Institutions of the EU

• Institutions of the EU

  • The council of the EU
  • The European Commission
  • The European Parliament 
  • The Court of Justice of the EU
• Council of the EU

  The EU’s primary law making body that consists of a representative from every member state – usually the minister responsible for the topic under consideration.
• Council of the EU

  ◦       Usually twice a year government heads meet in the European Council or ‘summit’ to discuss broad matters of policy

  ◦       The member states take it in turns to provide the President of the Council for 6 months each
• The European Commission 

  Consists of 28 Commissioners who act independently of their national origin. The Commissioners are appointed for 5 years and can only be removed by a vote of the European Parliament.
• The European Commission 

  ◦       It is responsible for putting forward new law proposals and guarding the treaties 

  ◦       Also deals with the Union’s budget 
• The Court of Justice of the European Union 

  The court sits in Luxembourg and has one judge from each member state. 
• The Court of Justice of the European Union 

  Its role is to ensure that the law is applied uniformly in all Member States by

  1.     Deciding whether a member state has failed in its obligation (Tachographs)

  2.     Hearing preliminary rulings on points of EU law (Vay Duyn)
• Article 267 – a request for a preliminary ruling is made under Article 267 TFEU
• Preliminary rulings – the final ruling on a point of law which ensures that the law is uniform throughout the EU