Week 5
Introducing the EU
- EU = ‘European Union’ a Union of European Nations
- An economic/ political organisation made up of 27 ‘Member States’ (Countries)
- Established by the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, though its origins can be traced to the
European Economic Community (EEC), established by the Treaty of Rome in 1957
- Its stated official purposed include: the promotion of peace , facilitation of borderless
trade, establishing a unified monetary system, encouraging technological and
scientific development, protecting the environment, ensuring fair competition, and
fighting discrimination
Why is it important
- An effective way of thinking of the EU, is thinking of it as a type of umbrella
organisation, covering all the individual nations that are its members
- Any country that is a member of the EU will have, to some extent at least, legal
obligations to follow the EU’s rules, decisions and policy decisions
- Significantly, the EU is able to create its own laws and Member States are required to
follow these
The main institutions
The European Parliament
- The “Legislature” of the EU, responsible for examining and passing new EU
legislation
- Composed of members directly elected by the European citizens
The European commission
- The “executive” of the EU, responsible for proposing new laws, and for enforcing EU
law
- Not democratically elected. Made up predominantly of civil servants and technocrats
The court of justice of the European Union (CJEU)
- The “Judicial” branch, responsible for interpreting EU law
, Primary sources of EU law
- Primary sources of EU law come mainly from the founding treaties of the EU, namely
the Treaty on the EU and the Treaty on the functioning of the EU (TFEU)
- These treaties set out of distribution of competencies between the EU and its
Members States, and establish the powers of the various EU institutions (as per the
previous lesson)
Secondary sources of EU law
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