II. Texts for discussion and translation

Read the following text.

The Union’s Institutions and Bodies

There are five principal institutions mentioned in Article 7 of the EC Treaty (as amended by the Single European Act, the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaties of Amsterdam and Nice.) which are entrusted with carrying out the tasks of the Community: the Council, the Commission, the European Parliament, the Court of Auditors, and the Court of Justice.

Each of these institutions has powers specifically assigned to it by the Treaty and "shall act within the limits of powers conferred on it by the Treaty'.

There are a number of other bodies established: e.g. the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, the European Central Bank, the European Investment Bank, the Economic and Financial Committee, the European Social Fund, the Committee of Permanent Representatives, the European Environmental Agency.

An institution can 'act', that is take generally binding decisions. The other bodies, on the other hand, operate in specific fields and have either a purely advisory role or take decisions which are not generally binding.

The Council of the European Union

and the European Council

The Council of the European Union (also known as the Council of Ministers) is the EU’s main decision-making body. When it meets at Heads of State or Government level, it becomes the European Council whose role is to provide the EU with political impetus on key issues. The EU member states take it in turns to hold the Council Presidency for a six-month period. Every Council meeting is attended by one minister from each EU country. Which ministers attend a meeting depends on which topic is on the agenda: foreign affairs, agriculture, industry, transport, the environment, etc.

The Council has legislative power, which it shares with the European Parliament under the ‘co-decision procedure’. In addition to this, the Council and the Parliament share equal responsibility for adopting the EU budget. The Council also concludes international agreements that have been negotiated by the Commission.

According to the Treaties, the Council has to take its decisions either by a simple majority vote, a ‘qualified majority’ vote or unanimously, depending on the subject to be decided. The Council has to agree unanimously on important questions such as amending the Treaties, launching a new common policy or allowing a new country to join the Union. In most other cases, qualified majority voting is used. This means that a Council decision is adopted if a specified minimum number of votes are cast in its favour. The number of votes allocated to each EU country roughly reflects the size of its population.

A minimum of 255 votes out of 345 (73.9 %) is required to reach a qualified majority. In addition a majority of member states (in some cases two thirds) must approve the decision, and any member state may ask for confirmation that the votes cast in favour represent at least 62% of the EU’s total population.

The European Council meets, in principle, four times a year. It is chaired by the president or prime minister of the country holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union at the time. The President of the European Commission attends as a full member.

Under the Treaty of Maastricht, the European Council officially became an initiator of the Union’s major policies and was empowered to settle difficult issues on which ministers meeting in the Council of the European Union fail to agree. The European Council also deals with pressing international issues through the common foreign and security policy (CFSP), which is intended to allow the EU to speak with one voice on diplomatic questions.

The European Parliament

The European Parliament is the elected body that represents the EU’s citizens. It exercises political supervision over the EU’s activities and takes part in the legislative process. Since 1979, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have been directly elected, by universal suffrage, every five years.

The European Parliament normally holds its plenary sessions in Strasbourg and any additional sessions in Brussels. It has 20 committees which do the preparatory work for plenary sessions, and a number of political groups that usually meet in Brussels. The General Secretariat is based in Luxembourg and Brussels.

The Parliament takes part in the legislative work of the EU at three levels:

Under the ‘cooperation’ procedure , introduced by the Single European Act in 1987, the European Parliament can give its opinion on draft directives and regulations proposed by the European Commission, which is asked to amend its proposals to take account of Parliament’s position.

Since 1987, there has also been the ‘assent’ procedure , under which the European Parliament must give its assent to international agreements negotiated by the Commission and to any proposed enlargement of the European Union.

The 1992 Treaty of Maastricht introduced the ‘co-decision’ procedure , which puts the Parliament on an equal footing with the Council when legislating on a whole series of important issues including the free movement of workers, the internal market, education, research, the environment, trans-European networks, health, culture, consumer protection, etc. The European Parliament has the power to throw out proposed legislation in these fields if an absolute majority of members of Parliament vote against the Council’s legislation in these fields if an absolute majority of members of Parliament vote against the Council’s ‘common position’. The Treaty has made provision for a conciliation procedure.

The European Parliament also shares, with the Council, equal responsibility for adopting the EU budget. The Parliament can reject the proposed budget, and it has already done so on several occasions. When this happens, the entire budget procedure has to be re-started. The European Commission proposes the draft budget, which is then debated by the Council and the European Parliament. Parliament has made full use of its budgetary powers to influence EU policymaking.

Last but not least, the European Parliament exercises democratic supervision over the Union. It has the power to dismiss the Commission by adopting a motion of censure. This requires a two-thirds majority. It also supervises the day-to-day management of EU policies by putting oral and written questions to the Commission and the Council. Finally, the President of the European Council reports to the Parliament on the decisions taken by the Council.

The European Commission

The European Commission, which is the main executive body, is the third part of the institutional triangle that manages and runs the European Union. It has the right to propose legislation and ensures that EU policies are properly implemented. Its members are appointed for a five-year term by agreement between the member states, subject to approval by the European Parliament. The Commission is answerable to the Parliament, and the entire Commission has to resign if the Parliament passes a motion of censure against it.

Since 2004, the Commission has been made up of one Commissioner from each member state.The Commission enjoys a substantial degree of independence in exercising its powers. Its job is to uphold the common interest, which means that it must not take instructions from any national EU government. As ‘Guardian of the Treaties’, it has to ensure that the regulations and directives adopted by the Council and Parliament are being implemented in the member states. If they are not, the Commission can take the offending party to the Court of Justice to oblige it to comply with EU law.

As the EU’s executive arm, the Commission implements the decisions taken by the Council in areas such as the common agricultural policy. It has wide powers to manage the EU’s common policies, such as research and technology, overseas aid, regional development, etc. It also manages the budget for these policies.The Commission is assisted by a civil service made up of 46 directorates-general (DGs) and services, which are mainly based in Brussels and Luxembourg.

Ex. 1. Answer the following questions:

1. How do the EU institutions differ from the EU bodies?

2. What is the composition of the Council of the European Union and the European Council?

3. Who presides over the EU Council?

4. What are the functions of the EU Council?

5. When are decisions taken unanimously / by a qualified majority / a simple majority vote?

6. What are the powers of the European Parliament?

Ex. 2. Give the oral /written summary of the text.

Ex. 3. Translate the text into Russian orally.

Ex. 4. Suggest the Russian equivalents for the following words and phrases:

to assign powers; an advisory role; to hold the Council Presidency; co-decision procedure; co-operation procedure; ascent procedure; Common Foreign and Security Policy; universal suffrage; draft directive /regulation; consumer protection; to throw out proposed legislation; to adopt a motion of censure; subject to approval by the European Parliament; Guardian of the Treaties; offending party.

Ex. 5. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following Russian words and phrases:

наделять полномочиями; решения, обязательные к исполнению; руководящий орган; выполнять законодательные полномочия совместно с Европарламентом; совместно нести ответственность за…; осуществлять политический /демократический контроль; процедура выработки компромиссного решения; отклонить предложенный бюджет; отправить Комиссию в отставку; подать иск в Суд ЕС на страну; соблюдать право ЕС.