European Law Lecture

7/28/2019 European Law Lecture

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European Law

The Institutional Structure of the

EC and the EU


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Craig and De Burca:

. Discussion should not be approached with

any preconceptions about the traditionaldivision of governmental functions into

categories of legislative, executive,

administrative, and judicial. Do not seek topigeon-hole each of the institutions into one

category as if it only undertook tasks of, for

example, a legislative or executive nature.Many of these duties are shared between

different institutions in a manner which renders

it impossible to describe any one of them as the

sole legislator, or the sole executive.


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Article 7(1) The tasks entrusted to the Community

shall be carried out by the following institutions:

- a European Parliament- a Council

- a Commission

- a Court of Justice

- a Court of AuditorsEach institution shall act within the limits of the

powers conferred upon it by this Treaty.

Article 7(2) The Council and the Commission shall

be assisted by an Economic and Social Committee

and a Committee of the Regions acting in an

advisory capacity.


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Three main decision making institutions

the Institutional TriangleEuropean ParliamentCouncil of the European Union

European Commission

Other bodies:

Economic and Social Committee

Committee of the Regions

European Central bankEuropean Investment Bank

European Ombudsman


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The European Parliamentdirectly electedlegislative arm of the EU - represents EU

citizensParties & No of Seats

European Peoples Party

& European Democrats

232

European Socialists

175

Euro Liberal, Democrat &

Reformist Party 52

Euro United Left / Nordic

Green Left 49

Greens / Euro Free

Alliance 44

Union for Europe of the

Nations 23

Europe of Democracies &

Diversity 18

Non-attached 31

TOTAL 624


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Functions of the Parliament:

Legislative function

Democratic supervision over other EU

institutions

Shares power to decide the EU budget

with the Council of the European Union


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Parliamentary Committees

LIBE-on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice

and Home Affairs

ENVI-on the Environment, Public Health and

Consumer Policy

AGRI-on Agriculture and Rural Development

FEMM-on Women's Rights and Equal

Opportunities

Examples of temporary committees

FIAP-on foot and mouth disease

GENE-on human genetics and other new

technologies of modern medicine


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Council of the European Union

legislative arm of the EU represents the

Member States

EUs main decision making body

One single institution but - 9 differentconfigurations e.g. Justice & Home Affairs,

Agriculture & Fisheries, Environment

Each Minister is empowered to commit his/herGovernment and is answerable to national

Parliament


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How is the Council organised?

Presidency rotates every 6months

between MS now Italy next Ireland

Presidency assisted by the general

Secretariat note Secretary General

Javier Solana

Permanent Representatives Committee

(Coreper) prepares work of the Council.

Working Groups / committees assist

Coreper

Decisions made on basis of vote usually

QMV but sometimes unanimity required


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Functions of the Council:

Passing Legislation

Coordinating economic policy

Concluding international agreements

Approving the EU budget

Developing the EUs common foreign andsecurity policy

Coordinating cooperation betweennational courts & police forces in criminalmatters


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The European Commission

Seeks to uphold the interests of the EU as

a whole

20 Commissioners independent from MS

governments

36 DGs and services dealing with specific

areas of Commission activity


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Romano Prodi


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The Main roles of the Commission:

policy development

proposes legislation to Parliament and the Council;

manages and implements EU policies and the

budget;

enforces European law (jointly with the Court of

Justice);

represents the European Union on the

international stage, for example by negotiating

agreements between the EU and other countries.


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Some of the Directorates General of the European

Commission:

AgricultureCompetition

Education and Culture

Energy and Transport

EnvironmentFisheries

Health and Consumer Protection

Internal market

Examples of the Commission ServicesLegal Service

Translation Service

Eurostat


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DG Health and Consumer Protection Mission

Statement

DG Health and Consumer Protection is

responsible for issues that are relevant to the daily

lives of Europes citizens. The overall goal of the

DG is to promote a better quality of life by

ensuring a high level of protection of consumers

health, safety and economic interests as well as

public health. http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/health_consumer
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/health_consumerhttp://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/health_consumer


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DG Health and Consumer

Protection.

Relevant areas of Community activity

Set down in the EC Treaty

Consumer policyArticles 95 and 153EC Treaty

Public HealthArticles 95, 152, and 300

Food safety, animal health, animalwelfare and plant healthArticles 37, 95

and 152.


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DG Sanco: One Policy Area - Food

Safety

Main subject areas include:Animal health / prevention and control ofanimal disease / animal welfare / Animalfeed safety

Plant healthEnlargement

Food labelling

Safety of food productsInternational food safety issues

Agreement of sanitary and phytosanitarymeasures


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The Court of Auditors

Independent from other institutions

One member from each Member State

Court is responsible for ensuring that EUfunds are used lawfully

Investigative function but no legalpowers simply reports any irregularities /

fraud to the relevant body asapAnnual Report reviews previous financialyear an influential document


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Art. 7(2) - the advisory bodies

1. The Economic and Social Committee

(ESC)

represents the interests of organised

civil society within EU policy

development and decision making.


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ESC member numbers by

Member State:

Germany, France, Italy & UK24 each

Spain21

Belgium, Greece, Netherlands, Austria,Portugal & Sweden12 each

Denmark, Ireland & Finland9 each

Luxembourg6

222 members - will rise to 344 post-enlargement as new Member states addtheir members to the ESC.


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The ESC - Economic & Social

Council.

The 3 groups

- Employers Group

- Workers Group

- Various Interests


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Functions of the ESC:

Advises the Council of the European

Union, the Commission and the

Parliament

Promotes involvement of civil society in

EU policy making

Bolsters the role of civil society in non-EU

countries / helps to set up advisory

structures

Th ESC h 6 ti th t d l ith ifi


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ECO - Section for

Economic &Monetary Union &Economic & SocialCohesion

INT - Section for theSingle Market,

Production &

Consumption

TEN - Section forTransport, Energy,Infrastructure & theInformation Society

SOC - Section for

Employment, Social

Affairs & Citizenship

NAT -Section forAgriculture, RuralDevelopment & theEnvironment

REX - Section forExternal Relations

The ESC has 6 sections that deal with specific areas

covered by the Treaties.


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ESC - Sect ion for Agricul ture, Rural

Development and the Envi ronment

- CAP

- Agriculture (food and non-food agricultural

production)

- Fisheries- Forestry

- Food

- Environmental protection

- Rural policy- Land-use planning


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The Advisory Bodies - EC Treaty,

Article 7(2)

2. The Committee of the Regions

Represents regional & local authorities


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The Committee of the Regions

Established in 1994.

Represents regional and local authorities.

members elected municipal or regional

politicians.222 members rising to 344 followingenlargement.

What does CoR do?

Consultative role where EU policy impacts onregional & local government e.g. regionalpolicy, environment, education and transport.


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CoRthe 6 specialist commissions

Territorial CohesionPolicy

Economic & Social

Policy

Sustainable

Development

Culture & Education

Constitutional Affairs &

European Governance

External Relations

Documents

European Law Lecture