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Institutional structure at the supranational level (I)
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An overview of the EU institutions |
Before we begin our look at each of the authorities in turn, let us first take a wide-angle look at the institutional structure of the EU with the help of the illustration below.
One of the most recognizable aspects to be taken from this mesh of authorities at the supranational level and one of the major differences to national political systems is the fact that one of the chief decision-making entities is the Council of the European Union (formally Council of Ministers), made up of representatives from member states. So this is a good place to begin. [Back to top of page]
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Council of the European Union
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The Council of the European Union as a central decision-making body of the EU |
Formally known as the Council of Ministers, the Council of the European Union is the central decision-making authority in the EC. The Council is responsible for passing laws proposed by the Commission and with the involvement of the European Parliament. This has been the Community's fundamental decision-making procedure from the very beginning. The relative weight of the three institutions involved, however, has changed. The capacity in which members attend Council meetings changes according to the policy area being discussed for example the European Community of Agricultural Ministers or Environmental Ministers might meet. Moreover, the respective member of the Commission is also present.
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Council of the European Union pillars
The Committee of Permanent Representatives |
Work in the Council would take up a large proportion of the time available to ministers from member states. Given that they can only spend short periods in Brussels, they need support.
The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EC (COREPER) in Brussels plays and important role here. It is made up of the permanent representatives from the member states in Brussels and their deputies and meets up on a weekly basis. This Committee is responsible for monitoring and coordinating the work of around 250 committees and working groups, which are staffed by civil servants from the member states. These, in turn, are responsible for preparing the dossiers for COREPER and the Council at a technical level. COREPER deals with most of the decision-making preparations as far as content is concerned. |
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The Council's Secretariat |
The Council's Secretariat encompasses a staff of around 2,500 working in six departments. Its duties are primarily of an administrative nature, meaning that it is responsible for things such as preparing the agenda for work to done, drawing up reports, translation services, looking into legal questions etc. The illustration below offers an insight into the structure of the Council.
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An overview of the Council of the European Union |
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Decision-making procedure |
As we discovered in Basic Course 2, all decisions were initially taken using a system of unanimous voting because of the Luxemburg Compromise. Since the mid 1980s, however, and especially since the Treaty of Maastricht and the Treaty of Amsterdam there has been an increasing move towards qualified majority voting as the basis for decision making. This development has continued following the Treaty of Nice. That being said, however, the expansion of qualified majority voting goes hand-in-hand with a major obstacle to the ability to apply this procedure brought about by the triple majority rule (a qualified majority of weighted votes, a majority of states and a qualified majority of populations (62%), which was also set down in the Treaty of Nice. In addition to this, the European Parliament's powers of co-decision have been consistently expanded.
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Functional differentiation of the Council |
Another important characteristic of this core institution is the fact that since the establishment of the EEC its work has experienced increasing differentiation. Differentiation means that the individual policy areas covered by the differing Councils are increasingly taking on a life of their own. There are two main reasons for this.
 | Less coordination is being done at a member-state level and a German, Italian or British position is being adopted. This also provides clear evidence as to the degree to which the policies followed by member states in the EU have lost their "foreign policy" character! |
| A second reason for this is the transition to qualified majority voting which is making it less and less necessary to agree on so-called package deals which stretch across policy areas. |
One of the main consequences of this development is that elements at a specific policy level come to the fore at the cost of those at a member-state level. This means that the dividing lines are increasingly being marked out between individual policy areas and less and less between member states. This provides yet another powerful indication for the unique character of cooperation within the EU, which is no longer carried out exclusively at a intergovernmental level. [Back to top of page]
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European Commission
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An overview of the EU Commission |
Also without an international or domestic political equivalent, the European Commission represents our first real supranational organisation. This illustration below provides us with an insight into this institution
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Composition of the Commission |
It is currently composed of 25 members (November 2005), who are proposed by the governments of the member states and appointed for a five-year term; it is now also subject to a vote of appointment by the European Parliament before it can be sworn in. The commissioners are not appointed as negotiators for their respective states, but are supposed to act completely independently in the best interests of the Community. They are supported by a staff of around 20,000 officials - less than some large cities! — which is split up into 24 so-called directorates general (such as transport, agriculture, external relations, regional policy etc.) and nine services, which, in turn, are also split up into directorates and departments. |
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The Commission's tasks |
The Commission's main tasks can be summarized under four headings. |
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Proposals for developing Union policies |
Right of initiative: Every decision taken by Council has to be based on a proposal from the Commission. The Commission's task is to act as an engine of integration drawing up proposals for the development of Community policy. This right and authority to determine the EU's agenda, to submit proposals at a particular juncture and to link differing initiatives together gives the Commission considerable influence in the legislative procedure. |
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Guardian of treaties |
Guardian of treaties: The Commission is responsible for monitoring the application of treaty provisions and decisions made by other EC institutions and can appeal to the European Court of Justice when violations are identified. |
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Executive authority |
Executive authority for the implementation of Community policy: This includes the administration of finances as well as the implementation of EC policies. Of course, this does not mean that the Commission is responsible for making sure that the countless number of decrees and guidelines are implemented in individual member states. Bearing in mind the size of the Commission's staff, this would be an impossible task. No, this is carried out by the administrations in the member states or their regional sections. The main task of the Commission, then, is to monitor and supervise the actions being taken by the member states. |
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External representation |
External representation: The Commission represents the EU at the GATT negotiations and international organisations; this sometimes takes place together with the member states and/or the respective presidents. |
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Characteristics of the Commission |
The most important characteristics of the Commission are: Its distinct differentiation at a functional level and the fact that it represents a multi-national bureaucracy using an extensive system of committees (commitology) within which very close cooperation takes place both with the administrations of member states and with national and European associations. [Back to top of page]
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European Parliament
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An overview of the EP |
The European Parliament (EP) is our first institution at a supranational level that carries a name familiar to us from national political systems. Here, too, it is a good idea to begin our look at the European Parliament by getting an insight into its structure.
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How the EP's authority has developed |
While the EP might sound familiar, it is quite different from national parliaments. If the role played by and the powers available to the EP in the Community have changed constantly ever since the foundation of the ECSC, these changes have also steadily increased its influence within the EU. Important milestones in this regard have been the extension of its budget powers in (1975), the introduction of the first direct elections (1979), the introduction of the cooperation procedure (1986) and the introduction of the codecision procedure (1992), as well as considerable expansion of this codecision procedure into other areas of application since the Treaty of Amsterdam.
Other changes have also been introduced with the Treaty of Nice. The role of the EP as a co-legislator — together with the Council of Ministers —were further expanded and strengthened.
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Organisation and structure of the EP |
The following illustration provides a comprehensive overview of the way in which the EP is organized and structured. The most important differences to national parliaments are quickly apparent from this illustration.
It shows that the EP is composed of cross-national parties, such as the European People's Party and European Democrats (EPP-ED), which with 279 MPs currently represents the most powerful grouping in the Parliament, and the Party of European Socialists (SPE/E) with 199 MPs. This illustration also shows you the number of MPs sent by each of the member states.
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EP committees |
The Parliament's 20 standing committees are incredibly important for the work of the EP and its influence (see the overview provided by the illustration below). During their 5 years in office, those members of the European Parliament who are active in the committees are able to acquire a great deal of specialist knowledge. This specialist knowledge not only enables them to follow the work being carried out by the Directorates General, the Commission and the Council of Ministers, it also enables them to bring more influence to bear than the official description of their responsibilities would suggest. Another important aspect in this respect is their close cooperation with the respective Commission departments and with transnational and national associations.
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Characteristics of the EP |
The main characteristics of the EP can be summarized thus: The European Parliament is a multi-national chamber undergoing constant change; it features ideological - differing political groupings from across the member states - and national differences - nationality of the MPs from the individual member states. As with the other institutions addressed so far, the European Parliament also demonstrates significant functional differentiation. And, finally, the incredibly close links and intensive cooperation with the Commission, often against the Commission, should also be emphasized.
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Assessment |
Making an assessment based on a comparison with national parliaments depends on how one looks at it. From a statistical point of view taken today, it can be said that the importance of the EP still lags behind that of national parliaments, but goes much further than anything found in parliamentary chambers or committees in international organisations. View the development of the European Parliament during the last two decades, however, and it is strikingly clear that its importance compared to the other institutions has grown enormously: Another important indication of the "supranationalization" of the EC.
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Summary |
These three institutions - the Commission, the Council and the Parliament - form the decision-making centre of the EU system. This institutional triangle is supported by other, incredibly important authorities, which we will be addressing on the next page: The European Court of Justice and the European Council |
[Author: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schumann]
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