How Does The EU Work?

Here goes!

• The Council of the European Union, which represents the member states, is the EU’s main decision-taking body. When it meets at Heads of State or Government level, it becomes the European Council whose role is to provide the EU with political impetus on key issues.
• The European Parliament, which represents the people, shares legislative and budgetary power with the Council of the European Union.
• The European Commission, which represents the common interest of the EU, is the main executive body. It has the right to propose legislation and ensures that EU policies are properly implemented.

I. The decision-making triangle

The European Union is more than just a confederation of countries, but it is not a federal state. It is, in fact, a new type of structure that does not fall into any traditional legal category. Its political system is historically unique and has been constantly evolving over more than 50 years.
The European Parliament: his vote is your voice.

The Treaties (known as ‘primary’ legislation), are the basis for a large body of ‘secondary’ legislation which has a direct impact on the daily lives of EU citizens. The secondary legislation consists mainly of regulations, directives and recommendations adopted by the EU institutions.

These laws, along with EU policies in general, are the result of decisions taken by the institutional triangle made up of the Council (representing national governments), the European Parliament (representing the people) and the European Commission (a body independent of EU governments that upholds the collective European interest).

(a) The Council of the European Union and the European Council

The Council of the European Union (also known as the Council of Ministers) is the EU’s main decision-making body. The EU member states take it in turns to hold the Council Presidency for a six-month period. Every Council meeting is attended by one minister from each EU country. Which ministers attend a meeting depends on which topic is on the agenda: foreign affairs, agriculture, industry, transport, the environment, etc.

The Council has legislative power, which it shares with the European Parliament under the ‘co-decesion’. In addition to this, the Council and the Parliament share equal responsibility for adopting the EU budget. The Council also concludes international agreements that have been negotiated by the Commission.

According to the Treaties, the Council has to take its decisions either by a simple majority vote, a ‘qualified majority’ vote or unanimously, depending on the subject to be decided.

The Council has to agree unanimously on important questions such as amending the Treaties, launching a new common policy or allowing a new country to join the Union.

In most other cases, qualified majority voting is used. This means that a Council decision is adopted if a specified minimum number of votes are cast in its favour. The number of votes allocated to each EU country roughly reflects the size of its population.

Number of votes for each country in the Council
Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom	29
Spain and Poland	27
Romania	14
Netherlands	13
Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary and Portugal	12
Austria, Bulgaria and Sweden	10
Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Finland	7
Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovenia	4
Malta	3
Total:	345
A minimum of 255 votes out of 345 (73.9 %) is required to reach a qualified majority. In addition:  a majority of member states (in some cases two thirds) must approve the decision, and any member state may ask for confirmation that the votes cast in favour represent at least 62 % of the EU’s total population

The European Council meets, in principle, four times a year. It is chaired by the president or prime minister of the country holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union at the time. The President of the European Commission attends as a full member.

Under the Treaty of Maastricht, the European Council officially became an initiator of the Union’s major policies and was empowered to settle difficult issues on which ministers meeting in the Council of the European Union fail to agree.

The European Council also deals with pressing international issues through the common foreign and security policy (CFSP), which is intended to allow the EU to speak with one voice on diplomatic questions.

(b) The European Parliament

The European Parliament is the elected body that represents the EU’s citizens. It exercises political supervision over the EU’s activities and takes part in the legislative process. Since 1979, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have been directly elected, by universal suffrage, every five years.

Number of seats in the European Parliament per country 2007–09
Austria	18
Belgium	24
Bulgaria	18
Cyprus	6
Czech Republic	24
Denmark	14
Estonia	6
Finland	14
France	78
Germany	99
Greece	24
Hungary	24
Ireland	13
Italy	78
Latvia	9
Lithuania	13
Luxembourg	6
Malta	5
Netherlands	27
Poland	54
Portugal	24
Romania	35
Slovakia	14
Slovenia	7
Spain	54
Sweden	19
United Kingdom	78
Total	785