corso di inglese giuridico prof.ssa c. m. cascione ... · and redefining the voting system in the...
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The European dimension
Corso di inglese giuridico
Prof.ssa C. M. Cascione
Università degli Studi di Bari ‘Aldo Moro’
Lezione n. 9
European Institutions
The European Council
The European Parliament
The European Commission
The Council of Ministers
The Court of justice
It sets the EU's overall political direction and defines the
EU's broad priorities
It deals with complex or sensitive issues that cannot be
resolved at a lower level of intergovernmental cooperation
has no powers to pass laws
it comprises national heads of state or government and the
President of the Commission
The European Council
It is mainly an advisory and consultative body
It is composed by members (members of the
EuropeanParliament -MEPs) directly elected by EU voters
every 5 years. The members sit in Parliament in political, rather
then geographical, groups
Parliament is one of the EU’s main law-making institutions,
along with the Council of the European Union.
The European Parliament
debating and passing European laws, with
the Council
scrutinising other EU institutions,
particularly the Commission, to make sure
they are working democratically
debating and adopting the EU's budget, with
the Council.
Main functions
The Council of Ministers
It is the main decision making and legislative
body in European Union
It consists of ministers from the governement of the
member States; the Precidency of the council
rotates between the member states every six
months.
The primary purpose of the Council is to act
as one of the two chambers of the EU's
legislative branch,
It also holds, jointly with the Parliament, the
budgetary power of the Union
It has control over the more intergovernmental
areas of the EU, such as foreign policy and
macroeconnomic co-ordination.
Main functions
The European Commission
The European Commission is one of the main
institutions of the European Union.
It represents and upholds the interests of the EU as
a whole.
It drafts proposals for new European laws.
The 28 Commissioners, one from each EU country,
provide the Commission’s political leadership
during their 5-year term. Each Commissioner is
assigned responsibility for specific policy areas by
the President.
Main functions:
proposing new laws to Parliament and the Council
managing the EU's budget and allocating funding
enforcing EU law (together with the Court of
Justice)
representing the EU internationally, for example, by
negotiating agreements between the EU and other
countries.
The Court of Justice
The Court of Justice interprets EU law to make sure
it is applied in the same way in all EU countries.
It also settles legal disputes between EU
governments and EU institutions.
Individuals, companies or organisations can also
bring cases before the Court if they feel their rights
have been infringed by an EU institution.
Types of cases:
requests for a preliminary ruling – when national courts
ask the Court of Justice to interpret a point of EU law
actions for failure to fulfil an obligation – brought against
EU governments for not applying EU law
actions for annulment – against EU laws thought to violate
the EU treaties or fundamental rights
actions for failure to act – against EU institutions for
failing to make decisions required of them
direct actions – brought by individuals, companies or
organisations against EU decisions or actions
How cases are heard:
A judge and an advocate general are assigned to each case
that comes before the Court.
Cases submitted to the court are processed in two stages:
- a written stage
- an oral stage
The Court's judgements are majority decisions and are read
out at public hearings.
Sources of European Law
Primary legislation
(The treaties)
Secondary legislation:
- regulations
- directives
- decisions
‘soft law’
- recommendations
- opinions
The Treaties
Treaties contain basic provisions on the European Union's
objectives and organisation.
They set the framework for the operation of the European
Union which is administered by the Union institutions.
They set up the various organs of the Unions and grant them
their powers, delineating the areas of exclusive and shared
competence between the Union and member states
Main treaties
Treaties of Rome - EEC and EURATOM treaties
Signed: 25 March 1957/Entered into force: 1 January 1958
Purpose: to set up the European Economic Community (EEC) and the
European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).
Main changes: extension of European integration to include general economic
cooperation.
Treaty on European Union - Maastricht Treaty
Signed: 7 February 1992/Entered into force: 1 November 1993
Purpose: to prepare for European Monetary Union and introduce elements of
a political union (citizenship, common foreign and internal affairs policy).
Main changes: establishment of the European Union and introduction of the
co-decision procedure, giving Parliament more say in decision-making.
New forms of cooperation between EU governments – for example on
defence and justice and home affairs.
Treaty of Amsterdam
Signed: 2 October 1997/Entered into force: 1 May 1999
Purpose: To reform the EU institutions in preparation for the arrival of
future member countries.
Main changes: amendment, renumbering and consolidation of EU and EEC
treaties. More transparent decision-making
Treaty of Nice
Signed: 26 February 2001/Entered into force: 1 February 2003
Purpose: to reform the institutions so that the EU could function efficiently
after reaching 25 member countries.
Main changes: methods for changing the composition of the Commission
and redefining the voting system in the Council.
Treaty of Lisbon
Signed: 13 December 2007/Entered into force: 1 December 2009
Purpose: to make the EU more democratic, more efficient and better able
to address global problems, such as climate change, with one voice.
Main changes: more power for the European Parliament, change of voting
procedures in the Council, citizens' initiative, a permanent president of
the European Council, a new High Representative for Foreign Affairs, a
new EU diplomatic service.
The Lisbon treaty clarifies which powers:
belong to the EU
belong to EU member countries
are shared.
The Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe (2004) – with aims similar
to the Lisbon Treaty – was signed but never ratified.
Regulations
Regulations are legislative instruments of general
application.
They apply to abstract rather than individual situations.
Regulations are binding in their entirety. This means that a
Member State has no power to apply regulations
incompletely or to apply only those provisions of which it
approves.
Regulations are also directly applicable. This means that
regulations do not need to be transposed into national law by
the respective Member States in order to take effect.
Directives
Directives are legislative instruments which reconcile the
dual objective of both securing the necessary uniformity of
Community law and respecting the diversity of national
traditions and structures.
Directives are binding on Member States as to the result to
be achieved but leave it to the respective national authorities
to decide how the Community objective set out in the
directive is to be incorporated into their domestic legal
systems before a specified date.
A directive does not acquire legal force and effect until the
date for implementation of the directive has expired.