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European Union
Your guide
to the EU institutions
How the European Union works
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You can find this booklet and other short, clear explanations about the EU online at
ec.europa.eu/publications
European Commission
Directorate-General for Communication
Publications
B-1049 Brussels
Manuscript completed in July 2007
Cover illustration: EC
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2007
ISBN 92-79-03653-X
© European Communities, 2007
Reproduction is authorised
Printed in Belgium
P
RINTED
ON
WHITE
CHLORINE
-
FREE
PAPER
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How the European Union works
Your guide
to the EU institutions
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Contents
Introducing the European Union
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
The Treaties
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
How the EU takes decisions
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7
The European Parliament:
voice of the people
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11
The Council of the European Union:
voice of the member states
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15
The European Commission:
promoting the common interest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
21
The Court of Justice:
upholding the law
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
26
The European Court of Auditors:
getting value for your money
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
29
The European Economic and Social Committee:
a bridge to civil society
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
31
The Committee of the Regions:
bringing the EU closer to the public
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
33
The European Investment Bank:
fi nancing economic development
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
35
The European Central Bank:
managing the euro
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
37
The European Ombudsman:
investigating your complaints
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
39
The European Data Protection Supervisor:
safeguarding your privacy
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
41
Agencies
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
43
© Corbis
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3
H
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The European Union (EU) is a family of demo-
cratic European countries working together
to improve life for their citizens and to build a
better world.
Family squabbles and occasional crises are
what make the news headlines, but away
from the cameras the EU is actually a remark-
able success story. In just over half a century it
has delivered peace and prosperity in Europe,
a single European currency (the euro) and a
frontier-free ‘single market’ where goods,
people, services and capital move around
freely. It has become a major trading
power, and a world leader in fi elds such as
environmental protection and development
aid. No wonder it has grown from six to
27 members and more countries want to
join.
The European Union’s success owes a lot to
the unusual way in which it works. Unusual
because the countries that make up the EU
(its ‘member states’) remain independent
sovereign nations but they pool their sover-
eignty in order to gain a strength and world
infl uence none of them could have on their
own. This stops short of being a federation,
like the United States, but is much more than
an organisation for cooperation between
governments, like the United Nations. The
EU is, in fact, unique.
Pooling sovereignty means, in practice, that
the member states delegate some of their
decision-making powers to shared institu-
tions they have created, so that decisions on
specifi c matters of joint interest can be made
democratically at European level.
The three main decision-making institutions
are the:
Æ
European Parliament (EP), which rep-
resents the EU’s citizens and is directly
elected by them;
Æ
Council of the European Union, which rep-
resents the individual member states;
Æ
European Commission,which represents
the interests of the Union as a whole.
This ‘institutional triangle’ produces the pol-
icies and laws that apply throughout the EU. In
principle, it is the Commission that proposes
new laws, but it is the Parliament and Council
that adopt them. The Commission and the
member states then implement them, and
the Commission enforces them.
The Court of Justice is the fi nal arbiter in
disputes about European law.
The Court of Auditors checks the fi nancing of
the Union’s activities.
A number of other bodies also have key roles
in making the EU work. They are the:
Æ
European Economic and Social Com-
mittee, which represents the economic
and social components of organised civil
society;
Æ
Committee of the Regions, which repre-
sents regional and local authorities;
Æ
European Investment Bank, which
fi nances investment in economic devel-
opment projects in and outside the EU,
and helps small businesses via the
European Investment Fund;
Introducing the
European Union
© Corbis
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