1.
Council of the European Union
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The Council of the European Union is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union as listed in the Treaty on European Union. It is part of the essentially bicameral EU legislature and represents the governments of the EUs member states. It is based in the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, Belgium, the Council meets in 10 different configurations of 28 national ministers. The continuity between presidencies is provided by an arrangement under which three successive presidencies, known as Presidency trios, share common political programmes, the Foreign Affairs Council is however chaired by the Unions High Representative. Its decisions are made by qualified majority voting in most areas, usually where it operates unanimously, it only needs to consult the Parliament. In a few limited areas the Council may initiate new EU law itself, the Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union. The Secretariat is divided into seven directorates-general, each administered by a director-general, the Council first appeared in the European Coal and Steel Community as the Special Council of Ministers, set up to counterbalance the High Authority. The original Council had limited powers, issues relating only to coal and steel were in the Authoritys domain, as a whole, the Council only scrutinised the High Authority. In 1957, the Treaties of Rome established two new communities, and with two new Councils, the Council of the European Atomic Energy Community and the Council of the European Economic Community. However, due to objections over the power of the Authority, their Councils had more powers. In 1965 the Council was hit by the empty chair crisis, due to disagreements between French President Charles de Gaulle and the Commissions agriculture proposals, among other things, France boycotted all meetings of the Council. This halted the Councils work until the impasse was resolved the following year by the Luxembourg compromise, although initiated by a gamble of the President of the Commission, Walter Hallstein, who later on lost the Presidency, the crisis exposed flaws in the Councils workings. In 1993, the Council adopted the name Council of the European Union and that treaty strengthened the Council, with the addition of more intergovernmental elements in the three pillars system. However, at the time the Parliament and Commission had been strengthened inside the Community pillar. The Treaty of Lisbon abolished the system and gave further powers to Parliament. It also merged the Councils High Representative with the Commissions foreign policy head, the development of the Council has been characterised by the rise in power of the Parliament, with which the Council has had to share its legislative powers. The Parliament has often provided opposition to the Councils wishes and this has in some cases led to clashes between both bodies with the Councils system of intergovernmentalism contradicting the developing parliamentary system and supranational principles. The primary purpose of the Council is to act as one of the two chambers of the EUs legislative branch, the chamber being the European Parliament
2.
Council of Europe
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The Council of Europe is an international organisation focused on protecting human rights, democracy, rule of law in Europe and promoting European culture. Founded in 1949, it has 47 member states, covers approximately 820 million people, No country has ever joined the EU without first belonging to the Council of Europe. Unlike the EU, the Council of Europe cannot make binding laws, the best known body of the Council of Europe is the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights. The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent institution within the Council of Europe, mandated to promote awareness of, the Secretary General heads the secretariat of the organisation. Other major CoE bodies include the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines, the headquarters of the Council of Europe are in Strasbourg, France. English and French are its two official languages, the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress also use German, Italian, Russian, and Turkish for some of their work. In a speech at the University of Zurich on 19 September 1946, Sir Winston Churchill called for a kind of United States of Europe and he had spoken of a Council of Europe as early as 1943 in a radio broadcast. There were two schools of thought competing, some favoured a classical international organisation with representatives of governments, both approaches were finally combined through the creation of the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly under the Statute of the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by the Treaty of London and those conventions and decisions are developed by the member states working together at the Council of Europe. Both organizations function as concentric circles around the foundations for European co-operation and harmony. The European Union could be seen as the circle with a much higher level of integration through the transfer of powers from the national to the EU level. The Council of Europe and the European Union, different roles, Council of Europe conventions/treaties are also open for signature to non-member states, thus facilitating equal co-operation with countries outside Europe. The Convention created the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the Court supervises compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights and thus functions as the highest European court. It is to court that Europeans can bring cases if they believe that a member country has violated their fundamental rights. The various activities and achievements of the Council of Europe can be found in detail on its official website, Promotion of the right to education under Article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights and several conventions on the recognition of university studies and diplomas. Promotion of fair sport through the Anti-Doping Convention Promotion of European youth exchanges and co-operation through European Youth Centres in Strasbourg and Budapest, Promotion of the quality of medicines throughout Europe by the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and its European Pharmacopoeia. The institutions of the Council of Europe are, The Secretary General, mr Thorbjørn Jagland, the former Prime Minister of Norway was elected Secretary General of the Council of Europe in September 2009. In June 2014, he was re-elected, and his term in office commenced on 1 October 2014
3.
Europa building
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It consists of, a press center, a newly rebuilt edifice called the Space Egg or Lantern, and the Lex. The Space Egg is for use by the European Council mainly, to the east lies the main Council building, Justus Lipsius. To the north, across the Rue de la Loi, lie the Berlaymont, the main Council room is - just like in the old Justus Lipsius - windowless. Walloon businessman Lucien Kaisin planned the following the end of the First World War. It was to be an apartment block for the bourgeoisie. It was also intended to address the shortage of workers at the time by having them available to all residents. Kaisin described the building as a town within a city. The building was designed by a Swiss architect, Michel Polak, the foundation stone of the Art Deco building was laid on 30 May 1923 with the first residents moving in in 1927. Associated facilities included a hall, a swimming pool and other commercial services such as a restaurant. It was a housing collective for the most privileged layers of society. The building has partly been listed as a historic monument, the building only had a short commercial success. In 1940 tenants were forced to leave, as the building was requisitioned as the headquarters of the occupying German army during the Nazi occupation of Belgium during the Second World War. In September 1944, after the liberation of Brussels, the building was taken over as headquarters for SHAEF, after the War the building was turned into administrative offices for the Belgian state. Finally, in 1988, the part of the building was demolished to make way for the construction of the Justus Lipsius building. The original façades of the Résidence Palace building, the entrances, today the various blocks are used for mixed purposes. The Belgian government bought the complex in 1947 and used Bloc A for administrative offices, Bloc B and Bloc C have in recent years served as an international press centre used by journalists for their coverage of activities related to the major European Union institutions nearby. A pre-war period swimming pool, a theatre and a restaurant have been maintained, apartments are now being built in the courtyard to the south of bloc B. In 2004, a made by the Belgian government that Bloc A of the Résidence Palace be taken over by the Council of the European Union
4.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
5.
President of the European Council
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The President of the European Council is a principal representative of the European Union on the world stage, and the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council. This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as the President of the European Commission, appointments, as well as the removal of incumbents, require a double majority support in the European Council. On 19 November 2009, the European Council agreed that its first president under the Lisbon Treaty would be Herman Van Rompuy, Van Rompuy took office when the Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009 with a term stretching until 31 May 2012. His term was extended with a second period ending on 30 November 2014. The current president, for the term 1 December 2014 until 31 May 2017, is the former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and he was reelected on 9 March 2017. As the European Council is composed of leaders, it was chaired by the head of state or government of the Presidency state. The European Constitution, drafted by the European Convention, outlined the President of the European Council as a longer term, the first president is expected to set the job description for future office holders as there is no clear idea of how the post would evolve. This would attract semi-retired leaders seeking a fitting climax to their career, however another opinion envisages a more pro-active President within the Union and speaking for it abroad. This post would hence be quickly fashioned into a de facto President of Europe and, unlike the first model, persons connected to this position would be more charismatic leaders. The appointment of Herman Van Rompuy indicated a desire to see the style of president. The Treaty of Lisbon doesnt define a process for the President of the Council. However, he faced large scale opposition for being from a large state outside the eurozone, minor opposition to other leaders such as Juncker also led to their rejection. On 19 November 2009, Herman Van Rompuy, at that time Prime Minister of Belgium, was chosen to be appointed as the first full-time President of the European Council. The formal decision on the appointment was made after the Treaty of Lisbon came into force, the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said that he had unanimous backing from the 27 EU leaders at the summit in Brussels on the evening of 19 November 2009. Mr Brown also praised Mr Van Rompuy as a builder who had brought a period of political stability to his country after months of uncertainty. Mr Van Rompuy has a reputation as a builder, having taken charge of the linguistically divided Belgian government. At a press conference after his appointment, Van Rompuy commented, a negotiation that ends with a defeated party is never a good negotiation. I will consider everyones interests and sensitivities, even if our unity remains our strength, our diversity remains our wealth, he said, stressing the individuality of EU member states
6.
Donald Tusk
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Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician and historian. He has been President of the European Council since 1 December 2014, previously he was Prime Minister of Poland and a co-founder and chairman of the Civic Platform party. Tusk has been involved in Polish politics since the early 1990s, having founded several political parties, in 2014, he became President of the European Council, and was re-elected to this position in 2017. He resigned as Polish Prime Minister to take the role, having been the longest-serving Prime Minister of the Third Polish Republic, Tusk was born in Gdańsk in northern Poland. His father, also named Donald Tusk, was a carpenter, Tusk got his Scottish first name because his paternal grandmother Juliana travelled abroad in her youth and became enamoured of a lord called Donald. She gave this name to her son, who passed it on to her grandson, Tusk credits his interest in politics to watching a clash between workers on strike and riot police when he was a teenager. He enrolled at the University of Gdańsk to study history, while studying, he was active in the Students Solidarity Committee, a group that opposed Polands communist rule at the time. Tusk was one of the founders of the Liberal Democratic Congress, the KLD later merged with the Democratic Union to become the Freedom Union. Tusk became deputy chairman of the new party, and was elected to the Senate in the election in 1997. In 2001, he co-founded the Civic Platform, and became deputy speaker in parliament after the party won seats in the years election, in 2005, Tusk was defeated in the presidential election by Lech Kaczynski, and the Civic Platform lost Parliament to the Law and Justice party. Tusk and his cabinet were sworn in on 16 November. In September 2014, Tusk resigned his position as Prime Minister in order to take the position of President of the European Council. Later on in his rule, Tusk changed his views on the role of taxation in the functioning of the state and his government has never cut any taxes. Instead, it raised the tax from 22% to 23% in 2011 and has increased the excise imposed on diesel oil, alcoholic beverages, tobacco. The number of employed in the public administration has also grown considerably. As of 2012, the value of investments in Poland had never reached its heights from 2006–2007. The number of Poles staying abroad in 2013 was almost the same as in 2007, the construction of a more adequate and larger national road network in preparation for the UEFA2012 football championships has been a stated priority for the Tusk government. On 27 October 2009, Tusk declared that he wants to partially outlaw gambling, Tusk criticised other nations responses to the pandemic
7.
European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
8.
Politics of the European Union
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The Politics of the European Union are different from other organisations and states due to the unique nature of the European Union. These areas are primarily under the control of the EUs member states although an amount of structured co-operation and coordination takes place in these areas. For the EU to take actions in these areas, all Member States must give their consent. The principle of subsidiarity does not apply to areas of exclusive competence, the common institutions mix the intergovernmental and supranational aspects of the EU. The EU treaties declare the EU to be based on representative democracy, the Parliament, together with the Council, form the legislative arm of the EU. The Council is composed of governments, thus representing the intergovernmental nature of the EU. Laws are proposed by the European Commission which is appointed by and accountable to the Parliament, although direct elections take place every five years, there are no cohesive political parties in the national sense. Instead, there are alliances of ideologically associated parties who sit, the two largest parties are the European Peoples Party and the Party of European Socialists with the former forming the largest group in Parliament since 1999. The latter is stronger in northern Europe, especially the United Kingdom, legitimation of the European Union rests on the Treaty System. After World War Two, Europe sought to end conflict permanently between France and Germany, in the spirit of the Marshall Plan, those two nations signed the Treaty of Paris in 1951, establishing the European Coal and Steel Community. Since then, the Treaty of Paris, which focused on price setting, the legal basis for the European Community now rests on two treaties, The Treaty for the European Union of 1958, and The Treaty of Maastricht of 1992. The various additions and modifications of treaties has led to a patchwork of policy and planning, the pastiche of treaties, and not a single actualising charter of government, form the constitutional basis of the European Union. This ambiguity is a cause of democratic deficit. The EU itself is a personality and a set of governing institutions empowered by the treaties. However sovereignty is not invested in those institutions, it is pooled with ultimate sovereignty resting with the national governments, yet in those areas where the EU has been granted competencies, it does have the power to pass binding and direct laws upon its members. The competencies of the European Union stem from the original Coal and Steel Community, the original competencies were regulatory in nature, restricted to matters of maintaining a healthy business environment. Rulings were confined to laws covering trade, currency, and competition, increases in the number of EU competencies result from a process known as functional spillover. Functional spillover resulted in, first, the integration of banking and insurance industries to manage finance, the size of the bureaucracies increased, requiring modifications to the treaty system as the scope of competencies integrated more and more functions
9.
European Commission
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Commissioners swear an oath at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, pledging to respect the treaties and to be completely independent in carrying out their duties during their mandate. The Commission operates as a government, with 28 members of the Commission. There is one member per state, but members are bound by their oath of office to represent the general interest of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. One of the 28 is the Commission President proposed by the European Council, the current Commission is the Juncker Commission, which took office in late 2014. The procedural languages of the Commission are English, French and German, the Members of the Commission and their cabinets are based in the Berlaymont building in Brussels. The first Commission originated in 1951 as the nine-member High Authority under President Jean Monnet, the High Authority was the supranational administrative executive of the new European Coal and Steel Community. It took office first on 10 August 1952 in Luxembourg, in 1958 the Treaties of Rome had established two new communities alongside the ECSC, the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. However their executives were called Commissions rather than High Authorities, the reason for the change in name was the new relationship between the executives and the Council. Some states such as France expressed reservations over the power of the High Authority, louis Armand led the first Commission of Euratom. Walter Hallstein led the first Commission of the EEC, holding the first formal meeting on 16 January 1958 at the Château of Val-Duchesse, Hallstein notably began the consolidation of European law and started to have a notable impact on national legislation. The three bodies, collectively named the European Executives, co-existed until 1 July 1967 when, under the Merger Treaty, the Rey Commission completed the Communitys customs union in 1968 and campaigned for a more powerful, elected, European Parliament. Despite Rey being the first President of the communities, Hallstein is seen as the first President of the modern Commission. The Malfatti and Mansholt Commissions followed with work on monetary co-operation, with that enlargement the Commissions membership increased to thirteen under the Ortoli Commission, which dealt with the enlarged community during economic and international instability at that time. Following the Jenkins Commission, Gaston Thorns Commission oversaw the Communitys enlargement to the south, the Commission headed by Jacques Delors was seen as giving the Community a sense of direction and dynamism. Delors and his team are considered as the founding fathers of the euro. The International Herald Tribune noted the work of Delors at the end of his term in 1992. He arrived when Europessimism was at its worst, although he was a little-known former French finance minister, he breathed life and hope into the EC and into the dispirited Brussels Commission. The successor to Delors was Jacques Santer, the entire Santer Commission was forced to resign in 1999 by the Parliament as result of a fraud and corruption scandal, with a central role played by Édith Cresson
10.
Juncker Commission
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The Juncker Commission is the European Commission in office since 1 November 2014 and is due to serve until 2019. Its president is Jean-Claude Juncker, who presides over 27 other commissioners, in July 2014, Juncker was officially elected to succeed José Manuel Barroso, who had been re-elected by the European Parliament for a second five-year term in 2009. In the 2014 parliamentary election, Juncker campaigned as the candidate of the European Peoples Party for the presidency of the European Commission, the EPP won a plurality in parliament, and on 27 June, the European Council nominated him for the post. Later, on 15 July 2014, the European Parliament elected Juncker as the new Commission president, on 1 November 2014 the new Commission officially assumed office. Juncker has outlined a ten-point agenda for his Presidency focusing on jobs and these clusters are known as Project Teams and will each be headed by one of the vice presidents. Each team is composed of a membership in addition to members who may fall under its respective umbrella as needed. First Vice President, Frans Timmermans Federica Mogherini Dimitris Avramopoulos Johannes Hahn Neven Mimica Christos Stylianides Věra Jourová Julian King Political guidelines Priorities
11.
President of the European Commission
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The President of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission. The President of the Commission is responsible for allocating portfolios to members of the Commission and they determine the Commissions policy agenda and all the legislative proposals it produces. The President of the Commission also represents the EU abroad, together with the President of the European Council, the post was established in 1958. Each new President is nominated by the European Council and formally elected by the European Parliament, once appointed, he or she, along with the Commission, is responsible to Parliament. As of 2017, the current President is Jean-Claude Juncker, who took office on 1 November 2014 and he is a member of the European Peoples Party and is the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg. Juncker is the twelfth President and his First Vice-President is Frans Timmermans, in 1957 the present Commission was established by the Treaty of Rome, and it also replaced the High Authority and the Commission of Euratom in 1967. The Commissions first president was Walter Hallstein who started consolidating European law, national governments took little heed of his administration at first with the President having to stamp the Commissions authority early on. With the aid of the European Court of Justice the Commission began to be more seriously. These proposals led to a backlash from France. Hallstein knew the proposals would be contentious, and took charge of drafting them. However he did gain the support of Parliament through his proposals to increase its powers and he aimed to demonstrate how he thought the Community ought to be run, in the hopes of generating a wave of pro-Europeanism big enough to get past the objections of member states. However, in this it proved that, despite its past successes, France eventually withdrew its representative from the Council, triggering the notorious empty chair crisis. Although this was resolved under the Luxembourg compromise, Hallstein became the scapegoat for the crisis, the Council refused to renew his term, despite being the most dynamic leader until Jacques Delors. Hallsteins work did enable the Commission to be a real player, during the 1970s the presidents were involved in the major political projects of the day, such as the European Monetary Union. In 1970, President Jean Rey secured the Communitys own financial resources and in 1977, President Roy Jenkins became the first Commission President to attend a G7 summit on behalf of the Community. However, due to such as the 1973 oil crisis. However the Commission began to recover under President Jacques Delors Commission and he is seen as the most successful President, being credited with having given the Community a sense of direction and dynamism. The International Herald Tribune noted the work of Delors at the end of his term in 1992
12.
Jean-Claude Juncker
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Jean-Claude Juncker is a Luxembourgish politician. Since 2014, Juncker has been President of the European Commission, from 1995 to 2013, he was the 23rd Prime Minister of Luxembourg, and from 1989 to 2009, he was the Minister for Finances. From 2005 to 2013, Juncker served as the first permanent President of the Eurogroup, in 2014, the European Peoples Party had Juncker as its lead candidate, or Spitzenkandidat, for the Presidency of the Commission in the 2014 elections. This marked the first time that the Spitzenkandidat process was employed, the EPP won 220 out of 751 seats in the Parliament. On 27 June 2014, the European Council officially nominated Juncker for the position, and on 15 July 2014 and he succeeded Jose Manuel Barroso as President on 1 November 2014. During his leadership, Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, Juncker is the first President that prior to the election has campaigned as a candidate for the position, a process introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon. Juncker was born in Redange, Luxembourg, and spent the majority of his childhood in Belvaux and he studied at the Roman Catholic école apostolique at Clairefontaine on the edge of Arlon in Belgium, before returning to Luxembourg to study for his Baccalaureate at the Lycée Michel Rodange. He joined the Christian Social Peoples Party in 1974 and he studied Law at the University of Strasbourg, graduating with a Masters in Law in 1979, and although he was sworn into the Luxembourg Bar Council in 1980, he never practised as a lawyer. Juncker is fluent in his language of Luxembourgish, along with French, German. Following Junckers graduation from the University of Strasbourg, he was appointed as a Parliamentary Secretary and he later won election to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time in 1984 and was immediately appointed to the Cabinet of Prime Minister Jacques Santer as Minister of Labour. This led to his given a chairmans role at a number of meetings of the Council of the European Communities. Shortly before the 1989 election Juncker was seriously injured in a road accident. His eventual promotion to Prime Minister seemed at this time inevitable, Juncker at this time also accepted the position of Luxembourgs representative on the 188-member board of Governors of the World Bank. Juncker was re-elected to the Chamber in 1994, maintaining his ministerial role, Juncker relinquished his post at the World Bank at this time, but maintained his position as Minister for Finance. Junckers first term as Prime Minister was focused on a platform of international bilateral ties to improve Luxembourgs profile abroad. The press dubbed Juncker the Hero of Dublin for achieving a consensus between the two. He also instigated the Euro 11, an group of European finance ministers for matters regarding his Economic. For all of these initiatives, he was honoured with the Vision for Europe Award in 1998, after the 2004 election, the Luxembourg Socialist Workers Party became the second largest party again, and Juncker again formed a coalition with them
13.
Vice-President of the European Commission
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A Vice-President of the European Commission is a post in the European Commission usually occupied by more than one member of the Commission. Any Vice-President occupies this role in addition to the portfolio as Commissioner. Although the post of Vice-President gives little extra power, it is seen as important in appointments, Commission salaries are set as a percentage of the top civil service grade. Vice-Presidents are paid at 125%, in comparison to 112. 5% for normal Commissioners, however, the Vice-President who is also the High Representative, is paid at 130%. There are further allowances on top of these figures, the First Vice-President usually takes on the main role of a Vice-President, taking over from the President in their absence. The current First Vice-President is Frans Timmermans, the Previous First Vice-President was Catherine Ashton who was also the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. European Commission Website ec. europa. eu VP Ashtons Website ec. europa. eu
14.
European Commissioner
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A European Commissioner is a member of the 28-member European Commission. Each Member within the Commission holds a portfolio, and the Commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent of national ministers, each Commissioner is first nominated by their member state in consultation with the Commission President, although the President holds little practical power to force a change in candidate. The more capable the candidate is, the likely the Commission President will assign them a powerful portfolio. The Presidents team is subject to hearings at the European Parliament which will question them. If members of the team are found to be inappropriate, the President must then reshuffle the team or request a new candidate from the state or risk the whole Commission being voted down. As Parliament cannot vote against individual Commissioners there is usually a compromise whereby the worst candidates are removed, once the team is approved by parliament, it is formally put into office by the European Council. It should be noted however that although Members of the Commission are allocated between member-states they do not represent their states, instead they are supposed to act in European interests. Normally a member-state will nominate someone of the political party as that which forms the government of the day. Partly due to the selection procedure, only 9 of the current 28 Members are women. Peter Mandelson was the first openly gay Commissioner, the first female Commissioners were Christiane Scrivener and Vasso Papandreou in the 1989 Delors Commission. European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek proposed in 2010 that Commissioners be directly elected and that would give them individually, and the body as a whole, a democratic mandate. Each Member is required to take an oath before the Court of Justice of the European Union, as of December 2009, the Charter of Fundamental Rights has gained legal force and Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has proposed that Commissioners should swear to uphold it also. The second Barroso Commission went to the Court of Justice on 3 May 2010 for the first such oath alongside their usual oath. I formally note the undertaking of each Member State to respect this principle, until 2004, the larger member states received two Commissioners and the smaller states received one. Nice also specified that once the number of members reached 27 then the number of Commissioners should be reduced to less than the number of Member States. The exact number of Commissioners would have to be decided by a vote of the European Council. Following the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in January 2007, this took effect for the following commission
15.
European Civil Service
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The European Civil Service is a generic term applied to all staff serving the Institutions of the EU. However, each Institution organises its own structures, only recruitment is done in common. The rules, principles, standards and working conditions of the European civil service are set out in the Staff Regulations, the European Ombudsman has summarised the following five principles of public service which apply to all staff of the EU institutions,1. Commitment to the European Union and its citizens 2, transparency The Commissions civil service is headed by a Secretary General, currently Alexander Italianer who succeeded Catherine Day. According to figures published by the Commission,24,428 persons were employed by the Commission as officials, in addition to these,9066 external staff were employed, these are largely people employed on time-limited contracts, staff seconded from national administrations, or trainees. The single largest DG is the Directorate-General for Translation, with 2261 staff, European civil servants are sometimes referred to in the anglophone press as Eurocrats. High-ranking officials are referred to as European Mandarins. There are staff from all states, with the largest group being Belgian, with French. Most administration is based in the Belgian capital, Often, those states under-represented in the service tend to have more of their nationals in the higher ranks, the qualifications needed to enter the European civil service depend on the whether the job is a specialist one and the grade. One of the qualifications for the European civil service is that the candidate speak at least two of the official European languages, one of which must be English, French or German. Candidates whose mother tongue is English, French or German must pass the competition for entry in one of the two official languages. Prior to their first promotion, officials must demonstrate competence in a third EU official language, a candidate also needs to have a first degree in any discipline. Staff are divided into a set of grades, from AD5, the most junior grade, to AD16. Alongside the AD category is AST and it is now possible for civil servants to be promoted from AST to AD grade, not previously possible, however in practice the grades remain entrenched. While promotion is in theory according to merit, many management posts are now taken by officials parachuted in from member states, prior to this new system, introduced in the 2000s, civil servants were traditionally divided into four categories. A was policy making, B was implementing, C was secretarial, there were various grades in each category. The major ranks used to be in the form of A7 to A1, EU civil and other servants work 40 hours a week, though they are theoretically available 24/7. They receive a minimum of 24 days of leave a year, with additional leave entitlements on grounds of age, grade but no longer distance from home country
16.
European Union legislative procedure
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The European Union adopts legislation through a variety of legislative procedures. The procedure used for a legislative proposal depends on the policy area in question. Most legislation needs to be proposed by the European Commission and approved by the Council of the European Union in order to become law. An exception to this are so-called passerelle clauses in which the procedure used for a certain policy area can be changed without formally amending the treaties. The European Parliaments 751 members are elected every five years by universal suffrage. It organises itself as a normal multi-party parliament in conducting most of its work in its committees, however, its political groups are very weak due to their status as broad ideological groups of existing national parties. The Parliaments powers have grown considerably since the 1950s as new legislative procedures granted more equality between Parliament and Council and it also has gained greater powers over the appointment of the Commission, which has always been responsible to it. As such, it does not sit according to political groups and rather than conducting most of its work in committees, under the ordinary legislative procedure, the negative opinion from the Commission also forces the Council to vote by unanimity rather than majority. There are also limited instances where the Commission can adopt legislation on its own initiative, if a majority do so – an orange card – then the Council or Parliament can vote it down immediately. The ordinary legislative procedure is the legislative procedure by which directives. Article 294 TFEU outlines ordinary legislative procedure in the following manner, the Commission submits a legislative proposal to the Parliament and Council. At the first reading Parliament adopts its position, if the Council approves the Parliaments wording then the act is adopted. If not, it shall adopt its own position and pass it back to Parliament with explanations, the Commission also informs Parliament of its position on the matter. At the second reading, the act is adopted if Parliament approves the Councils text or fails to take a decision, the Parliament may reject the Councils text, leading to a failure of the law, or modify it and pass it back to the Council. The Commission gives its opinion once more, where the Commission has rejected amendments in its opinion, the Council must act unanimously rather than by majority. If, within three months of receiving Parliaments new text the Council approves it, then it is adopted, if it does not then the Council President, with the agreement of the Parliament President, convenes the Conciliation Committee composed of the Council and an equal number of MEPs. The committee draws up a joint text on the basis of the two positions, if within six weeks it fails to agree a common text, then the act has failed. If it succeeds and the committee approves the text, then the Council, if either fails to do so, the act is not adopted
17.
European Parliament
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The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union. Together with the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, the Parliament is composed of 751 members, who represent the second-largest democratic electorate in the world and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world. It has been elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979. However, voter turnout at European Parliament elections has fallen consecutively at each election since that date, voter turnout in 2014 stood at 42. 54% of all European voters. The Parliament is the first institution of the EU, and shares equal legislative and it likewise has equal control over the EU budget. Finally, the European Commission, the body of the EU, is accountable to Parliament. In particular, Parliament elects the President of the Commission, and it can subsequently force the Commission as a body to resign by adopting a motion of censure. The President of the European Parliament is Antonio Tajani, elected in January 2017 and he presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the Group of the European Peoples Party and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. The last union-wide elections were the 2014 elections, the European Parliament has three places of work – Brussels, the city of Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Luxembourg is home to the administrative offices, meetings of the whole Parliament take place in Strasbourg and in Brussels. Committee meetings are held in Brussels, the Parliament, like the other institutions, was not designed in its current form when it first met on 10 September 1952. One of the oldest common institutions, it began as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and it was a consultative assembly of 78 appointed parliamentarians drawn from the national parliaments of member states, having no legislative powers. Its development since its foundation shows how the European Unions structures have evolved without a master plan. Some, such as Tom Reid of the Washington Post, said of the union, nobody would have designed a government as complex. Even the Parliaments two seats, which have switched several times, are a result of various agreements or lack of agreements, the body was not mentioned in the original Schuman Declaration. It was assumed or hoped that difficulties with the British would be resolved to allow the Council of Europes Assembly to perform the task, a separate Assembly was introduced during negotiations on the Treaty as an institution which would counterbalance and monitor the executive while providing democratic legitimacy. The wording of the ECSC Treaty demonstrated the desire for more than a normal consultative assembly by using the term representatives of the people. Its early importance was highlighted when the Assembly was given the task of drawing up the treaty to establish a European Political Community
18.
President of the European Parliament
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The President of the European Parliament presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament. He or she represents the Parliament within the EU and internationally. The presidents signature is required for enacting most EU laws and the EU budget, Presidents serve two-and-a-half-year terms, normally divided between the two major political parties. There have been twenty-eight presidents since the Parliament was created in 1952, two presidents have been women and most have come from the older member states. The current president is Antonio Tajani of Italy, the president chairs debates and oversees all the activities of the Parliament and its constituent bodies, in this the role is similar to that of a speaker in a national parliament. Below the president, there are 14 vice-presidents who chair debates when the president is not in the chamber and he or she represents Parliament in all legal matters and external relations, particularly international relations. When the European Council meets, the president addresses it to give the Parliaments position on subjects on the Councils agenda, the president also takes part in Intergovernmental Conferences on new treaties. The presidents signature is required for the budget of the European Union and Union acts adopted under codecision procedure to be adopted. The president also chairs conciliation committees with the Council under these areas, in most countries, the protocol of the head of state comes before all others. However, in the EU the Parliament is listed as the first institution, the gifts given to numerous visiting dignitaries depends upon the president. President Josep Borrell MEP of Spain gave his counterparts a crystal cup created by an artist from Barcelona which had engraved upon it parts of the Charter of Fundamental Rights among other things. With the reorganisation of leading EU posts under the Lisbon Treaty, the Parliaments president meanwhile articulates the EUs values such as democratic elections in other countries. The president is elected by the members of Parliament for a two-and-a-half-year term, since the European Peoples Party and Party of European Socialists began co-operating in the 1980s, they have had a tradition of splitting the two posts between them. Starting from the 2009–2014 session of the Parliament the outgoing president presides over the election of the new president, if the outgoing president is not re-elected as an MEP then one of the 14 vice-presidents takes up the role. While the outgoing president or vice president is in the chair, they hold all the powers of the president, before the ballot nominations are handed to the chair who announces them to Parliament. If no member holds a majority after three ballots, a fourth is held with only the two members holding the highest number of votes on the previous ballot. If there is still a tie following this, the eldest candidate is declared elected, a number of notable figures have been President of the Parliament and its predecessors. The first president was Paul-Henri Spaak MEP, one of the fathers of the Union
19.
Antonio Tajani
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Antonio Tajani is an Italian politician and President of the European Parliament since January 2017. After attending Liceo Torquato Tasso in Rome, he earned a degree in Law at the Sapienza University of Rome, Tajani was an officer in the Italian Air Forces. After attending an air defense course at Borgo Piave di Latina. He was special envoy to Lebanon, the Soviet Union and Somalia, besides Italian, he speaks English, French and Spanish. He is married, with two children, in his youth Tajani was a militant of Fronte Monarchico Giovanile, a student organization of the Monarchist party of Italy. In the first Berlusconis government, Tajani was a spokesman of the Prime Minister, in 1996 he ran for MP in the Alatri college, but obtained only 45. 3% of the votes and was defeated by the representative of the Olive Tree. In 2001 Tajani was a candidate for mayor of Rome for the coalition of the House of Freedom, defeated, however, since 2002 Tajani is one of 10 vice-presidents of the European Peoples Party. He was re-elected at the Rome Congress in 2006 and at the Bonn conference in 2009, in 1994 Tajani was elected MEP, later confirmed in 1999 and 2004. He was chairman of the delegation of Forza Italia to the European Parliament from June 1999 until May 2008. At the 2004 European elections he was elected from a list of Forza Italia in the Central college and he was admitted to the European Peoples Party. Tajani was a Member of the European Parliament for Central Italy with the Forza Italia party from 2004 to 2008 and he was a substitute for the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and a member of the Delegation for relations with Israel. He was a member of the European Convention, which drafted the text of the European Constitution that never entered into force. On 8 May 2008, he was appointed as Italys EU Commissioner by newly elected Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, replacing Franco Frattini, Tajani received the Commissioner for Transport portfolio. He was officially approved in his post by the European Parliament on 18 June 2008 with a vote of 507 to 53 with 64 abstentions, in this role, Tajani promoted the rescue plan for Alitalia, through the involvement of private funding in the airline capital. Furthermore, Tajani oversaw the drafting of the new EU Regulation relating to transport, thanks to this regulation, which came into force in December 2009, passengers receive assistance and reimbursement in case of denied boarding, cancellation or delay of the flight. These norms are applicable both to passengers leaving from an airport of the European Union and to passengers flying to Europe from extra-EU countries, the confirmation of Tajani followed the decline of the candidacy of Massimo DAlema as High Representative for Foreign Policy. For Tajani an alternative foreshadowed would have been a candidacy as president of the Lazio Region, on 15 April 2010 a headline in the British newspaper, The Sunday Times, proclaimed that European Commissioner Antonio Tajani had unveiled a plan declaring tourism a human right. In introducing his plan, Tajani stated, Travelling for tourism today is a right, the way we spend our holidays is a formidable indicator of our quality of life. EurActiv notes that the article on The Sunday Times never quotes the Commissioner as having such a statement
20.
European People's Party group
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The European Peoples Party group is the political group in the European Parliament consisting of deputies from the member parties of the European Peoples Party. In this respect, there is a distinction between the European Peoples Party itself and the EPP Group in the European Parliament, the EPP mostly comprises politicians of Christian democratic, conservative and liberal-conservative orientation. The European Peoples Party was officially founded as a European political party in 1976 and its size has given it influence in all the EUs institutions. It has been the largest political group in the European Parliament since 1999, in the European Council,14 out of 28 Heads of State and Government belong to the EPP family and in the European Commission,13 out of 28 Commissioners come from EPP parties. The group held 38 of the 78 seats, two short of an absolute majority, the Christian Democrat group was the biggest group at formation, but as time wore on it lost support and was the second-biggest group by the time of the 1979 elections. As the European Community expanded into the European Union, the dominant centre-right parties in the new states were not necessarily Christian democratic. To counter this, the EPP expanded its remit to cover the centre-right regardless of tradition and this policy lead to Greek New Democracy and Spanish Peoples Party MEPs joining the EPP Group. However, the consolidation was not unalloyed and a split emerged with the Eurosceptic MEPs who congregated in a subgroup within the group, size was not enough, however, the group did not have a majority. It continued therefore to engage in the Grand Coalition to generate the majorities required by the procedure under the Single European Act. The EPP-ED Group reverted to its original name – the EPP Group – immediately, in the 7th European Parliament the EPP Group remains the largest parliamentary group with 275 MEPs. It is currently the political group in the European parliament to fully represent its corresponding European political party. The United Kingdom is currently the only EU member state not to have representation in the EPP Group, the 38 members in the group on 11 September 1952 were as follows, The EPP Group is governed by a collective that allocates tasks. The Presidency consists of the Group Chair and a maximum of ten Vice-Chairs, the day-to-day running of the EPP Group is performed by its secretariat in the European Parliament, led by its Secretary-General. The Group runs its own think-tank, the European Ideas Network, the debates and votes in the European Parliament are tracked by its website and categorized by the groups that participate in them and the rule of procedure that they fall into. The results give a profile for each group by category and the total indicates the level of participation in Parliamentary debates. The activity profile for each group for the period 1 August 2004 to 1 August 2008 in the Sixth Parliament is given on the diagram on the right, the group is denoted in blue. The website shows the group as participating in 659 motions, making it the third most active group during the period, the group produces many publications, which can be found on its website. Documents produced in 2008 cover subjects such as dialogue with the Orthodox Church, study days, its strategy for 2008-09, Euro-Mediterranean relations, and it also publishes a yearbook and irregularly publishes a presentation, a two-page summary of the group
21.
Manfred Weber
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Manfred Weber is a German politician and Member of the European Parliament from Germany. He is a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, in the Bavarian state elections in 2003, Weber became the state’s youngest parliamentarian at the age of 29. Currently heading the European Peoples Party Group, he is the youngest group leader in the current Parliament as well as the group leader of the EPP. In 2015, Bavarias Minister President Horst Seehofer nominated Weber as one of his deputies in the office of CSU chairman, on 7 June 2014, Weber dismissed demands by British Prime Minister David Cameron to put the brakes on European integration. Weber stated that The EU is based on a closer union of European peoples. That is set out in the treaties and it is not negotiable for us. We cannot sell the soul of Europe, if we grant every national parliament a veto right, Europe would come to a standstill. However, he supports Cameron’s demand that Britain, as a non-euro country, also, he told The Guardian in early 2015 that the United Kingdom’s drive to freeze welfare payments for EU immigrants was justified and set an example for the rest of the union. Commenting on Britains vote to leave the European Union, Weber said, “The British people decided to leave this union, so they not be so comfortable, so safe. That’s why we say that it really is a very negative day. Rather than new supplies across the Baltic, Weber called upon the Commission to accelerate its efforts to import more gas across Turkey from the Caspian Sea, and even potentially Iran and Iraq
22.
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
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The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists. It adopted its name on 23 June 2009. Centre-left in orientation, the group mostly comprises social-democratic parties, and is affiliated to the Progressive Alliance, until the 1999 European Parliament elections it was the largest group in the Parliament, but since those elections it has constantly been the second-largest group. During the 8th EU Parliament Assembly, the S&D is the only Parliament group with representation from all 28 EU member states. In the European Council,8 out of 28 Heads of State and Government belong to the S&D Group and in the European Commission,8 out of 28 Commissioners come from PES parties. The Socialist Group was one of the first three groups to be created when it was founded on 23 June 1953 in the Common Assembly of the European Coal, the Common Assembly was the predecessor of the European Parliament. A group bureau and secretariat was established in Luxembourg, in 1987, the Single European Act came into force and the group began co-operation with the European Peoples Party to secure the majorities needed under the cooperation procedure. The left–right coalition between the Socialists and EPP has dominated the Parliament since then and the post of President of the Parliament has been split between the two groups ever since, the Confederation was succeeded by the Party of European Socialists, in 1992. As a result, the group was renamed the Group of the Party of European Socialists on 21 April 1993. In 1999, the Parliament refused to approve the Santer Commissions handling of the EU budget, allegations of corruption centred on two PES Commissioners, Édith Cresson and Manuel Marín. The group initially supported the Commission but later withdrew their support, in 2007, the Socialist Group was the second largest group in Parliament, with MEPs from all but two member states, Latvia and Cyprus. However, the 2009 European election saw a reduction in the number of PES MEPs returned from 2004, the group sought additional members in the Democratic Party of Italy, which was not affiliated to the PES in 2009. By the conclusion of the 2004-2009 parliamentary term, the Democratic Party had 8 MEPs in the Socialist Group, but also had 8 MEPs in ALDE Group. The Democratic Party is a big tent centre-left party, strongly influenced by social democracy and the Christian left, so a new and more inclusive group name had to be found. The group was going to be named Alliance of Socialists and Democrats for Europe but this was seemed too similar to Alliance of Liberals, the name Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was suggested on 18 June by group president Martin Schulz and it was renamed on 23 June 2009. The English abbreviation was initially unclear, being reported as PASD or S&D Group or PASDE. The S&D Group joined the Progressive Alliance upon its foundation on 22 May 2013 and is a member of the organisations board. The group was formerly an Associated Organisation of the Socialist International, for Presidents of the European Parliament from the group, see President of the European Parliament
23.
Gianni Pittella
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Gianni Pittella is an Italian politician from Basilicata. He is a member of the Italian Democratic Party, following the political career of his father Domenico Pittella, who was a member of the Senate, he was a member of the Italian Socialist Party, Labour Federation and Democrats of the Left. In the 1996 elections, he was elected to the Italian Parliament, in 2013, Pittella was a member of the national leadership council of the PD, then led by Pier Luigi Bersani. He took part in the 2013 Democratic Party leadership election and he came fourth out of four with 5. 7% in the vote by party members, thus being excluded to the subsequent primary election. In the 1999 European elections, Pittella was elected to the European Parliament and he was re-elected in 2004,2009 and 2014. In the European Parliament, Pittella first served on the Committee on Budgets between 1999 and 2009, in this capacity, he was the Parliament’s rapporteur on the 2006 budget, the last under a seven-year expenditure framework. He later was a member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, Pittella served as one of the 14 Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament from 14 July 2009 to 1 July 2014. In addition to his assignments and party functions, Pittella currently serves on the Parliament’s delegation. In 2016, Pittella attended the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to watch the nomination of Hillary Clinton and he is also a visiting professor at the University of East Anglias London Academy of Diplomacy. Gianni Pittella is married and has two children
24.
Eighth European Parliament
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The eighth European Parliament was elected in the 2014 elections and will last until the 2019 elections. 22–25 May 2014 Elections to the Eighth Parliament,1 July 2014 First meeting of the Eighth Parliament. Martin Schulz is elected as President of the European Parliament,17 January 2017 Antonio Tajani is elected as President of the European Parliament. After the 2014 election, the members formed seven groups with 52 independent members, mainly MEPs against the Union who failed to unify into a political group
25.
Vice President of the European Parliament
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There are fourteen vice-presidents of the European Parliament who sit in for the president in presiding over the plenary of the European Parliament. Vice-presidents are members of the Bureau and chair the plenary when the president is not in the chair, the president may also delegate any duty, task or power to one of the vice-presidents. Three vice-presidents, designated by the Conference of presidents, traditionally have more power than the others, the vice-presidents are elected following the election of the president, which takes place every two and a half years. There tends to be an agreement dividing up the 14 posts between the groups, and thus they are elected without formal opposition. However, in 2009 Edward McMillan-Scott, through the support of 40 MEPs, successfully challenged his groups formal candidate. Having been elected and prevented the election of Kaminski, McMillan-Scott was expelled from the ECR and Kaminski gained the group chair
26.
General Affairs Council
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The General Affairs Council is a configuration of the Council of the European Union and meets once a month. Meetings bring together the Foreign Ministers of the Member States, Ministers responsible for European Affairs also participate depending on the items on agenda. It was created in 2009 by the Treaty of Lisbon by splitting it from the General Affairs, the General and Foreign Councils are the only two Councils mentioned in the EU treaties. It co-ordinates preparation for and follow-up to meetings of the European Council and it also exercises a role in co-ordinating work on different policy areas carried out by the Councils other configurations, and handles any dossier entrusted to it by the European Council
27.
Foreign Affairs Council
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The Foreign Affairs Council is a configuration of the Council of the European Union and meets once a month. Meetings bring together the Foreign Ministers of the Member States, Ministers responsible for European Affairs, Defence, Development or Trade also participate depending on the items on agenda. The configuration is unique in that is chaired by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy rather than the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. A priority in recent years for the Council, in cooperation with the European Commission, has been to ensure coherence in the EUs external action across the range of instruments at the EUs disposal. It was created in 2009 by the Treaty of Lisbon by splitting it from the General Affairs, the General and Foreign Councils are the only two Councils mentioned in the EU treaties. About the Foreign Affairs Council Press releases of the Foreign Affairs Council
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Eurogroup
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It exercises political control over the currency and related aspects of the EUs monetary union such as the Stability and Growth Pact. Its current president is former Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the ministers meet in camera a day before a meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the Council of the European Union. They communicate their decisions via press and document releases and this group is related to the Council of the European Union and was formalised under the Lisbon Treaty. The December 1997 European Council endorsed its creation and the first meeting was held on 4 June 1998 at Senningen Castle in Luxembourg. In 2004 the ministers decided to elect a president and in 2008 and this became known as the Euro summit and has held meetings irregularly during the financial crisis. Since the beginning of the union, its role has grown in regards to the euros economic governance. The fact the group meets just before the Ecofin council means it can pre-approve all Ecofins decisions on eurozone affairs, in 2009 the Lisbon Treaty formalised the group and its president. The current president of the group, dubbed Mr Euro or the president of the eurozone, is Jeroen Dijsselbloem, in September 2004, the Eurogroup decided it should have a semi-permanent president who would be appointed for a term of two years. Under the Lisbon Treaty, this system was formalised and Juncker was confirmed for another term, the Presidency has helped strengthen the group, since before Junckers appointment the Eurogroup was only accidentally present at meetings in the European Parliament. Since the position of President was created, the president has attended Parliaments committee on Economic, after his reappointment as Eurogroup president in January 2010, Juncker emphasised the need to broaden the scope of the Eurogroups business. In particular in terms of co-ordinating economic policies and representation, Juncker proposed creating a small secretariat consisting of four to five civil servants to prepare the groups meetings. However, although France and Spain support such plans, Germany fears that strengthening the group might undermine the independence of the European Central Bank, in June 2012, the Estonian minister Jürgen Ligi was being considered as a possible successor for Mr. Juncker. However, in January 2013, Juncker hinted that his successor would be Jeroen Dijsselbloem. On 13 July 2015, Dijsselbloem was re-elected, the ECB President, Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner and Chairman of the Eurogroup Working Group also attend the meetings. It is worthwhile to note that the members of the EU who choose not to participate in the Euro have been excluded from observer status, for example, IMF personnel such as Christine Lagarde are sometimes allowed to be present at meetings—see Lagarde statement 20130316. What remains unknown about this group is whether they allow observers to speak or speech by the observers is forbidden, a formal legal basis was granted for the first time under the Lisbon Treaty when it came into force on 1 December 2009. Protocol 14 of the treaty lays out just two articles to govern the group, Article 1, The Ministers of the Member States whose currency is the euro shall meet informally. Such meetings shall take place, when necessary, to questions related to the specific responsibilities they share with regard to the single currency
29.
Voting in the Council of the European Union
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The procedures for voting in the Council of the European Union are described in the treaties of the European Union. The Council of the European Union has had its voting procedure amended by subsequent treaties and this section presents the former qualified majority voting systems employed in the Council of the European Union, and its predecessor institutions. While some policy areas require unanimity among Council members, for selected policy areas qualified majority voting has existed right from the start, all major treaties have shifted some policy areas from unanimity to qualified majority voting. Whenever the community was enlarged, voting weights for new members were defined, all systems prescribed higher thresholds for passing acts that were not proposed by the Commission. Member states have to cast their votes en bloc, hence, the number of votes rather describes the weight of a members single vote. According to Article 148 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, acts of the Council required for their adoption,12 votes, the values above are related to the EU-6, the founding member states. The treaty allocated the votes as follows,4 votes, France, Germany, Italy,2 votes, Belgium, Netherlands,1 vote, under this system, Luxembourg had no voting power for acts proposed by the Commission. Acts of the Council now required for their adoption,41 votes and these values were now related to the EU-9. The treaty allocated the votes as follows,10 votes, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom,5 votes, Belgium, Netherlands,3 votes, Denmark, Ireland,2 votes, Luxembourg. Article 148 of the EEC Treaty, specifying the qualified majority voting system of the Council, was amended by Article 14 of the Accession Treaty regulating the enlargement of the community by Greece. Acts of the Council now required for their adoption,45 votes, the votes allocated previously to the EU-9 did not change. Acts of the Council now required for their adoption,54 votes, the votes allocated previously to the EU-10 did not change. To the new members, the votes were allocated,8 votes, Spain,5 votes. The Treaty of Maastricht established the European Community Treaty where the majority voting system was detailed in Article 148. While this treaty transferred some policy areas subject to unanimity to qualified majority, acts of the Council now required for their adoption,62 votes, or 62 votes by at least 10 member states. The votes allocated previously to the EU-12 did not change, to the new members, the following votes were allocated,4 votes, Austria, Sweden,3 votes, Finland. The voting system of the Council as defined in the Treaty of Nice entered into force on 1 February 2003, the voting weights of the member states according to this treaty are shown in the table on the right. The voting system was replaced by the Treaty of Lisbon, effective 1 November 2014, the last condition was only checked upon request by a member state
30.
Committee of Permanent Representatives
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For the OIC Committee of Permanent Representatives, see OIC Committee of Permanent Representatives. Its defined role is to prepare the agenda for the ministerial Council of the European Union meetings and it is chaired by the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Representatives of the Council Secretariat from the relevant Directorates and from the Legal Directorate are also present, weekly meetings are held in private, the agenda of the meeting is divided into a part I and a part II. Relatively few decisions are taken by ministers on true B points, the deliberations and decisions of the Council itself under the co-decision procedure are, unlike all other Council meetings, including COREPER and Council working group meetings, public. Article 240 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union lays down the basis of COREPER. Special Committee on Agriculture EU Whoiswho, Permanent Representatives Committee COREPER Council of the European Union
31.
Court of Justice of the European Union
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The Court of Justice of the European Union is the institution of the European Union that encompasses the whole judiciary. Seated in Luxembourg, Luxembourg, it consists of two courts, the Court of Justice and the General Court. From 2005 to 2016 it also consisted of the Civil Service Tribunal and it has a sui generis court system, meaning of its own kind, and a supranational institution. CJEU consists of two courts, the Court of Justice, informally known as European Court of Justice which hears applications from national courts for preliminary rulings, annulment. It consists of one judge from each EU member country, as well as 11 advocates general, the General Court, which hears applications for annulment from individuals, companies and, less commonly, national governments. It is made up of 47 judges, which will be increased to 56 in 2019, cJEUs specific mission is to ensure that the law is observed in the interpretation and application of the Treaties of the European Union. To achieve this, it, reviews the legality of actions taken by the EUs institutions, enforces compliance by states with their obligations under the Treaties. CJEU was originally established in 1952 as a court called the Court of Justice of the European Coal. The General Court was created in 1988 and the Civil Service Tribunal was created in 2004, with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, the court system obtained its current name, while the original court itself was renamed Court of Justice. Primacy of European Union law Beck, Gunnar, the Legal Reasoning of the Court of Justice of the EU. Gundega Mikelsone, The Binding Force of the Case Law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, official website The archival fonds of the Court of Justice of the European Union is consultable at the Historical Archives of the European Union
32.
European Court of Justice
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The European Court of Justice, officially just the Court of Justice, is the highest court in the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union it is tasked with interpreting EU law, the Court was established in 1952 and is based in Luxembourg. It is composed of one judge per member state – currently 28 – although it normally hears cases in panels of three, five or 15 judges, the court has been led by president Koen Lenaerts since 2015. The court was established in 1952, by the Treaty of Paris as part of the European Coal and it was established with seven judges, allowing both representation of each of the six member States and being an unequal number of judges in case of a tie. One judge was appointed from each state and the seventh seat rotated between the large Member States. The Maastricht Treaty was ratified in 1993, and created the European Union, the name of the Court did not change unlike the other institutions. The power of the Court resided in the Community pillar, the Court gained power in 1997 with the signing of the Amsterdam Treaty. Issues from the pillar were transferred to the first pillar. Previously, these issues were settled between the member states, the ECJ is the highest court of the European Union in matters of Union law, but not national law. It is not possible to appeal the decisions of courts to the ECJ. However, it is ultimately for the court to apply the resulting interpretation to the facts of any given case. Although, only courts of appeal are bound to refer a question of EU law when one is addressed. The treaties give the ECJ the power for consistent application of EU law across the EU as a whole, the court also acts as arbiter between the EUs institutions and can annul the latters legal rights if it acts outside its powers. The judicial body is now undergoing strong growth, as witnessed by its continually rising caseload, the Luxembourg courts received more than 1,300 cases when the most recent data was recorded in 2008, a record. The staff budget also hit a new high of almost €238 million in 2009, the Court of Justice consists of 28 Judges who are assisted by 11 Advocates-General. The Judges and Advocates-General are appointed by common accord of the governments of the member states, 37% of judges had experience of judging appeals before they joined the ECJ. In practice, each member state nominates a judge whose nomination is then ratified by all the member states. The President of the Court of Justice is elected from and by the judges for a term of three years
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General Court (European Union)
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The General Court is a constituent court of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It hears actions taken against the institutions of the European Union by individuals and member states, decisions of the General Court can be appealed to the Court of Justice, but only on a point of law. Prior to the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009, on 2 November 2004 the Council adopted a decision establishing the European Union Civil Service Tribunal. This new specialised tribunal, composed of seven judges, will hear and its decisions will be subject to a right of appeal before the General Court on points of law only. Decisions given by the General Court in this area may exceptionally be subject to review by the Court of Justice, the European Union Civil Service Tribunal was duly constituted into law on 2 December 2005. The General Court is composed of 47 judges, two from each Member State, plus a registrar and this will be increased to 56 in 2016. The Judges are appointed for a term of six years by common accord of the governments of the Member States. The Members of the General Court elect their president and the presidents of the Chambers of five Judges from among their number for a period of three years. There are no permanent Advocates General attached to the General Court, however, the task of an Advocate General may be performed in a limited number of cases by a Judge nominated to do so. In practice this has been done occasionally, as a rule, the Courts procedure includes a written phase and an oral phase. The proceedings are conducted in a language at the petitioners choosing, cases are assigned by the President of the Court to a relevant divisional presiding judge. The presiding judge assigned to the case then chooses a judge-reporter from the judges of the division, whose clerks write a report based on the parties pleadings. At the close of the phase and, as the case may be, on adoption of measures of inquiry. The proceedings are interpreted simultaneously, if necessary, into various languages of the European Union. The judges then deliberate based on a draft judgment prepared by the judge-reporter, the Courts final judgment is handed down in open court
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European Central Bank
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The European Central Bank is the central bank for the euro and administers monetary policy of the eurozone, which consists of 19 EU member states and is one of the largest currency areas in the world. It is one of the worlds most important central banks and is one of the seven institutions of the European Union listed in the Treaty on European Union, the capital stock of the bank is owned by the central banks of all 28 EU member states. The Treaty of Amsterdam established the bank in 1998, and it is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. As of 2015 the President of the ECB is Mario Draghi, former governor of the Bank of Italy, former member of the World Bank, the bank primarily occupied the Eurotower prior to, and during, the construction of the new headquarters. The primary objective of the ECB, mandated in Article 2 of the Statute of the ECB, is to price stability within the Eurozone. The ECB has, under Article 16 of its Statute, the right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes. Member states can issue euro coins, but the amount must be authorised by the ECB beforehand, the ECB is governed by European law directly, but its set-up resembles that of a corporation in the sense that the ECB has shareholders and stock capital. Its capital is €11 billion held by the central banks of the member states as shareholders. The initial capital allocation key was determined in 1998 on the basis of the population and GDP. Shares in the ECB are not transferable and cannot be used as collateral, the European Central Bank is the de facto successor of the European Monetary Institute. The EMI itself took over from the earlier European Monetary Co-operation Fund, the bank was the final institution needed for EMU, as outlined by the EMU reports of Pierre Werner and President Jacques Delors. It was established on 1 June 1998, the first President of the Bank was Wim Duisenberg, the former president of the Dutch central bank and the European Monetary Institute. The French argued that since the ECB was to be located in Germany and this was opposed by the German, Dutch and Belgian governments who saw Duisenberg as a guarantor of a strong euro. Tensions were abated by an agreement in which Duisenberg would stand down before the end of his mandate. Trichet replaced Duisenberg as President in November 2003, there had also been tension over the ECBs Executive Board, with the United Kingdom demanding a seat even though it had not joined the Single Currency. Under pressure from France, three seats were assigned to the largest members, France, Germany, and Italy, Spain also demanded and obtained a seat. Despite such a system of appointment the board asserted its independence early on in resisting calls for interest rates, when the ECB was created, it covered a Eurozone of eleven members. On 1 December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, ECB according to the article 13 of TEU, on 1 November 2011, Mario Draghi replaced Jean-Claude Trichet as President of the ECB
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President of the European Central Bank
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The President heads the executive board, governing council and general council of the ECB. He is not elected by popular vote and he also represents the bank abroad, for example at the G20. The President is appointed by majority in the European Council, de facto by those who have adopted the euro, Duisenberg then became the first President of the ECB. Duisenberg always strongly denied such an agreement was made and stated in February 2002 that he would stay in office until his 68th birthday on 9 July 2003. In the meanwhile Jean-Claude Trichet was not cleared of legal accusations before 1 June 2002, even on 9 July 2003 Trichet was not cleared, and therefore Duisenberg remained in office until 1 November 2003. Duisenberg died on 31 July 2005, Jean-Claude Trichet became President in 2003 and served during the European sovereign debt crisis. Trichets strengths lay in keeping consensus and visible calm in the ECB, during his tenure, Trichet has had to fend off criticism from French President Nicolas Sarkozy who demanded a more growth-orientated policy at the ECB. Germany supported Trichet in demanding the banks independence be respected, however, he was also criticised from straying from his mandate during the crisis by buying the government bonds of eurozone member states. ECB board members Axel A. Weber and Jürgen Stark resigned in protest at this policy, while straying from his mandate, he has however still kept interest rates under control and maintained greater price stability than the Deutsche Bundesbank did before the euro. He also asserted that the ECBs role in maintaining price stability throughout the financial crisis, mario Draghi was chosen to become the next President of the ECB on 24 June 2011. He is President as of 1 November 2011, pascal Canfin, Member of the European Parliament, asserted that Draghi had been involved in swaps for European governments, namely Greece, trying to disguise their countries economic status. Draghi responded that the deals were undertaken before my joining Goldman Sachs I had nothing to do with them, list of presidents since the establishment of the bank on 1 June 1998. Vice President Christian Noyer was only appointed for four years so that his resignation would coincide with the resignation of Duisenberg. His successors, starting with Lucas Papademos, are granted eight-year terms, organisation of the ECB Presidents CV EU Treaties, Section 6 Article 282 on ECB
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Mario Draghi
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Mario Draghi OMRI is an Italian economist who has served as President of the European Central Bank since November 2011. He has served as Chairman of the Financial Stability Board from 2009 to 2011, Draghi previously worked at Goldman Sachs from 2002 until 2005 before becoming the governor of the Bank of Italy in December 2005, where he served until October 2011. In 2014 Draghi was listed as the 8th most powerful person in the world by Forbes, in 2015 Fortune magazine ranked him as the worlds second greatest leader. His father Carlo joined Banca dItalia in 1922, later IRI and his mother, Gilda Mancini was a pharmacist. Mario is the first of three children, Andreina, art historian, and Marcello, entrepreneur, from 1984 to 1990 he was the Italian Executive Director at the World Bank. In 1991, at the initiative of the then Minister Guido Carli, he became director of the Italian Treasury. During his time at the Treasury, he chaired the committee that revised Italian corporate and financial legislation and he is also a former board member of several banks and corporations. Draghi was then chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International. He worked on the firms European strategy and development with major European corporations, after the revelation of off-market swaps used by Greece with the help of Goldman Sachs, he said he knew nothing about this deal and had nothing to do with it. He added that “the deals between the Greek government and Goldman Sachs had been undertaken before joining of. ”Draghi is a trustee at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and also at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, D. C. He is also governor for Italy on the Boards of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and it aims to promote international financial stability, improve the functioning of markets and reduce systemic risk through information exchange and international cooperation between supervisors. Draghi was frequently mentioned as a successor to Jean-Claude Trichet. On 13 February 2011 Wolfgang Münchau, associate editor of the Financial Times, a few days later The Economist wrote that the next president of the world’s second-most-important central bank should be Mario Draghi. On 20 April 2011 The Wall Street Journal reported that Wolfgang Schäuble, a few days later the German newspaper Bild endorsed Draghi by defining him the most German of all remaining candidates. Contrary to previous reports about Frances position, on 25 April it was reported that President Nicolas Sarkozy saw Draghi as a full-fledged and an adequate candidate for the job. On 17 May 2011 the Council of the European Union – sitting as Ecofin – adopted a recommendation on the nomination of Draghi as President of the ECB. He was approved by the European Parliament and the ECB itself, Draghi began leading the Frankfurt-based institution when Trichets non-renewable eight-year term expired on 31 October 2011. Draghis term runs from 1 November 2011 to 31 October 2019, concerns were also expressed during the candidacy about Draghis past employment at Goldman Sachs
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Pan-European political organisations