The Institutional Structure of the EU European Commission

The Institutional Structure of the EU

European Commission

European Commission • The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, and day-to-day running of the EU. • Commission is called the ‘motor’ of the integration. The Commission is obliged to promote the general European interest. • The Commission has several responsibilities: • -proposing and shaping legislation • -İnitiating and managing the budget • -İmplementing policy • -Supervising the EU law • -Conducting external relations • -Contributing to enlargement and treaty reform • -Monitoring and reporting on major EU developments • -Pointing the way forward

European Commission • The Commission operates as a cabinet government, with 28 members of the Commission (informally known as commissioners). • There is one member per member state, though members are bound to represent the interests of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. One of the 28 is the Commission President (currently Jean-Claude Juncker) proposed by the European Council and elected by the European Parliament. • The Council then appoints the other 27 members of the Commission in agreement with the nominated President, and then the 28 members as a single body are subject to a vote of approval by the European Parliament.

European Commission • The administrative body of about 25, 000 European civil servants who are split into departments called Directorates. General and Services. • The internal working languages of the Commission are English, French and German. • The Commission was set up from the start to act as an independent supranational authority: The members are proposed by their member state governments, one from each, however they are bound to act independently – neutral from other influences such as those governments which appointed them. • The Commission is assisted by committees made up of representatives of member states and of the public and private lobbies (known as "comitology")

Legislative initiative • The Commission differs from the other institutions in that it alone has legislative initiative in the EU. • The Commission has a shared right of initiative in Common Foreign and Security Policy and Justice and Home Affairs. • The Council and Parliament may request the Commission to draft legislation, though the Commission does have the power to refuse to do so • Under the Lisbon Treaty, EU citizens are also able to request the Commission to legislate in an area via a petition carrying one million signatures, but this is not binding.

Butgetary role • Early each year, the Commission submits a draft budget to the European Council and European Parliament. • EU had an agreed budget of € 1. 087 billion for the period 2014– 2020, representing 1. 04% of the EU-28's GNI forecast for the respective periods. • The Commission is also responsible for the implementation of the EU budget; ensuring, along with the Court of Auditors, that EU funds are correctly spent.

Revenue • The EU obtains most of its revenue indirectly by payments from treasuries of member states. Revenue is divided into four categories: • 1. Traditional own resources are taxes raised on behalf of the EU as a whole, principally import duties on goods brought into the EU. These are collected by the state where import occurs and passed on to the EU. States are allowed to keep a proportion of the revenue to cover administration (25%). The European Commission operates a system of inspectors to investigate the collection of these taxes in member states and ensure compliance with the rules. • 2. VAT based own resources are taxes on EU citizens derived as a proportion of VAT levied in each member country.

Revenue • 3. GNI based own resources currently forms the largest contribution to EU. Revenue is currently capped at 1. 23% of Gross national income in the European Union as a whole. • 4. Other revenue makes up approximately 1% of the EU budget. This includes interest on deposits or late payments, underspent funding from community programs and any other surplus from the previous budget.

Expenditure • Most of the EU budget is used for agricultural and regional support, while the administration only accounts for 6 -7%. • The largest single expenditure item was due to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The share of traditional CAP spending is projected to decrease significantly to 32%. • Other expenditures items are: direct aid, export refunds, storage and rural development and subsidies.

Expenditure • The EU's structural funds, which are used to support specific regions in the EU, as part of EU's regional policy, which aims to reduce regional disparities in terms of income, wealth and opportunities. Europe's poorer regions receive most of the support, but all European regions are eligible for funding under the policy's various funds and programs. While the CAP spending is going down, the regional support is increasing. • External actions: EU's international activities outside the EU (development aid, peace keeping and security work, election observers etc. ).

Executive Responsabilities • Although the Commission is described as the EU’s executive body, it lacks the ability to do that in practice without the help of member states’ civil services. On farms, in factories, at airports and docks, the Commission depends entirely on national officials. • The Commission’s executive power therefore refers not ground-level implementation but to the enactment of rules and regulations necessary to give the EU legislation practical effect. • Overregulation: EU citizens critize the Commission for regulating even the length of British sausage or the size and shape of potted plants.

Executive Responsabilities • The Commission is alone resposible for implementing EU competition policy, which includes measures to curb excessive state subsidies and prevent abuse of dominant position by companies. • Competition policy is essential for proper functioning of single market. • The Commission has the sole authority to approve or block large mergers and acquisitions that could distort competition. • The Commission also encourages member states to maintain fiscal discipline and undertake economic reforms to ensure the sucess of EMU and the implementation of the Lisbon strategy. • The Commission drafts the Broad Economic Policy guidelines, a key document for economic policy coordination within the EU.

Policing Community Law • The Commission is called the guardian of Treaties. This means that it can bring a member state before the Court of Justice for alleged non-fullfillment of treaty obligations. • Most member state violations result from misunderstandings or misinterpretations or from delays in transposing Community legislation into national law. Deliberate noncompliance nonethless exists notably in the area of competition policy and the internal market. • If the Commission decides to take action, it first sends a ‘letter of formal notice’ asking the member state concerned to explain the alleged breach. The member state has about two months to reply. If it fails to reply or does not provide a staisfactory explanation, the Commission issues a ‘reasoned opinion’, which explains why the member state violates the EU law. Commission again gives the member state two months to comply with the EU law. • The Commission generates 1000 letters of formal notice annually.

External Relations Responsibilities • CFSP introduced by Maastricht treaty and revised in Amsterdam treaty increased the role of the Commission in international issues. • The Transatlantic Declaration and the New Transatlantic Agenda strengthened the Commission’s role in EU-US relations. • The establishment of the WTO in 1994 increased the Commision’s importance as international trade negotiator. However, the competence of Commission to negotiate and conclude international trade agreements does not extent to trade in services or TRIPS. The Commission sought to extend its competence , but member states could not agree on this issue.

External Relations Responsibilities • The Commission also conducts the EU’s development policy , including the Cotonou Agreement for assistance to over 70 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. • It is also usual for the Commission President to attend meetings of the G 8. • The Commission maintains more than 150 delegations and offices throughout the world. • The Commission also negotiates association agreements with third countries and plays an important role in the process of EU enlargement

The European Council • The European Council is the main institution in the enlargement process, with the Council presidency conducting the negotiations on behalf of the existing member states. • The Commission prepares an opininon on the suitability of an applicant country for EU membership. Negotiations cannot start without the Commission’s opinion. • The Commission prepares annual reports on the candidate countries’ preparedness for membership (every November) • It also compares the compatability of the canditate countries’ laws with EU laws (screening).

European Parliament • When the European Parliament was created in 1952, it had 78 members. In 2016, this number is 751. • Since 1979, members of the EP have been elected by direct elections held every five years in each member states. • It is the largest multinational parliament in the world, representing 500 million EU citizens. • EP makes its monthly plenary sessions in Strasbourg, holds committee meetings in Brussels, and its general secretariat is located in Luxembourg. • The Members of the European Parliament sit in political groups – they are not organized by nationality, but by political affiliation. There are currently 7 political groups in the European Parliament. • 25 Members are needed to form a political group, and at least onequarter of the Member States must be represented within the group. • Some Members do not belong to any political group and are known as non-attached Members.

Political Groups in European Parliament • Group of the European People's Party (christian democrats and conservatives): 268 MEPs • Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats (social democrats): 190 MEPs • The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (liberals and free marketers): 89 MEPs • The European Free Alliance/ Greens (environmentalists and representatives of staless nations such as Catalan, Scottish, Welsh nationalists): 58 MEPs • The European Conservatives and Reformists: 56 MEPs • European United Nordic Green Left (far left wing environmentalists, ex-communists): 36 MEPs • Europe of Freedom and Democracy: 29 MEPs • Non-Attached Members (independents): 31 MEPs

Legislative role of the EP • Initially, the legislative role of the EP was extremely limited and was confined to a process known as consultation. This procedure required that before legislation could be adopted, the EP was to be consulted. Failure to consult to the EP could lead to legislation being declared void by the European Court of Justice (Case 138/179, Roquette Freres v Council). • The Single European Act (1986) increased the legislative poer of the EP significantly. It introduced a process known as co-operation. Under this procedure, the EP was able to reject draft legislation, which the European Council could only adopt by unanimous agreement rather than qualified majority voting. • Due to the introduction of this co-operation procedure, the Commission and the Council began to take into consideration the EP’s point of view. • However, it should be noted that initially, the application of cooperation procedure was limited to relatively few areas.

Legislative role of the EP • Maastricht Treaty (1992) further increased the EP’s legislative powers by introducing a procedure known as co-decision. • Under co-decision procedure, the EP could veto a proposed legislative measure by absolute majority. It allowed the EP to prevent the Council from passing legislation without its agreement. However, its application was limited to very few areas. • The Treaty of Amsterdam and the Treaty of Nice (2000) both extended the use of co-decision. • Now, the EP is co-legislator with the Council.

The Budgetary role of the EP • The European Commission is responsible for preparing a draft budget. • The draft budget contains details of compulsory and noncompulsory expenditure and also an estimate of revenue. • Compulsory expenditure covers expenditure under the common agricultural policy , fisheries policy, international agreements concluded with third countries, certain compulsory staffing costs, legal expenses, damages and the monetary reserve. • non-compulsory expenditure: expenditure under the structural funds, financial support in the fields of energy, • industry and research, and most operational expenditure

The Budgetary role of the EP • Prior to the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty (2009), the Parliament had the power to amend the sections of the budget relating to non-compulsory expenditure only. • However, under Art. 314 of the TFEU (Rome Treaty was renamed as the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), the EP’s power was extented to include amendments to both parts of the budget. • where the draft budget cannot be agreed by the EP and Council, a conciliation committe will be set up to achieve a consensus. • If the EP and the Council decide to reject the draft budget, the Commision is required to resubmit its draft.

The EP’s supervisory role • In the sytem of checks and balances is used to ensure that no one Institution becomes too powerful. Thus all instiutions play a part in supervising each other. • The EP has supervisory functions over Commission. The EP is entitled to ask questions to the Commission and demand written answers (Art. 230 of the TFEU). • The EP also debates the Commission’s Annual Report in open session. • The EP also has the authority to require the Commission to resign en bloc (Art. 234 of the TFEU). Thispower has never been used upo until now. • With the Maastricht Treaty (1992), the EP was allowed to have a say over the appointment of new Commissioners. New Commissioners are required to be approved by the EP before taking up office (Art. 17 of the TEU).

The EP’s supervisory role • The EP may alsoexert spervisory powers over the acts of the other institutions by instituting a legal challenge before the European Court of Justice. • The EP also has supervisory powers in respect of allegations of maladministration: it may set up temporary Committees of Inquiry (Art. 226 of the TFEU) to • a. investigate such allegations which may result from a complaint made by a citizen. • b. Elect a European Ombudsman te receive complaints regarding possible malasdministration against any EU body. • At the conclusion of an investigation the Ombudsman is required to report to the EP, which has no powers to correct the sitution, but the process allows such maladministration to be brought to the attention of media.

The Council of the European Union • Before the Maastricht Treaty it was known as the Council of Ministers. • The Council is composed of one representative from each member state. • The Council represents national interests. The ministers who form the Council are responsible to their national parliaments. • The composition of the Council is dependent on the subject matter under discussion. • For ex: if the Council is discussing matters relating to agriculture, each state’s agriculture minister or equivalent will be present. If transport matters are under discussion, transport ministers will attend the meeting. • The Council is supported by a Committee of Permanent Representatives of the governments of member states (known as COREPER is responsible for preparing the work of the Council. • COREPER consists of senior diplomats and up to 90% of all Council decisions are actually taken by these diplomats before they reach ministerial level. • Three successive presidencies, known as presidency trios) is made up of Italy (July-Dec. 2014) , Latvia (Jan-Jun 2015) and Luxembourg (Jul-Dec 2015).

The roles of the Council • When using its legislative power, the Council can use three systems of voting: simple majority, qualified majority, and unanimity. • Reaching a decision by simple majority requires that the majority of Council ministers support a proposal. This requires member states to surrender a high degree of sovereignty, as they can easily be outvoted, and is therefore rarely used. • Initially, the favored method of voting was unanimity, effectively allowing member state the power of veto. While this method is still used in very restricted areas, qualified majority voting has become the norm. • Currently, under qualified majority voting , a decision must normally receive at least 255 votes and be approved by the majority of the member states. In addition any member of the Council mar request verification that the qualified majority represents at least 62% of the total population of the EU. • From 1 November 2014, a change will be introduced in regard to the formula for qualified majority voting. Any decision will require at least 55%of the Council, representing at least 65%of the EU population. • In addition to its budgetary power, the Council coordinates the general economic policies of the member states

European Council • The European Council was established as an informal body in 1975; it became an official EU institution in 2009 when the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force. • It comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council. The High Representative for Foreign Affairs takes part in its meetings. • While the European Council has no formal legislative power, it is charged under the Treaty of Lisbon with defining "the general political directions and priorities" of the Union. It is thus the Union's strategic (and crisis solving) body, acting as the collective presidency of the EU. • The meetings of the European Council, commonly referred to as EU summits, are chaired by its president and take place at least twice every six months.

Powers and functions of the European Council • Following the ratification of the treaty in December 2009, the European Council elected then-Prime Minister of Belgium Herman Van Rompuy as its first permanent president for 2. 5 years. • The current president is the former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He will stay in office from 1 December 2014 until 31 May 2017. • It defines the EU's policy agenda and has thus been considered to be the motor of European integration. It does this without any formal powers, only the influence it has being composed of national leaders. • The Council has developed further roles: • to settle issues outstanding from discussions at a lower level, • to lead in foreign policy: acting externally as a "collective Head of State, • to ratify important documents and • To involve in the negotiation of the treaty changes

Powers and functions of the European Council • Since the institution is composed of national leaders, it gathers the executive power of the member states and has thus a great influence in high profile policy areas as for example foreign policy. It also exercises powers of appointment, such as appointment of its own President, the President of the European Commission, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and the President of the European Central Bank. Moreover, the European Council influences police and justice planning, the composition of the Commission, matters relating to the organization of the rotating Council presidency, the suspension of membership rights, and changing the voting systems

Powers and functions of the European Council • Although the European Council has no direct legislative power, under the "emergency brake" procedure, a state outvoted in the Council of Ministers may refer contentious legislation to the European Council. However, the state may still be outvoted in the European Council. Hence with powers over the supranational executive of the EU, in addition to its other powers, the European Council has been described by some as the Union's "supreme political authority".

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) • The European Union is based on the rule of law and acceptance by the member states, EU institutions and individuals of the beinding nature of its rules is fundamental. • After the Lisbon treaty, CJEU is composed of the Court of Justice (the Court), the general Court to assist the Court in its tasks and specialized courts. • CJEU is located in Luxembourg. • The Court is composed of judges and advocates-general. Advocates-generals assist the judges by delivering non-binding written opinions before the judges begin their deliberations. • One judge per state for a perid of six years, renewable every three years.

Functions of the Court of Justice of the European Union • The CJEU should ensure that EU law is observed. • Actions that can be brought before the Court can be divided into two: direct actions and preliminary rulings • Direct actions: actionsbrought by Commission against member states accused of failing to fulfill their EU obligations; and actions brought by the Institutions or individuals wishing to challenge the validity of legally binding acts of the EU. • Preliminary rulings are the result of requests by national courts requiring the Courts to either interpret EU law or rule on its validity.