EU LAW 1

Week 1 Lecture 2 The Institutions (1)

According to the Treaties, Article 13 of the TEU (Treaty of the
European Union main governing body) the Union has 7
institutions (we only cover fi rst 5)
The European Parliament
o Each country is split into zones and each zone elects their
representative
o Works together with the Council of Ministers to jointly pass
most legislation
The European Council
o Composed of the heads of state and parliament
(government)
o They meet a few times a year
o Set political goals of EU set the political agenda
The Council of Ministers
o Are the ministers who meet all the time
o Have day jobs so they cant meet all the time so they have
embassies
o Embassies represent the ministers
o Works together with the European Parliament to jointly
pass most legislation
The Commission
o Originally 12,000 people now around 30,000 people
o Based in Brussels
o Propose most legislation
o Must to bear in mind the political priorities of the European
Council
The Court of Justice
o Based in Luxemburg
o Rules on all law coming out of the EU
o If there is a legal dispute there are different ways by which
it can go to the court of Justice
o It is like the EUs supreme court
The European Central Bank
o In charge of the Euro
The court of Auditors
o Responsible for ensuring there is no corruption in the EU
o Look into all accounts

1957 versus 2013

Legislative Powers of the Institutions
1957
The Commission (known then as the High Authority) proposes
almost all legislation
o This still remains the case now
The Council passes most laws (composed of Members states)
BUT:
o Could only change the Commission proposal by unanimity
o Commission had limited powers to pass legislation on its
own
o The High Authority would get their will unless all the
Member states objected (unanimity)
The European Parliament (known then as the Assembly)
consulted
o Not exactly a power because you could simply consult but
then ignore what they say
o Not directly elected reps reps from national parliament
The Commission drafts all secondary legislation under
supervision of the Council
2013
The Commission proposes almost all legislation
The Council and the European Parliament jointly adopt most
primary legislation
o If the EP agrees with the Commissions proposals the only
way to override this would be for the Council to have full
unanimity
o Previously the EP could simply be ignored but now
they are one of the main bodies adopting most
legislation
Commission has limited powers to pass legislation on its own
o The commission has lost a lot of power
The Commission drafts all secondary legislation under
supervision of the Council (sometimes but rarely under
supervision of the EP as well)
The EU Commission What is it?
Is roughly 33,000 European Civil servants
o Roughly 23,000 civil servants in Brussles
o Roughly 10,000 in agencies around the EU
o Is headed by a College of Commissioners and the President
of the Commission in Brussels
33,000 people
o 80percent are lawyers and general policy employees

o 20 percent are translators and interpreters

24 official languages
o 80 percent of this 33,000 are permanent employees
Very difficult to get rid of these employees
These employees have very good job security so
they owe their loyalty to the European Commission
rather than their countries
o 20 percent falls into 4 categories
First Category - National experts who have been
loaned out from the member state
Second Category - Contract Employees
Contract guys have to pass an exam
Third Category - Temporary Employees
Apply just by CV and cover letter
Fourth Category - Trainees / Interns
The EU Commission Powers
1. Executive Powers - supervising
Implements a number of very important policies: competition,
external trade, agriculture and state aid
o Ex. How many / what farmers can grow
o Running all of these policies
In areas where EU has executive powers where they can control
legislation
o Ensure that companies and everyone is following their
treaties
Effectively the member states have no power in this area
2. Guardian of the treaties
Take actions against member states who breach EU law
Take actions against companies in certain areas (usually where it
has executive power)
Roughly 200 a year
Goes before the European Court of Justice
Manage EU agencies
o Agencies are created by EU primary legislation
o Similar to ministries
o Agencies are linked with ministries
3. Legislative Powers
Have the right to initiate almost all EU legislation / set the
legislative agenda
Acts as mediator between the Council of Ministers and the EP
when they pass legislation
Can pass its own legislation in limited but important fields

Primary legislation is past by the government and allows for

secondary legislation to be passed by ministers
o Secondary legislation can be passed by the commission
usually under the supervision of the member states
o Council and EU parliament will pass primary legislation and
then the commission will pass secondary legislation under
the supervision of member states

The EU Commission The President and the Commissioners

President:
o Article 14(1) Appointed by EP
o but the candidate is put forward by the European Council
Article 17(7)
o Rejection by EP -> another candidate within a month
o President is appointed by the European parliament but all
candidates are put forward by the European Council BUT
the European Parliament can reject the person and the
European Council will have to put forth another candidate
within a month
Number of Commissioners:
o There are 28 commissioners 1 per member state
o From October 2014 it will go down to 27 unless the heads
of state and government decide otherwise
Each Commissioner covers:
o In charge of policy areas
Appointment / Removal:
o Appointed by member state -> appointed by member sate
or appointed by European Council?????
o Can be removed by Court of Justice for gross misconduct
o European Parliament can call on the whole Commission to
resign
o European Parliament will hold a hearing and they must
approve the person being appointed
European parliament technically has a vito
The EU Commission The Bureaucracy and its Hierarchy
How are the 23,000 civil servants organized in Brussels
o Directorates General (DG)
o And Services
Hierarchy
o Commissioner
Appointed by member state 28 in total
o Director General / Head of Service
Each department has one

o Director
o Head of Unit
Commission was organized from a French model

The EU Commission Who: Decision making

Formally the Commission acts through the College of
Commissioners
o The 28 commissioners and the president
o When legislation is proposed form the commission it is
approved by this college
o Legislation must be approved by everyone in the college all
28 plus the president (usually a majority vote)
Each of the 28 commissioners has a cabinet usually
comprised of about 70 different field experts to
advise on different issues
This helps so that all members of the commission
have their own say
o They meet every week on Wednesday
o Role of Cabinet
The cabinet is comprised of experts each with
different areas of expertise
o 4 ways of working:
Weekly meeting (chef de Cabinet meeting
before) MAIN WAY THEY WORK
Written Procedure
Pretty much means emails
Empowering individual Commissioner delegate to a
commissioner to work out issues
Delegating to Director-General / Head of Service
You do this to get a quick decision
o College of Commissioners
Either gets the deputies to work something out
Or they delegate to one person
Or they do it over email
o EU COMMISSION DOES LEGISLATIVE WORK,
ENFORCING WORK AND GOVERNMENTAL WORK
LEGISLATIVE POWER HAS CHANGED BECAUSE IT
USED TO BE THAT THE COUNCIL COULD ONLY
PASS A LAW IF THE COMMISSION ALLOWED IT
NOW WE MOVED TO LEGISLATION BEING
PASSED BY THE COUNCIL AND THE PARLIAMENT
AND NOW THE COMMISSION DOESNT HAVE
MUCH SAY SO THERE IS A HUGE DECREASE IN
LEGISLATIVE POWERS

European Parliament Legislative Powers

Has had a huge transformation for the better
o Started out as an unelected assembly
o Now one of the co legislators
Previously primary legislation
o Commission proposes, Council agrees Assembly at the
start of EEC:
o SEA (Single European Act): introduced cooperation
procedure in some areas
Parliament can delay legislation
Began to have cooperation procedure pretty much
just allowed them to delay
o Maastrict Treaty (1992) introduced co-decision to some
areas, Nice and Amsterdam extended areas co-decision
applied
Later treaties like the Nice treaty and Amsterdam
Treaty added the power of co decision to more areas
o Does not have the right of initiative cannot initiate or
propose legislation
o Commission holds this power
Eurpean Parliament Legislative Powers
Now Lisbon Treaty (last major treaty change): co-operation
(gone) Ordinary legislative procedure
o Brought in co decision to almost everything and got rid of
this delaying procedure that had existed before
Previously Secondary legislation
o Secondary legislation was supervised primary by member
states also somewhat by EP
Now Secondary legislation
o Almost exclusively supervised by member states
No power to initiate legislation key difference with
national parliaments
DECREASE IN POWER WAS IN SECONDARY LEGISLATION
PREVIOUSLY THEY SUPERVISED SECONDARY LEGISLATION
A LITTLE BIT AND NOW ALL THE POWER IS WITH THE
MEMBER STATES
They questions each commissioner and president of the
commission prior to appointment
Eurpean Parliament Who
MEPs (members of EP)
o Until 1979 they were just reps from national parliaments

o Now directly elected form each member state

Since 1986
o 751 MEP limit
Done by population in each country
Its allocated according to the population of the
country but its weighted to allow the smaller
countries to have more involvement this upset the
larger countries including Germany
o Favoring small countries
Small countries are allowed to have a member in the
parliament even if they are extremely small
European Parliament
Burea
o Administrative leadership of EP
o They can sue other institutions
Secretariat General
o Lawyers
o Translators
o Policy experts
Standing Committees:
o Brussels is the administrative capitol of EP
o Luxemburg is where they sometimes sit
o Strasburg is where they physically sit
Rappotuer
Council of the EU / Council of Ministers
A gathering of ministers who meet regularly
Main function before Maastricht (1992): to pass legislation alone
Now most legislation requires the EP and Council to agree (ie
they are co-legislators)
Single institution but referred to by the subject matter of the
meeting:
o Eg: Agricultural Council
o Eg: Fisheries Council
Day to day work done by the diplomats of each MS to the EU
Council of the EU / Council of Ministers (The Council)
Voting
o Each country assigned a number of votes depending on its
size
o Treaty sets out thresholds needed for each area of policy

 Qualified majority voting the norm (exceptions exist)

o To pass legislation by Qualified Majority Voting (QMV)
from April 2014
55% of weighted votes
At least 15 member states
Covering 65% of the EU population
To block: at least 4 countries must oppose