The Institutions

10 March 2009

There is no government, no opposition parties, no cabinet of ministers, no independent budget, and no civil service in what makes up the European Union.

There is a parliament but its members are not elected through a single Europe-wide election – instead MEPs are elected in each country by its citizens for a five year term.

There is a Council that is made up of the leaders and ministers from the governments of the member states. The Council presidency is currently rotated on a six monthly basis between the member states.

The Foreign Ministers’ Council is made up of the Foreign Ministers from each member state. The Finance Ministers make up the Ecofin Council – Economic and Finance; the Agriculture Ministers make up the Agriculture Council and so on.

Each government has its Permanent Representation (Perm Rep) in Brussels with civil servants from each government department who sit on working groups and committees in Brussels dealing with new regulations relevant to their department.

The ambassador, or permanent representative, of each member country heads up the Perm Rep. Ireland’s Rep has about 90 civil servants making it the largest of the country’s embassies.

The role of the European Parliament has expanded greatly in recent years and they have equal say to the member states in about 80% of legislation.

Currently it has 785 members which will be reduced in the elections in June when Ireland will go from having 13 to 12 MEPs – three in each of the four constituencies.

Every MEP is a member of at least one parliamentary committee that deals with particular issues such as agriculture, foreign affairs, budget, environment and so on.

MEPs belong to one of seven political groups or are non-attached. The largest currently is the European People’s Party whose policies are Christian Democrat or centre right and Fine Gael is a member.

They wield considerable influence in the EU as a big number of the member states Prime Ministers belong to this family. As the biggest in the Parliament their choice of people for positions such as the President of the Commission is carries a lot of weight.

The second largest grouping is the Socialists to which the Labour Party is affiliated; followed by the Liberals, of which independent MEP Marian Harkin is a member.

The other groups are the GUE, Communist Greens, to which Sinn Féin are affiliated; the Nordic Greens, to which the Irish green party belongs; the Union of Europeans of the Nations, a small disparate group that includes Fianna Fáil; the Independent/Democrats of which Kathy Sinnott is co-leader and includes Eurosceptics like the British UKiP.

Every five years following the Parliament elections a new Commission is appointed. The summit of leaders agrees on who should be the Commission President and the Parliament must agree.

Each country nominates a Commissioner who is given a portfolio by the President and must be vetted and approved by the Parliament, that also has power to dismiss the entire College for wrong doing.

Each Commissioner is responsible for the policy of his Directorate General (DG, similar to a government department) aided by a cabinet of about 12 people he or she has chosen.

The Commissioners are to work for the benefit of the Union as a whole rather than their own national interest, but they also are a link between their government and the Commission.

They may also attend meetings of their former political groups held in Brussels before summits and this completes another circle of influence between member states and the institutions, garnering support for policy proposals and positions of power.

The other institutions include the Court of Justice – that includes two Irish judges - that ensures European law is interpreted and applied properly and in the same way throughout the Union. National Courts can refer cases to it for judgement while citizens can bring proceedings against EU institutions through it.

The Court of Auditors that includes an Irish representative is an independent body based in Luxembourg that checks how EU money is spent both by the Commission and by the member states.

Two important bodies are the Committee of the Regions and the Social and Economic Affairs Committee that advise the Commission and are composed of government nominees from civil society.