Structural Institutions

European Commission

The Commission is an independent body from national governments representing and upholding the interests of the EU. It represents the starting point for every Community action, as it is the Commission that has to present proposals and drafts for Community legislation to the Council. In addition, the Commission holds law-making powers and powers to initiate legislation in certain areas such as the EC budget, the Structural Funds, etc.

The Commission is also known as the ‘guardian of the Community Treaties’ as It monitors the Member States’ application and implementation of primary and secondary Community legislation and institutes infringement proceedings in the event of any violation of Community law. At the international level, the Commission represents the European Union by negotiating agreements between the EU and other countries.  

The Commission is headed by a President who is assisted by two Vice-Presidents and its members are appointed ‘by common accord’ of the governments of the Member States for a renewable term of five years. The current Commission holds 27 commissioners.

Commission is based in Brussels (Belgium), but it also has offices in Luxembourg.

For detailed information please visit:

http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/comm/index_en.htm    

European Parliament

The European Parliament (EP) represents the peoples of the Member States of the European Union. Since 1979 its members have been directly elected by the people they represent. Elections are held every five years, and every EU citizen who is on an electoral roll is entitled to vote. The European Parliament holds three main tasks of passing European laws, democratic supervision and the control of EU budget.

In the legislation adoption process the role of the EU Parliament has been strengthened by Maastricht Treaty. This placed the European Parliament and the Council on an equal footing in a wide range of fields. The Council is required to consult the Parliament in various policy areas such as agriculture, economic policy, visas and immigration. In addition, Parliament’s assent is required for certain important decisions, such as allowing new countries to join the EU. Parliament also provides impetus for new legislation by examining the Commission’s annual work programme. 

The Parliament also acts as a supervisory actor over the other European institutions. The Parliament monitors the work of the Council and may call for the Commission’s mass resignation.

Concerning the budget, the Parliament shares with the Council authority over the EU budget and can therefore influence EU spending. It reserves the right to adopt or reject the budget.

The European Parliament has three places of work Brussels (Belgium), Luxembourg and Strasbourg (France). Luxembourg is home to the administrative offices and meetings of the Parliament, known as ‘plenary sessions’, take place in Strasbourg and in Brussels.  

For detailed information please visit: 

http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/parliament/index_en.htm

Council of European Union

The Council is the EU's main decision-making body. It is made up of representatives of the governments of the Member States. The ministers attending the meetings vary depending on the subjects on the agenda. The Council meets under nine different configurations (General Affairs and External Relations Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN), Justice and Home Affairs (JHA), Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs, Competitiveness, Transport, Telecommunications and EnergyAgriculture and Fisheries, Environment, Education, Youth and Culture). The Council is responsible for passing laws and approving the budget jointly with the EU Parliament, co-ordinating the broad economic policies of the member states, concluding international agreements between the EU and other countries or international organisations and co-ordinating co-operation between the national courts and police forces in criminal matters.

Preparatory work for Council meetings is carried out by COREPER made up of permanent representatives of member states.  

In most of the issues the Council takes decisions by ‘qualified majority voting’. Despite the fact, in some particularly sensitive areas such as common foreign and security policy, taxation, asylum and immigration policy the decisions are taken by unanimosity. 

The Presidency of the Council rotates every six months.

The seat of the Council is in Brussels.

For detailed information please visit:

http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/council/index_en.htm

European Council

The European Council grew out of the Summit Conferences of Heads of State or Government. At the Paris Summit in December 1974 it was decided that meetings should be held three times a year and described as the European Council. In this context, the Heads of State or Government and the President of the Commission meet at least twice a year to discuss and establish policy guidelines for European integration in relation to both the EC and the EU.

Court of Justice

The main task of the Court of Justice is to ensure that the EU legislation is interpreted and applied in the same way in all EU countries. The Court gives rulings on cases brought before it mainly on the cases of references for a preliminary ruling; actions for failure to fulfil an obligation; actions for annulment; actions for failure to act.

The Court of Justice based in Luxembourg,  currently consists of 27 Judges and 8 Advocates General who are appointed ‘by common accord of the governments of the Member States’ for a renewable term of six years.  

For detailed information please visit: 

http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/justice/index_en.htm

Court of Auditors

The European Court of Auditors was set up by the Treaty of 22 July 1975. It consists of one member from each EU country, appointed by the Council for a renewable term of six years. The main task of Court of Auditors is to check that the EU budget is correctly implemented.

The Court of Auditors based in Luxembourg has approximately 800 staff, including translators and administrators as well as auditors.

For detailed information please visit:

http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/auditors/index_en.htm

Functional Institutions

European Economic and Social Committee

European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is an advisory body representing employers, trade unions, farmers, consumers and other interest groups that collectively make up ‘organised civil society’ at the EU level. It presents the groups views and defends their interests in policy discussions with EU decision-making bodies.

The Committee mainly holds the tasks of advising the Council, Commission and European Parliament and encouraging civil society to become more involved in EU policymaking. 

The EESC has 344 members from each EU country roughly reflecting the size of its population. Each member is nominated by the EU governments and appointed for four years.

The European Economic and Social Committee is based in Brussels.

For detailed information please visit:

http://europa.eu/institutions/consultative/eesc/index_en.htm

Committee of the Regions

Committee of the Regions is an advisory body composed of representatives of Europe’s regional and local authorities. On matters such as regional policy, the environment, education and transport CoR has to be consulted before EU decisions are taken. Like the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions consists of 344 representatives of regional and local authorities in the Member States.

For detailed information please visit: 

http://europa.eu/institutions/consultative/cor/index_en.htm

European Central Bank

Established in Frankfurt in 1998, European Central Bank is reponsible for managing the euro – the EU’s single currency and framing and implementing the EU’s economic and monetary policy.   The ECB consists of decision-making bodies of the Governing Council, the Executive Board and the General Council. The ECB works in complete independence so that no EU institutions and member state governments can influence the ECB or the national central banks.

For detailed information please visit: 

http://europa.eu/institutions/financial/ecb/index_en.htm

European Investment  Bank

Established in 1958, the European Investment Bank acts as the long-term lending Bank of the European Union.

The EIB is a non-profit, policy driven bank owned by the Member States of the European Union. It’s main task is to lend money to the public and private sectors for projects of European interest. Since the EU Member States are the EIB’s shareholders, it carries the highest possible credit rating (AAA) on the money markets.

EIB is active in the EU and in some 140 countries worldwide with which the EU has a Cooperation agreement while supporting sustainable development in the candidate, potential candidate countries and neighbour countries to EU.  

For detailed information please visit:

http://europa.eu/institutions/financial/eib/index_en.htm

 Ombudsman

The position of European Ombudsman was created by Maastricht Treaty in 1992. The Ombudsman acts as an intermediary between the citizen and the EU authorities receiving and investigating complaints from EU citizens, businesses and organizations. The person in charge deals with maladministration in the European Union institutions and bodies.

The Ombudsman is elected by the European Parliament for a renewable term of five years and operates   independently and impartially.

For detailed information please visit:

http://europa.eu/institutions/others/ombudsman/index_en.htm

European Agencies

European agencies are bodies governed by European public law; distinct from the EU Institutions (Council, Parliament, Commission, etc.) . They are set up by an act of secondary legislation in order to accomplish a very specific technical, scientific or managerial task, in the framework of the European Union’s “first pillar”.