By Jakub Karczewski*
The EU decided…, Brussels decided… – sounds familiar, doesn’t it? And doesn’t it make you think of a far away power or a group of nameless public officials locked in glass buildings, who, without any democratic backing, impose rules on European countries and undermine their sovereignty? Maybe you feel you can’t influence the EU or Brussels at all? If so, you may be surprised, because, well, this is not exactly the case.
The EU can take decisions only on matters conferred on it by EU countries
The European Union is like a club of countries which have decided to join their forces to achieve their common goals. For example, they have abolished roaming fees during temporary stays in EU countries and agreed on rules to prosecute cross-border criminalists more effectively. EU countries, including the UK, have agreed on which matters they want to cooperate with each other and listed them in the EU Treaties. In this process, they have conferred some of their powers on the EU. All the decisions that the EU can take and all the powers that it has are the results of unanimous actions of EU countries. The EU cannot and does not create powers on its own.
EU countries have set up EU institutions to organise their common decision-making process
Achieving common goals requires an organisational framework within which common decisions may be taken. For this purpose, EU countries have created EU institutions. Among the most important institutions in the EU decision-making process, as far as law-making is concerned, are the European Parliament, the Council, and the European Commission. Below, you will find a very brief description of each of them and of what they do in the EU law-making process in regards to legislative acts – the most important acts of law created by the EU.
Citizens have a voice through the European Parliament
The European Parliament is elected directly by citizens of EU countries. You might remember the last elections that took place this year. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) directly represent roughly 510 million EU citizens, not the EU countries they come from. MEPs form political groups, which are the equivalent to political parties in national parliaments, such as the Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, Liberal Democrats or Greens. There are currently 73 MEPs from the UK out of 751 MEPs in total.
For a legislative act of EU law to be adopted, the approval of the European Parliament is necessary.
EU countries have a voice through the Council
The Council represents the governments of EU countries. Depending on which matters the Council decides on, the governments are represented by different ministers. If a decision concerns the protection of the environment, for example, the ministers for environment of all EU countries will meet. The Council takes almost all its decisions by the so-called qualified majority. This means that a decision can be adopted only if it is supported by at least 55% of the EU countries (which currently means 16 out of 28) representing at least 65% of the EU population. When it comes to majorities, the British voice is very important, as the UK population accounts for 12.9% of the overall EU population. This ranks it third after Germany and France (16.1% and 13.1%, respectively). You can check different combinations of the EU countries whose approval is needed for a decision of the Council to be adopted here.
For a legislative act of EU law to be adopted, the approval of the Council is necessary, together with the approval of the European Parliament.
The European Commission proposes and executes EU law
The European Commission can be seen as the “government” of the EU, elected by the European Parliament and responsible for the protection of the interests of the Union as a whole. The Commission is composed of 28 commissioners, one from every EU country. Although the national governments nominate candidates, approval of the democratically elected European Parliament is necessary to become a commissioner. Due to Brexit, there is currently no commissioner from the UK.
Generally, only the European Commission can propose legislative acts of EU law. Once a legislative act has been adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, the Commission supervises its execution by EU countries.
So what does the EU or Brussels decided… mean?
It simply means that only an act proposed by the European Commission and adopted by the European Parliament and the Council may become a legislative act of EU law which binds EU countries and their citizens. Have you noticed how your country is involved in this process and how your choices in national general election and in European elections influence this process at every stage?
If you want to learn more about the EU and its decision-making process, have a look here.
*I would like to thank Julia Prummer very much for her valuable comments on the previous version of the blog post.