How the European Union works
INTRODUCING THE EUROPEAN UNION
The European Union in brief
How the European Union (EU) works?
At the core of the EU are:
the 28 Member States
their citizens.
The states are all sovereign & independent. Pooling sovereignty means, that the
Member States delegate some of their decision-making powers to the shared
institutions they have created so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest can
be made democratically at the European level.
The EU thus sits between the fully federal system found in the United States and the
loose, intergovernmental cooperation system seen in the United Nations.
The EU was created in 1950.
It has built:
a single market for goods and services that spans 28 Member States with over 500
million citizens free to move and settle where they wish.
the euro
the largest supplier of development and humanitarian aid programmes
it will:
get Europe out of the economic crisis
deals with climate change
helps neighbouring countries
continues ongoing negations
How the European Union works 1
, building forge in policy which will do much to extend European values around the
world
The EU treaties
EU is based on the rule of law. This means that every action taken by the EU is founded
on treaties that have been approved voluntarily and democratically by all EU countries.
The treaties are negotiated and agreed by all the EU Member States and then ratified
by their parliaments or by referendum.
The treaties include:
the objectives (goals) of the EU
the rules for EU institutions
how decisions are made
how the relationship between the EU and its member Stats been made
treaties change when a new member joins
Who takes the decisions?
Decision-making at EU level involves various European institutions, in particular:
1. the European Parliament, which represents the EU’s citizens and is directly
elected by them
2. the European Council, which consists of the Heads of State or Government of the
EU Member States;
3. the Council, which represents the governments of the EU Member States;
4. the European Commission, which represents the interests of the EU as a whole.
The European Council defines the general political direction and priorities of the EU but
no legislative functions. The European Commission proposes new laws and the
European Parliament and Council that adopt them. The Member States and the
Commission then execute them.
How the European Union works 2
, What types of legislation are there?
There are several types of legal acts which are applied in different ways.
a regulation is a law that is applicable and binding in all Member States directly. It
does not need to be passed into national law by the Member States.
a directive is a law that binds the Member States, or a group of Member States, to
achieve a particular objective. A directive specifies the result to be achieved: it is up
to the Member States individually how this is done.
A decision can be addressed to Member States, groups of people, or even
individuals. It is binding in its entirety.
Recommendations and opinions have no binding force.
How is legislation passed?
Every European law is based on a specific treaty article, referred to as the ‘legal basis
of the legislation. This determines which legislative procedure must be followed. The
treaty describes:
the decision-making process
the Commission proposals
successive readings by the Council and Parliament
the opinions of the advisory bodies.
when unanimity is required, and when a qualified majority is sufficient for the
Council to adopt legislation.
The great majority of EU legislation is adopted using the ordinary legislative
procedure. In this procedure, the Parliament and the Council share legislative power.
The procedure begins with the Commission. When considering launching a proposal for
action, the Commission often invites views on the topic from:
governments
business
How the European Union works 3
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