By Katharina Oemmelen and Robin Leick

This post was last updated on 19/07/2020 to reflect Brexit-related changes. Additional references were also added.

The European Union (EU) is an international organisation, which currently comprises 27 Member States. From these Member States it has been given the competence to achieve common solutions in certain policy areas on a supranational basis. Its mission is built on a number of pillars, which include maintaining peace and security among its Member States, promoting economic and social solidarity and preserving common values and diversity within Europe.[1] To achieve this, it is involved in numerous processes and negotiations ranging from the regional to the supranational level. The following paragraphs attempt to give a brief overview of some of the key institutions that make up the EU, and how these work together to make decisions.[2]

Overview

The key documents that lay down both the powers and responsibilities of the institutions (and its associated decision-making processes) are the Treaties.[3] As such, they are the foundation for the many laws that directly impact European citizens. The Treaties define the five institutions representing the major stakeholders within the EU: the European Council (representing national governments), the European Commission (representing European interests), the Council of Ministers (representing national interests), the European Parliament (representing citizens) and the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The European Council[4]

The European Council brings together the Heads of State of all Member States as well as EU-level leaders, including its president Charles Michel. In at least four meetings across the year, the European Council sets the EU’s political agenda by agreeing on its broad aims and a course of action to be taken to achieve them. Furthermore, it discusses complex issues that the Council of Ministers did not reach agreement on. While the European Council cannot adopt new laws, it is viewed as the highest-level body and thus instructs other institutions to take specific action.

The European Commission[5]

The members of the European Commission aim to promote the interests of the EU as a whole. This includes internal tasks such as overseeing the application of both the Treaties and other EU law as well as proposing Union legislative acts, which then usually have to be adopted by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. Each Commission takes office for five years and is headed by the president of the European Commission, which is currently the German politician Ursula von der Leyen, the first ever woman to be in this position.

The Council of Ministers[6]

The Council of Ministers is one of the two Houses of the EU legislature, safeguarding the Member States’ interests. Therefore, the Council holds power over important decisions ranging from taxation, budget, and admitting new Member States. Members of the Council, sent by EU Member States’ governments, change, depending on the policy subject in question (e.g. trade; internal affairs; etc.). The Council is headed by a different president every six months, chosen from each of the Member States on a rotating basis.

The European Parliament (EP)[7]

The EP is the other House of the EU legislature. It is elected by – and thus represents the interests of – European citizens. The EP acts as a control mechanism of the Commission and can vote to censure it at any time. In order to fulfil its role, it brings together a maximum of 751 Members of Parliament every month in order to debate EU activities and legislations. The president is proposed and elected by the EP itself with a majority vote. The members are elected every five years, with the number of seats being allocated to each state depending on the size of its population.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)[8]

The CJEU forms the judicative power of the EU and ensures that, in the interpretation and application of the Treaties, the law is observed. It includes the Court of Justice (ECJ), the General Court and specialised courts. The ECJ comprises 27 judges, with each Member State providing one judge. In addition, there are currently eleven independent ‘so-called’ Advocates General, who regularly prepare an opinion before the ECJ rulings, which the ECJ can take into account in its decision. The ECJ is rightly referred to as the “engine of integration”[9]. It is also thanks to its progressive case law that the then European Communities have come together to form today’s EU. Among the most ground-breaking decisions is the interpretation of Union law as a new legal order of international law, which also includes the individual[10] and takes priority (in English usually the word “supremacy” is used) over any national law in the event of conflict[11]. Whereas its case law was initially primarily concerned with economic integration, the Court has continued to build and develop the EU into a union of law and values characterised by the rule of law, democracy and respect for human rights.[12] This progressive approach of the Court of Justice is often a major source for criticism, particularly in the UK, due to its restrictive effect on national sovereignty.[13]

References [1] See Preamble of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). [2] For further information see <https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/institutions-bodies_en#eu-institutions-and-bodies-in-brief> accessed 15 July 2020. [3] The TEU and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), but see also the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (see Art. 6(1) TEU). [4] For the following see <https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/institutions-bodies/european-council_en> accessed 15 July 2020; see further Art. 15 TEU. [5] For the following see <https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/institutions-bodies/european-commission_en> accessed 15 July 2020; see further Art. 17 TEU. [6] For the following see <https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/institutions-bodies/council-eu_en> accessed 15 July 2020; see further Art. 16 TEU. [7] For the following see <https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/institutions-bodies/european-parliament_en> accessed 15 July 2020; see further Art. 14 TEU. [8] For the following see <https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/institutions-bodies/court-justice_en> accessed 15 July 2020; see further Art 19 TEU. [9] See e.g. L. Dimitrios Spieker, ‘Breathing Life into the Union's Common Values: On the Judicial Application of Article 2 TEU in the EU Value Crisis’ (2019) 20 German LJ 1182, 1185 with further references. [10] ECJ, Case 26/62 Van Gend en Loos [1963] ECR 3. [11] ECJ, Case 6/64 Costa/ENEL [1964] ECR 1141; Case 11/70 Internationale Handelsgesellschaft [1970] ECR 1125. [12] See e.g. regarding the development of human rights G. de Búrca, ‘The Road Not Taken: The European Union as a Global Human Rights Actor’ (2011) 105 Am J Int'l L 649. [13] As an example can serve the ECJ’s second “Factortame”-case of 1991 (Case C-221/89 The Queen v Secretary of State for Transport, ex parte Factortame Ltd and others [1991] ECR I–3905), which found specific Member States’ rules concerning fishing vessel registrations – as foreseen in the UK’s Merchant Shipping Act 1988 – as incompatible with European Community law, see also on this C. Baksi, ‘Landmarks in law: the 90s fishing case that stoked UK Euroscepticism’ The Guardian (29 Mar 2019) < https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/mar/29/landmarks-in-law-the-90s-fishing-case-that-stoked-uk-euroscepticism> accessed 15 July 2020.