Institutions of the European Union

Contents
	The European Parliament (EP)
	The European Commission
	Council of the European union
	The European Council
	The Court of Justice of the European Communities
	European Court of Auditors
	The Committee of the Regions
	European Economic and Social Committee (ESC)
	The European Ombudsman
	Legislative acts and measures

History

The Council was set up by the founding treaties in the 1950s. It represents the The Councilmember states, and its meetings are attended by one minister from each of the EU's national governments. The Council is the EU's main decision-making body. The Council first appeared in the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) as the "Special Council of Ministers", set up to counterbalance the High Authority. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers - one per state. Which ministers attend which meeting depends on what subjects are on the agenda.

Seat

By a decision of the European Council at Edinburgh in December 1992, the Council has its seat in Brussels but in April, June, and October, it holds its meetings in Luxembourg.

Structure

• 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 Energy;
  
• Agriculture and Fisheries;
  
• Environment;
  
• Education, Youth and Culture.

The primary purpose of the Council is to act as one of the two chambers of the Union's legislative branch, the other chamber being the European Parliament. However the Council only has legislative initiative in the latter two of the three pillars of the EU. It also holds, jointly with the Parliament, the budgetary power of the Union and has greater control than the Parliament over the intergovernmental areas of the EU. Finally, it formally holds the executive power of the EU which it confers upon the European Commission.

• Legislation;

Much EU legislation is adopted jointly by the Council and Parliament. As a rule, the Council only acts on a proposal from the Commission, and the Commission normally has responsibility for ensuring that EU legislation, once adopted, is correctly applied.

• Co-ordinating the policies of member states:

The EU countries have decided that they want an overall economic policy based on close co-ordination between their national economic policies. This co-ordination is carried out by the economics and finance ministers, who collectively form the Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) Council.
They also want to create more jobs and to improve their education, health and social protection systems. Although each EU country is responsible for its own policy in these areas, they can agree on common goals and learn from each other's experience of what works best. This process is called the ‘open method of coordination', and it takes place within the Council.

• Concluding international agreements:

Each year the Council ‘concludes' (i.e. officially signs) a number of agreements between the European Union and non-EU countries, as well as with international organisations. These agreements may cover broad areas such as trade, co-operation and development or they may deal with specific subjects such as textiles, fisheries, science and technology, transport etc.
In addition, the Council may conclude conventions between the EU member states in fields such as taxation, company law or consular protection. Conventions can also deal with co-operation on issues of freedom, security and justice.

• Approving the EU budget:

The EU's annual budget is decided jointly by the Council and the European Parliament.

• Common Foreign and Security Policy:

The member states of the EU are working to develop a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). But foreign policy, security and defence are matters over which the individual national governments retain independent control. They have not pooled their national sovereignty in these areas, so Parliament and the European Commission play only a limited role here. However, the EU countries have much to gain by working together on these issues, and the Council is the main forum in which this ‘inter-governmental co-operation' takes place.

Changes under the Lisbon treaty

The treaty will expand the use of qualified majority voting (QMV) in the Council of Ministers by having it replace unanimity as the standard voting procedure in almost every policy area. A qualified majority is reached when at least 55% of all member countries, of whom 65% of EU citizens are represented, vote in favour of a proposal. When the Council of Ministers is not acting on a proposal of the Commission, or High Representative, the necessary majority of all member countries is increased to 72% while the population requirement stays the same. To block legislation at least 4 countries (representing more than 35% of EU population) have to be against the proposal. The weights of the individual countries are based on their population only, not on the votes (as were under the Nice Treaty).