Tutorial Index

• Introduction
• Treaty Research
• Finding  U.S. Treaties
• Finding Non- U.S. Treaties
• UN Research
• Specialized Agencies
  of the U.N.
• Finding U.N. Documents
• E. U. Research
• European Union Institutions
• Finding European Union Documents
• Foreign & Private
  International Law Research

 

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International and Foreign Law Tutorial

EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS

The key institutions of the European Union:

The Council of the European Union is the main decision-making body of the EU. The Council represents the member states. A minister from each member state attends Council meetings. The ministers attending a particular Council meeting depends on the focus of the meeting. For example, the Environmental Ministers from each member state will be in attendance if the topic of the meeting is an environmental matter. The meeting will then be known as the "Environmental Council".

The European Commission has two primary responsibilities. One of the responsibilities is to implement the decisions of Parliament and the Council. The other major responsibility is to legislation and policies. The politically independent institution represents and upholds the interests of the European Union as a whole.

The European Parliament members are directly elected by the people they represent. The three main duties of Parliament are: 1) to legislate 2) democratic supervision over other EU institutions and 3) the EU budget which is decided jointly by Parliament and the Council.

The Council of Ministers has the power to enact legislation. The Council generally refers proposed legislation to the Council's Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) to review the proposed legislation, much like proposed bills in the U.S. House or Senate are referred to a committee for review. A unanimous recommendation for passage from COREPER schedules the proposed legislation for a Point A vote, which is generally passed by the Council without debate. Where COREPER cannot obtain a unanimous recommendation for passage, the proposed legislation is scheduled as a Point B and heads to the full Council of Ministers for debate.

The European Court of Justice is concerned with the accurate interpretation and application of EU legislation by each member state. The Court can settle disputes between member states, EU institutions, businesses and individuals. The Court is composed of a judge from each member state, but only 11 judges sit for each matter brought before the Court.

In 1988, the European Court of First Instance was created to assist the ECJ by hearing and determining cases brought by private individuals and cases dealing with unfair competition between businesses.

 

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