can request the Commission to put forward proposals and has often done so. The Council is also the major institution involved in the CFSP, where the Commission and the European Parliament only have a very limited role.

What powers does the Council have?

While the European Parliament has virtually no power to adopt legislation unilaterally, it is now almost co-equal legislator with the Council. This is remarkable when one considers that it started off as a mere consultative body. Most legislation since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty is adopted under the "ordinary legislative procedure". This procedure, which was known before the Lisbon Treaty as the "co-decision" procedure, gives the Parliament the power to block the adoption of legislation that it disagrees with and is characterised by a "trialogue" between Commission, Council and Parliament whereby solutions acceptable to both the Council and Parliament are sought under the mediation of the Commission. When the ordinary legislative procedure applies, which is in the overwhelming majority of cases, the Euroepan Parliament is truly on a foot of equality with the Council regarding the adoption of Union legislation. There are some cases where the powers of the Parliament are more limited and there is a whole area, that of the CFSP, where Parliament is relegated to a background role with the locus of power being firmly located in the Council and European Council. For the most part, however, the Parliament is a key player in the legislative process. In some ways, the European Parliament has more input in the contents of Union legislation than is the case of national parliaments with respect to national legislation. National parliaments are often constrained by party discipline to adopt legislative proposals put forward by the government with only comparatively minor amendments. The European Parliament is under no similar constraints and can play a much more active role in negotiating the contents of Union legislation with the Council. In that sense, the European Parliament is arguably closer to the idea of an institution endowed with legislative power understood as the power to adopt legislation than many national parliaments.

What powers does the European Parliament have?

Article 19(1) TEU

Where can you find the composition of the Court of Justice?

the creation of the European Council- few defined powers in the Treaties, the status of its members as Heads of State or Government of the member States endows it with the highest political stature in the European Union. In practice, any major political initiative will require the endorsement of the European Council. But the Commission itself contributes to shaping hte agenda of the European Council so one should not understand the emergence of the European Council as resulting in a straightforward replacement of the Commission's leadership role. It does, however, limit it to some extent by making it de facto subordinate for major policy initiatives. both the European Parliament and the Council can take the initiative by requesting the Commission to submit legislative proposals on any issues falling within Union competence. This is explicitly provided for in Article 241 TFEU (for the Council) and Article 225 TFEU (for the European Parliament). In both cases, the Commission has in principle the possibility not to submit a proposal despite such a request but in that case must inform the institution concerned of the reasons for the refusal to submit a proposal. In practice, the Council has regularly made use of this possibility. the Treaty also provides for the possibility of a citizen's initiative under Article 11(4) TEU if at least one million citizens requests that the Commission puts forward proposals for legislative action on a particular issue.

Which factors have contributed to limiting the political leadership role of the Commission?

The Commission

Which part of the EU institutional structure is described as " the main locus of power within the Union decision-making"?

General Secretariat of the Council. With the increased role of the Council over the years, the role of the Secretariat has also increased and the Secretary-General is a significant player in the EU political and diplomatic landscape.

Who provides administrative support to the Council?

there are some variations from Member State to Member State as to whether, for instance, those of their nationals who reside abroad or, conversely, third country nationals resident in the Member State are entitled to vote or not. The Court of Justice has accepted that, in the absence of uniform rules adopted by the Union, the member States do enjoy a margin of discretion over these issues as long as they do not breach the principle of equality and do not treat individuals in comparable situations differently. Since the Maastricht Treaty, one of the rights enjoyed by Union citizens residing in another Member State is the right to take part in the European elections in their country of residence. Some Union citizens will therefore have the choice of either taking part in European elections in the Member State of which they are a national, when that Member State allows non-resident nationals to take part in those elections, or taking part in European elections in the Member State in which they reside.

Without uniform procedures in place, how is it decided who votes in EP elections?