1.
European Court of Human Rights
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The European Court of Human Rights is a supra-national or international court established by the European Convention on Human Rights. It hears applications alleging that a state has breached one or more of the human rights provisions concerning civil and political rights set out in the Convention. An application can be lodged by an individual, a group of individuals or one or more of the contracting states, and, besides judgments. The Convention was adopted within the context of the Council of Europe, the Court is based in Strasbourg, France. The jurisdiction of the Court has been recognised to date by all 47 member states of the Council of Europe. In 1998, the Court became an institution and the European Commission of Human Rights. The accession of new states to the European Convention on Human Rights following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 led to a increase in applications filed in the Court. The efficiency of the Court was threatened seriously by the number of pending applications. In 19998,400 applications were allocated to be heard, in 200327,200 cases were filed and the number of pending applications rose to approximately 65,000. In 2005, the Court opened 45,500 case files, in 200957,200 applications were allocated, with the number of pending applications rose to 119,300. Protocol 14 entered into force on 1 June 2010, three months after it was ratified by all 47 contracting states to the Convention, between 2006 and 2010, Russia was the only contracting state to refuse to ratify Protocol 14. In 2010, Russia ended its opposition to the protocol, in exchange for a guarantee that Russian judges would be involved in reviewing complaints against Russia. Protocol 14 amended the Convention so that judges would be elected for a term of nine years. Amendments were also made so that a judge could reject plainly inadmissible applications. In cases of doubt, the single judge refers the applications to the Committee of the Court, a single judge may not examine applications against the state which nominated him. The three judge committee has jurisdiction to declare applications admissible and decide on the merits of the if it was clearly well founded and based on well established case law. Protocol 14 also provides that when a three judge committee decides on the merits of a case, the elected to represent that state is no longer a compulsory member of this committee. The judge can be invited by the committee, to one of its members
European Court of Human Rights
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Building of the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
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A piece of the
Berlin Wall in front of the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
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Courtroom of the European Court of Human Rights
2.
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
Court of Justice of the European Union
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Palais de la Cour de Justice, Luxembourg
Court of Justice of the European Union
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Emblem of the Court of Justice of the European Union
3.
Luxembourg
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Luxembourg /ˈlʌksəmbɜːrɡ/, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east and its culture, people and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of French and Germanic cultures. It comprises two regions, the Oesling in the north as part of the Ardennes massif. With an area of 2,586 square kilometres, it is one of the smallest sovereign states in Europe, Luxembourg had a population of 524,853 in October 2012, ranking it the 8th least-populous country in Europe. As a representative democracy with a monarch, it is headed by a Grand Duke, Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a country, with an advanced economy and the worlds highest GDP per capita. Luxembourg is a member of the European Union, OECD, United Nations, NATO, and Benelux, reflecting its political consensus in favour of economic, political. The city of Luxembourg, which is the capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions. Luxembourg served on the United Nations Security Council for the years 2013 and 2014, around this fort, a town gradually developed, which became the centre of a state of great strategic value. In the 14th and early 15th centuries, three members of the House of Luxembourg reigned as Holy Roman Emperors, in the following centuries, Luxembourgs fortress was steadily enlarged and strengthened by its successive occupants, the Bourbons, Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns and the French. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Luxembourg was disputed between Prussia and the Netherlands and this arrangement was revised by the 1839 First Treaty of London, from which date Luxembourgs full independence is reckoned. In 1842 Luxembourg joined the German Customs Union, the King of the Netherlands remained Head of State as Grand Duke of Luxembourg, maintaining a personal union between the two countries until 1890. At the death of William III, the throne of the Netherlands passed to his daughter Wilhelmina and this allowed Germany the military advantage of controlling and expanding the railways there. In August 1914, Imperial Germany violated Luxembourgs neutrality in the war by invading it in the war against France and this allowed Germany to use the railway lines, while at the same time denying them to France. Nevertheless, despite the German occupation, Luxembourg was allowed to maintain much of its independence, in 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, Luxembourgs neutrality was again violated when the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany entered the country, entirely without justification. A government in exile based in London supported the Allies, sending a group of volunteers who participated in the Normandy invasion. Luxembourg was liberated in September 1944, and became a member of the United Nations in 1945. Luxembourgs neutral status under the constitution formally ended in 1948, in 2005, a referendum on the EU treaty establishing a constitution for Europe was held
Luxembourg
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Historic map (undated) of Luxembourg city's fortifications
Luxembourg
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Flag
Luxembourg
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Photograph of the fortress of Luxembourg prior to demolition in 1867
Luxembourg
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Luxembourg City: The Passerelle, also known as the viaduct or old bridge, over the
Pétrusse river valley, opened 1861
4.
Luxembourg City
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Luxembourg, also known as Luxembourg City, is the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and the countrys most populous commune. The city contains Luxembourg Castle, established by the Franks in the Early Middle Ages, as of January 2016, the commune had a population of 115,227, which was more than three times the population of the countrys second most populous commune. The citys metropolitan population, including that of surrounding communes of Hesperange, Sandweiler, Strassen, in 2011, Luxembourg was ranked as having the second highest per capita GDP in the world at $80,119, with the city having developed into a banking and administrative centre. In the 2011 Mercer worldwide survey of 221 cities, Luxembourg was placed first for personal safety while it was ranked 19th for quality of living, in the Roman era, a fortified tower guarded the crossing of two Roman roads that met at the site of Luxembourg city. Siegfried built his castle, named Lucilinburhuc, on the Bock Fiels, in 987, Archbishop Egbert of Trier consecrated five altars in the Church of the Redemption. At a Roman road intersection near the church, a marketplace appeared around which the city developed, the city, because of its location and natural geography, has through history been a place of strategic military significance. The first fortifications were built as early as the 10th century, by the end of the 12th century, as the city expanded westward around the new St. Nicholas Church, new walls were built that included an area of 5 hectares. In about 1340, under the reign of John the Blind, in 1443, the Burgundians under Philip the Good conquered Luxembourg. Subsequently, the Burgundians, the Spanish, the French, the Spanish again, the Austrians, the French again, in the 17th century, the first casemates were built, initially, Spain built 23 km of tunnels, starting in 1644. These were then enlarged under French rule by Marshal Vauban, during the French Revolutionary Wars, the city was occupied by France twice, once, briefly, in 1792–3, and, later, after a seven-month siege. After the Luxembourg Crisis, the 1867 Treaty of London required Luxembourg to dismantle the fortifications in Luxembourg City. Their demolition took sixteen years, cost 1.5 million gold francs, furthermore, the Prussian garrison was to be withdrawn. When, in 1890, Grand Duke William III died without any heirs, the Grand Duchy passed out of Dutch hands. Despite Luxembourgs best efforts to remain neutral in the First World War, on 30 August, Helmuth von Moltke moved his headquarters to Luxembourg City, closer to his armies in France in preparation for a swift victory. However, the victory never came, and Luxembourg would play host to the German high command for another four years. At the end of the occupation, Luxembourg City was the scene of an attempted communist revolution, on 9 November 1918, communists declared a socialist republic, in 1921, the city limits were greatly expanded. The communes of Eich, Hamm, Hollerich, and Rollingergrund were incorporated into Luxembourg City, in 1940, Germany occupied Luxembourg again. Under the occupation, the citys streets all received new, German names
Luxembourg City
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Skyline of Luxembourg City
Luxembourg City
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Fort Thüngen — The reconstructed
Fort Thüngen, formerly a key part of Luxembourg City's fortifications, now on the site of the Mudam, Luxembourg's museum of modern art.
Luxembourg City
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Old City of Luxembourg at night
Luxembourg City
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View from the
Grund up to the Old Town
5.
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
European Union
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In 1989, the
Iron Curtain fell, enabling the union to
expand further (
Berlin Wall pictured).
European Union
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Flag
European Union
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2009, the
Lisbon Treaty entered into force.
European Union
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The 65,993 km (41,006 mi) coastline dominates the European climate (
Cyprus).
6.
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
Politics of the European Union
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High Representative Federica Mogherini
Politics of the European Union
7.
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
European Commission
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President
Delors, one of the most notable presidents in the Commission's history
European Commission
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European Commission
European Commission
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Incumbent
President Juncker
European Commission
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Floor 13 of the Berlaymont, Commission's meeting room
8.
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
Juncker Commission
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Juncker delivering a speech at the election congress of the People's Party in March 2014
Juncker Commission
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The logo used in the 2014 campaign
Juncker Commission
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The campaign bus of Jean-Claude Juncker used for the 2014 election.
9.
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
President of the European Commission
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Incumbent
Jean-Claude Juncker since 1 November 2014
President of the European Commission
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Walter Hallstein, the first President of the Commission
President of the European Commission
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President Mansholt opened the first enlargement talks with Denmark, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom
President of the European Commission
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Jacques Delors (left) breathed new life into the European Commission Presidency after a period of 'eurosclerosis' under his predecessor, Gaston Thorn (right)
10.
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
Jean-Claude Juncker
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Portrait of Juncker taken in March 2014
Jean-Claude Juncker
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Juncker with the Italian Prime Minister
Mario Monti on 27 June 2012
Jean-Claude Juncker
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Juncker with Chinese President
Hu Jintao on 31 May 2003
Jean-Claude Juncker
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Juncker with French Prime Minister
François Fillon on 29 October 2009
11.
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
Vice-President of the European Commission
–
The current First Vice-President
Frans Timmermans from the
Netherlands.
12.
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
European Commissioner
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Margot Wallström has said that the EU has to get more political and controversial.
European Commissioner
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Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
13.
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
European Civil Service
–
ESCB
14.
Legislature of the European Union
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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
Legislature of the European Union
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15.
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
European Parliament
European Parliament
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European Parliament
European Parliament
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Session of the Council of Europe's Assembly in the former
House of Europe in Strasbourg in January 1967
European Parliament
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Palace of Europe, Parliament's Strasbourg hemicycle until 1999
16.
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
President of the European Parliament
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Incumbent
Martin Schulz since 1 July 2014
President of the European Parliament
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Logo of the Parliament
President of the European Parliament
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Robert Schuman (1958–1960), first President of the Parliamentary Assembly.
President of the European Parliament
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Simone Veil (1979–1982), first president of the elected Parliament and the first female president.
17.
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
Antonio Tajani
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Antonio Tajani
Antonio Tajani
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Tajani and Barroso at the EPP congress in 2008
Antonio Tajani
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Tajani at the EPP congress in 2012
Antonio Tajani
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Calle Tajani, in
Asturias,
Spain.
18.
Political groups of the European Parliament
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The political groups of the European Parliament are the parliamentary groups of the European Parliament. The European Parliament is unique among supranational assemblies in that its members organise themselves into groups like in traditional national legislatures. The members of other supranational assemblies form national groups, the political groups of the European Parliament are sometimes the formal representation of a European political party in the Parliament. In other cases, they are political coalitions of a number of European parties, national parties and these groups are not parties, but looser coalitions. They are strictly forbidden to campaign during the European elections since this is the responsibility of the Europarties. Each political group is assumed to have a set of core principles, further incentives for co-operating in Groups include financial subsidies from the Parliament and guaranteed seats on committees which are not afforded to Independent MEPs. For a Group to be recognised in the Parliament, it must fulfil the conditions laid down in the relevant European Parliament Rule of Procedure. That Rule lays down the criteria a Group must meet to qualify as a Group. Provided those criteria are met, MEPs can theoretically create any Group they like and this was put to the test when MEPs attempted to create a far-right Group called Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty. This generated controversy and there were concerns about public funds going towards a far-right Group, attempts to block the formation of ITS were unsuccessful, but ITS were blocked from leading positions on committees, a privilege usually afforded to all Groups. Groups may be based around a single European political party or they can more than one European party as well as national parties. Each Group appoints a leader, referred to as a president, co-ordinator or chair, the chairs of each Group meet in the Conference of Presidents to decide what issues will be dealt with at the plenary session of the European Parliament. Groups can table motions for resolutions and table amendments to reports and this is a summary of the standing of existing European Parliament groups, although these are subject to change. The first sitting of the new parliament was on 1 July 2014, major changes compared to the period 2004–2009 are, The formation of a new political group, the European Conservatives and Reformists. This conservative, Eurosceptic group is headed by 26 MEPs from the UKs Conservative Party, the Eurosceptic Independence/Democracy and Union for Europe of the Nations groups suffered heavy losses in the election. On their own they no longer had enough MEPs to form a separate group, MEPs formerly from these groups formed the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group on 1 July 2009. The centre-right European Peoples Party now formed its own group in its entirety. The Democratic Party did not become member of the Party of European Socialists until February 2014, the mandate of previous European Parliament ran from 2004 and 2009
Political groups of the European Parliament
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19.
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
Manfred Weber
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Manfred Weber
20.
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
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
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Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
21.
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
Gianni Pittella
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Gianni Pittella
22.
8th 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
8th European Parliament
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8th European Parliament
23.
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
Vice President of the European Parliament
24.
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
Council of the European Union
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The main meeting room of the Council
Council of the European Union
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Council of the European Union
25.
Presidency of the Council of the European Union
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The Presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, the upper house of the EU legislature. It rotates among the states of the EU every six months. The presidency is not an individual, but rather the position is held by a national government and it is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the President of the European Union. The presidencys function is to chair meetings of the Council, determine its agendas, set a work programme, the presidency is currently held by Malta. Three successive presidencies are known as presidency trios, the current trio is made up of the Netherlands, Slovakia and Malta. When the Council was established, its work was minimal and the presidency rotated between each of the six members every six months. In order to rectify the lack of coordination, the idea of trio presidencies was put forward where groups of three successive presidencies cooperated on a political program. This was implemented in 2007 and formally laid down in the EU treaties in 2009 by the Treaty of Lisbon, until 2009, the Presidency had assumed political responsibility in all areas of European integration and it played a vital role in brokering high-level political decisions. The Treaty of Lisbon reduced the importance of the Presidency significantly by officially separating the European Council from the Council of the European Union, estonia is scheduled take over the UKs six-month slot for July–December 2017. The Council meets in various formations where its composition depends on the topic discussed, for example, the Agriculture Council is composed of the national ministers responsible for Agriculture. The primary responsibility of the Presidency is to organise and chair all meetings of the Council, so, for instance, the Minister of Agriculture for the state holding the presidency chairs the Agriculture council. This role includes working out compromises capable of resolving difficulties and this ensures more consistency in comparison to a usual single six-month presidency and each three includes a new member state. This allows new states to hold the presidency sooner and helps old member states pass their experience to the new members. This element is particularly substantial, holding the presidency may be, on balance, a disadvantage for member states
Presidency of the Council of the European Union
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
General Affairs 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
Foreign Affairs Council
28.
Justice and Home Affairs council
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The Justice and Home Affairs Council is one of the configurations of the Council of the European Union and is composed of the justice and home affairs ministers of the 28 European Union member states. JHA is composed of the justice and home affairs ministers of the 28 European Union member states, while most member states send one minister for both sectors, others send one minister for justice and another for home affairs. The European Commissioner for Home affairs and the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights, the Justice and Home Affairs Council develops cooperation and common policies on various cross-border issues, with the aim of building an EU-wide area of justice. The work and tasks of the Council concerning justice and home affairs is prepared by the Directorate-General for Justice and Home Affairs
Justice and Home Affairs council
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ESCB
29.
Euro Group
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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
Euro Group
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Eurogroup president
Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
Euro Group
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ESCB
30.
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
Voting in the Council of the European Union
31.
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
Committee of Permanent Representatives
32.
List of European Court of Justice rulings
–
The following is a list of notable judgments of the European Court of Justice. Costa v ENEL 6/64 ECR585 Community law takes precedence over the Member States own domestic law, simmenthal II 106/77 ECR629 Duty to set aside provisions of national law which are incompatible with Community law. Marleasing C-106/89 ECR I-7321 National law must be interpreted and applied, insofar as possible, factortame I C-213/89 ECR I-2433 Duty on national courts to secure the full effectiveness of Community law, even where it is necessary to create a national remedy where none had previously existed. Van Gend en Loos 26/62 ECR1 The Community constitutes a new order of international law for the benefit of which the States have limited their sovereign rights. Relate to the interpretation of the treaty, unilever Italia C-443/98 ECR I-7535 Stauder 29/69 ECR419 Fundamental rights enshrined in the general principles of Community law and protected by the Court. Internationale Handelsgesellschaft 11/70 ECR1125 Fundamental rights are a part of the general principles of law the observance of which the Court ensures. The Court can also draw on international human rights treaties to which Member States have collaborated or are signatories, Carpenter C-60/00 ECR I-6279 Fundamental rights affect the scope and application of Community law. In Carpenter, the Court weaved principles of respect for family and it concluded that the right of a minor child to reside in a Member State under Community law brought with it a corollary right for his mother to reside there as well. Minister voor Immigratie en Asiel C-199/12720 Mandelli 3/67 ECR25 Acts of the European institutions must be supported by sufficient reasoning, the validity of which shall be examined by the Court. Commission v Italy 7/68 ECR423 Goods are products which can be valued in money, Commission v Belgium C-2/90 ECR I-4431 Waste, whether recyclable or not, is to be regarded as goods. Articles 23 and 25 EC prohibit as between Member States all customs duties on imports and exports and of all charges having equivalent effect, the prohibition in Article 25 also applies to customs duties of a fiscal nature. Bresciani 87/75 ECR129 Charges imposed for a public health inspection carried out on the entry of goods to a Member State can be a charge having equivalent effect to a customs duty. It was not important that the charges were proportionate to the costs of the inspection and this prohibition also extends to internal taxation of such a nature as to afford indirect protection to other products. Geddo v Ente 2/73 ECR865 Quantitative restrictions are measures which amount to a total or partial restraint of, according to the circumstances, the restrictions must not, in any case, constitute a means of arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on trade between Member States. The following is the official list of cases that were translated in preparation for new member states who joined the European Union in 2004. The list below contains fifty case names, because some cases were joined, NV Algemene Transport- en Expeditie Onderneming van Gend & Loos v Nederlandse administratie der belastingen Case 26/62 Plaumann & Co. V Commission Case 25/62 Flaminio Costa v E. N. E. L, racke GmbH & Co. Les grands arrêts de la jurisprudence communautaire. Becht, Marco, Mayer, Colin and Wagner, Hannes F, deregulation and the Cost of Entry
List of European Court of Justice rulings
–
ESCB
33.
General Court (European Union)
–
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
General Court (European Union)
–
ESCB
34.
European Central Bank
–
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
European Central Bank
–
Seat
European Central Bank
–
Seat of the European Central Bank
European Central Bank
–
Wim Duisenberg, first President of the ECB
European Central Bank
–
Mario Draghi, the current President of the ECB
35.
President of the European Central Bank
–
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
President of the European Central Bank
–
Incumbent
Mario Draghi
President of the European Central Bank
36.
Mario Draghi
–
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
Mario Draghi
–
Mario Draghi
OMRI
Mario Draghi
–
Draghi with
Dominique Strauss-Kahn and
Jean-Claude Trichet.
Mario Draghi
–
Mario Draghi at the
World Economic Forum, in 2012.
37.
European System of Central Banks
–
The European System of Central Banks consists of the European Central Bank and the national central banks of all 28 member states of the European Union. The ESCB is not the authority of the eurozone, because not all EU member states have joined the euro. That role is performed by the Eurosystem, which includes the central banks of the 19 member states that have adopted the euro. The ESCBs objective is price stability throughout the European Union, secondarily, the ESCBs goal is to improve monetary and financial cooperation between the Eurosystem and member states outside the eurozone. The process of decision-making in the Eurosystem is centralized through the bodies of the ECB, namely the Governing Council. As long as there are EU member states which have not adopted the euro, a third decision-making body, the General Council comprises the President and the Vice-President and the governors of the NCBs of all 28 Member States. The ESCB is composed of the European Central Bank and the central banks of all 28 member states of the European Union. The first section of the following list lists member states and their central banks that form the Eurosystem, the second section lists member states and their central banks that maintain separate currencies. European Central Bank ECB – The General Council Organisation and operation of the ECB CVCE
European System of Central Banks
–
ESCB
38.
Euro
–
Outside of Europe, a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally,210 million people worldwide as of 2013 use currencies pegged to the euro, the euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. The name euro was adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid. The euro was introduced to world markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999. While the euro dropped subsequently to US$0.8252 within two years, it has traded above the U. S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US$1.6038 on 18 July 2008. In July 2012, the euro fell below US$1.21 for the first time in two years, following concerns raised over Greek debt and Spains troubled banking sector, as of 26 March 2017, the euro–dollar exchange rate stands at ~ US$1.07. The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank, as an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all states. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty obliges most EU member states to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary convergence criteria, all nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. Since 5 January 2002, the central banks and the ECB have issued euro banknotes on a joint basis. Euro banknotes do not show which central bank issued them, Eurosystem NCBs are required to accept euro banknotes put into circulation by other Eurosystem members and these banknotes are not repatriated. The ECB issues 8% of the value of banknotes issued by the Eurosystem. In practice, the ECBs banknotes are put into circulation by the NCBs and these liabilities carry interest at the main refinancing rate of the ECB. The euro is divided into 100 cents, in Community legislative acts the plural forms of euro and cent are spelled without the s, notwithstanding normal English usage. Otherwise, normal English plurals are used, with many local variations such as centime in France. All circulating coins have a side showing the denomination or value. Due to the plurality in the European Union, the Latin alphabet version of euro is used. For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, beginning in 2007 or 2008 the old map is being replaced by a map of Europe also showing countries outside the Union like Norway
Euro
–
The
central bank has
its seat in
Frankfurt (Germany) and is in charge of the monetary policy of the
euro area.
Euro
–
Euro banknotes as of 2015
Euro
–
Euro coins and banknotes of various denominations.
39.
Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union
–
The Economic and Monetary Union is an umbrella term for the group of policies aimed at converging the economies of member states of the European Union at three stages. The policies cover the 19 eurozone states, as well as non-euro European Union states, each stage of the EMU consists of progressively closer economic integration. Only once a state participates in the stage it is permitted to adopt the euro as its official currency. As such, the stage is largely synonymous with the eurozone. The euro convergence criteria are the set of requirements that needs to be fulfilled in order for a country to join the eurozone, nineteen EU member states, including most recently Lithuania, have entered the third stage and have adopted the euro as their currency. All new EU member states must commit to participate in the stage in their treaties of accession. Only Denmark and the United Kingdom, whose EU membership predates the introduction of the euro, have legal opt outs from the EU Treaties granting them an exemption from this obligation. The remaining seven non-euro member states are obliged to enter the stage once they comply with all convergence criteria. The idea of an economic and monetary union in Europe was first raised well before establishing the European Communities, for example, the Latin Monetary Union existed from 1865-1927. The project experienced serious setbacks from the crises arising from the non-convertibility of the US dollar into gold in August 1971, an attempt to limit the fluctations of European currencies, using a snake in the tunnel, failed. This way of working was derived from the Spaak method, the treaty enters into force on the 1 November 1993. On 16 December 1995, details such as the name of the new currency as well as the duration of the periods are decided. On 3 May 1998, at the European Council in Brussels, on 1 June 1998, the European Central Bank is created, and on 31 December 1998, the conversion rates between the 11 participating national currencies and the euro are established. From the start of 1999, the euro is now a real currency, a three-year transition period begins before the introduction of actual euro notes and coins, but legally the national currencies have already ceased to exist. On 1 January 2001, Greece joins the stage of the EMU. On 1 January 2002, the notes and coins are introduced. On 1 January 2007, Slovenia joins the stage of the EMU. On 1 January 2008, Cyprus and Malta join the stage of the EMU
Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union
–
Members of the Eurozone
40.
Eurozone
–
The eurozone, officially called the euro area, is a monetary union of 19 of the 28 European Union member states which have adopted the euro as their common currency and sole legal tender. The monetary authority of the eurozone is the Eurosystem, the other nine members of the European Union continue to use their own national currencies, although most of them are obliged to adopt the euro in future. Other EU states are obliged to join once they meet the criteria to do so, no state has left, and there are no provisions to do so or to be expelled. Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City have formal agreements with the EU to use the euro as their official currency and issue their own coins. The ECB, which is governed by a president and a board of the heads of central banks. The principal task of the ECB is to keep inflation under control, the Eurogroup is composed of the finance ministers of eurozone states, but in emergencies, national leaders also form the Eurogroup. Since the financial crisis of 2007–08, the eurozone has established and used provisions for granting loans to member states in return for the enactment of economic reforms. The eurozone has also enacted some limited fiscal integration, for example in peer review of each others national budgets, the issue is political and in a state of flux in terms of what further provisions will be agreed for eurozone change. In 1998 eleven member states of the European Union had met the euro convergence criteria, Greece qualified in 2000 and was admitted on 1 January 2001 before physical notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002 replacing all national currencies. Between 2007 and 2015, seven new states acceded, the 2012 data above of eurozone states were published by World Bank in May 2014. Latvia and Lithuania were not in the eurozone in 2012, the euro replaced the ECU1,1 at the exchange rate markets, on 1 January 1999. During 1979-1999, the D-Mark functioned as a de facto anchor for the ECU, the first enlargement of the eurozone, to Greece, took place on 1 January 2001, one year before the euro had physically entered into circulation. The next enlargements were to states which joined the EU in 2004, and then joined the eurozone on 1 January in the noted, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia. All new EU members joining the bloc after the signing of the Maastricht treaty in 1992 are obliged to adopt the euro under the terms of their accession treaties, nine countries are EU members but do not use the euro. Before joining the eurozone, a state must spend two years in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, as of January 2017, only the National Central Bank of Denmark participates in ERM II. Denmark and the United Kingdom obtained special opt-outs in the original Maastricht Treaty, both countries are legally exempt from joining the eurozone unless their governments decide otherwise, either by parliamentary vote or referendum. The other seven countries are obliged to adopt the euro in future and they should join as soon as they fulfil the convergence criteria, which include being part of ERM II for two years. Sweden, which joined the EU in 1995 after the Maastricht Treaty was signed, is required to join the eurozone, Interest in joining the eurozone increased in Denmark, and initially in Poland, as a result of the 2008 financial crisis
Eurozone
–
The
European Central Bank (
seat in
Frankfurt depicted) is the supranational
monetary authority of the eurozone.
Eurozone
Eurozone
–
Euro Group President
Jeroen Dijsselbloem
41.
European Court of Auditors
–
The Court of Auditors is the fifth institution of the European Union. It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg, the Court of Auditors was created by the 1975 Budgetary Treaty and was formally established on 18 October 1977, holding its first session a week later. At that time the Court was not an institution, it was an external body designed to audit the finances of the European Communities. It replaced two separate bodies, one which dealt with the finances of the European Economic Community and Euratom and one which dealt with the European Coal. The Court did not have a legal status until the Treaty of Maastricht when it was made the fifth institution. By becoming an institution it gained new powers, such as the ability to bring actions before the European Court of Justice. However its audit power related only to the European Community pillar of the EU, despite its name, the Court has no judicial functions. It is rather a professional external investigatory audit agency, the primary role of the court is to externally check if the budget of the European Union has been implemented correctly, in that EU funds have been spent legally and with sound management. In doing so, the checks the paperwork of all persons handling any income or expenditure of the Union. In this role the Court has to remain independent yet remain in touch with the other institutions and it is based on this report that the Parliament makes its decision on whether or not to sign off the European Commissions handling of the budget for that year. The Parliament notably refused to do this in 1984 and 1999 and they are not all replaced every six years, however, as their terms do not coincide. Members are chosen from people who have served in national audit bodies, while serving in the Court, members cannot engage in any other professional activities. As the body is independent, its members are free to decide their own organisation and rules of procedure, since the Treaty of Nice, the Court can set up chambers to adopt certain types of reports or opinions. The Court is supported by a staff of approximately 800 auditors, translators and administrators recruited as part of the European civil service, Auditors are divided into auditor groups which inspect and prepare draft reports for the Court to take decisions upon. Inspections take place not only of EU institutions but any state which receives EU funds given that 90% of income, upon finding a fault the Court has no legal powers of its own and instead informs OLAF which is the EUs anti-fraud agency. The members then elect one of their members as the President of the Court for a renewable three-year term, the election takes place by a secret ballot of those members who applied for the presidency. The duties of the President are to convene and chair the meetings of the Court, ensuring that decisions are implemented, the president also represents the court and appoints a representative for it in contentious proceedings. The current President is Klaus-Heiner Lehne, elected 13 September 2016 and he succeeded Vítor Manuel da Silva Caldeira, elected in 2007
European Court of Auditors
–
Premises in Luxembourg
European Court of Auditors
–
Official emblem
42.
Budget of the European Union
–
These arms administer the application of treaties, laws and agreements between the member states and their expenditure on common policies throughout the Union. According to the European Commission, 6% of expenditure is on administration, to pay for this, the EU had an agreed budget of €143 billion for the year 2014, representing around 1% of the EU-28s gross national income. Prior to 2014, the EU had a budget of €864.3 billion for the period 2007–2013, the EU budget is proposed annually by the European Commission. The proposed annual budget is then reviewed and negotiated by the Council of the European Union, in order for the budget to be finalised, consensus of all member states is required. The annual budget must remain within ceilings determined in advance by the Multiannual Financial Framework, the European Court of Auditors is the fifth institution of the European Union. It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg to audit the accounts of EU institutions, despite its name, the court has no judicial functions. It is, rather, a professional external investigatory audit agency, the primary role of the court is to externally check if the budget of the European Union has been implemented correctly, in that EU funds have been spent legally and with sound management. In doing so, the checks the paperwork of all persons handling any income or expenditure of the union. In this role the court has to remain independent yet remain in touch with the other institutions and it is based on this report that the parliament makes its decision on whether or not to sign off the European Commissions handling of the budget for that year. Following a report by the European Court of Auditors that found that 4, on 8 February 2013, European Union leaders agreed to cut the budget by 3. The Budget was finally approved by the European Parliament Tuesday 19 November 2013 by an overwhelming majority, mEPs voted 537 in favour,126 against, and with 19 abstentions. Traditional own resources are taxes raised on behalf of the EU as a whole and these are collected by the state where import occurs and passed on to the EU. States are allowed to keep a proportion of the revenue to cover administration, the European Commission operates a system of inspectors to investigate the collection of these taxes in member states and ensure compliance with the rules. Countries are liable to make good any loss of revenue due to their own administrative failure, vAT-based own resources are taxes on EU citizens based on the proportion of VAT levied in each member country. VAT rates and exemptions vary in different countries, so a formula is used to create the tax base. The starting point for calculations is the total VAT raised in a country and this is then adjusted using a weighted average of VAT rates applying in that country, producing the intermediate tax base. Further adjustments are made there is a derogation from the VAT directive allowing certain goods to be zero-rated. The tax base is capped, such that it may not be greater than 50% of a gross national income
Budget of the European Union
43.
European Anti-fraud Office
–
The European Anti Fraud Office is mandated by the European Union with protecting the financial interests of the European Union. Its tasks are three-fold, to fight fraud affecting the EU budget, investigate corruption by staff of the EU institutions and develop anti-fraud legislation, OLAF achieves its mission by conducting, in full independence, internal and external investigations. It coordinates the activities of its partners in the Member States in the fight against fraud. OLAF supplies Member States with the support and technical know-how to help them in their anti-fraud activities. It contributes to the design of the strategy of the European Union. It has no powers to oblige national law enforcement authorities to act on its follow-up recommendations. Regulation No 883/2013 governing the work of OLAF entered into force on 1 October 2013 and this Regulation builds on the experience gained by OLAF since its creation. It provides a statutory basis that codifies past practice and reinforces the effectiveness of OLAFs investigative activities. The Regulation also sets the basis for an exchange of information between OLAF and its partners. On the one hand, it is a Directorate General of the European Commission under the responsibility of Kristalina Georgieva, on the other hand, it is independent for its investigative activities. OLAF has a staff of about 420, police, customs, former Italian prosecutor, Mr Giovanni Kessler was appointed OLAF Director-General by the European Commission, following consultation with the European Parliament and Council. He took up his functions in February 2011, the term of office is of seven years and is not renewable. Following the events led to the resignation of the Santer Commission. These also included conducting investigations within the EU institutions, an evaluation of the work of OLAF can be found in the Special Report of the European Court of Auditors of July 2005. The European Parliament took stock of the first six years of OLAF during a hearing in July 2005. The House of Lords concluded, We are content with the extent of the investigations which OLAF has undertaken, one OLAF investigation concerned alleged wrongdoings in the EU statistical office EUROSTAT. The case caused political problems for the Prodi Commission in 2003, OLAF was accused of having started its investigation only after the press reported about the case in 2002-2003. An investigation in 2004 aimed to identify a leak within OLAFs own ranks, quoting that document, Tillack revealed that OLAF was in the possession of serious fraud allegations against EUROSTAT
European Anti-fraud Office
–
European Anti-fraud Office, Rue Joseph II,
Brussels
44.
Bodies of the European Union
–
The main bodies of the European Union are, the seven institutions of the European Union the agencies of the European Union Apart from them there exist several other bodies. The Treaty on European Union in Article 13 lists seven institutions of the European Union, there are a number of specialised and decentralised agencies of the European Union operated by the Commission, or sometimes the Council. They are set up by legislation or a treaty to deal with problems or areas. These include the European Environment Agency and Europol, there are a number of other bodies and agencies of note that are not formal institutions. It has 344 members, organised in groups, appointed every four years by the Council. The European Investment Bank is the European Unions long-term lending institution, the EIB supports the EU’s priority objectives, especially boosting sustainable growth and job creation. Another body is the anti-fraud office OLAF whose mission is to protect the interests of the European Union. Glossary of European Union concepts, acronyms, & jargon List of bodies of the European Union List of the names of bodies of the European Union in its official languages
Bodies of the European Union
–
ESCB
45.
Agencies of the European Union
–
An agency of the European Union is a decentralised body of the European Union, which is distinct from the institutions. Agencies are established to specific tasks. Each agency has its own legal personality, some answer the need to develop scientific or technical know-how in certain fields, others bring together different interest groups to facilitate dialogue at European and international level. They span Europe – Dublin to Stockholm, Warsaw to Lisbon – providing services, information, most agencies were categorised under the three pillars of the European Union, but this structure was abolished with the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty. The European Space Agency has been proposed as an agency of the EU. Executive agencies are created by European Commission for a fixed period
Agencies of the European Union
–
ESCB
46.
European Investment Bank
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The European Investment Bank is the European Unions nonprofit long-term lending institution established in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome. As a policy-driven bank whose shareholders are the states of the EU. It should not be confused with the European Central Bank, the EIB is a publicly owned international financial institution and its shareholders are the EU member states. Thus the member states set the broad policy goals and oversee the two independent decision-making bodies—the board of governors and the board of directors. It is the worlds largest international public lending institution, in 2009, Caisse des Dépots, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, KfW and European Investment Bank founded the Long-Term Investors Club. The European Investment Bank was founded in Brussels in 1958 when the Treaty of Rome came into force and it relocated to Luxembourg, its current headquarters, in 1968. By 1999, it had more than 1,000 staff members, a figure that had doubled by 2012. The EIB Group was formed in 2000, comprising the EIB and the European Investment Fund, the EIB is the EIFs majority shareholder, with 62% of the shares. The total subscribed capital of the Bank was EUR232 billion in 2012, the capital of the EIB was virtually doubled between 2007 and 2009 in response to the crisis. The EU heads of government agreed to increase paid-in capital by EUR10 billion in June 2012, for the fiscal year 2011, EIB lent EUR61 billion in various loan products, bringing total outstanding loans to EUR395 billion, one-third higher than at the end of 2008. Nearly 90% of these were with EU member states with the remainder dispersed between around 150 partner countries, the bank uses its AAA credit rating and funds itself by raising equivalent amounts on the capital markets. As the Bank of the European Union, the EIBs mission is to make a difference to the future of Europe and its partners by supporting sound investments which further EU policy goals. In the wake of the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, the EIB is governed by the, Board of Governors – usually the Finance Ministers of the Member States. Their mandate is to authorise EIB activities outside the Union, form credit policy guidelines, Board of directors – twenty-eight members. There are eighteen alternates, meaning some of these positions are shared by groups of states. The board also co-opts a maximum of six experts, who participate in the Board meetings in an advisory capacity, the Board has sole power to take decisions in respect of loans, guarantees and borrowings. They are responsible only to the bank, the headquarters is situated at 100 Boulevard Konrad Adenauer in Kirchberg, Luxembourg. The buildings first phase, now the West building, was designed by British architect Sir Denys Lasdun and is one of his few works outside the UK, an extension, the East building, was designed by Ingenhoven Architects, Düsseldorf
European Investment Bank
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EIB headquarters, East building
European Investment Bank
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European Investment Bank
European Investment Bank
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EIB headquarters, West building
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Committee of the Regions
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Established in 1994, the CoR was set up to address two main issues. First, about three quarters of EU legislation is implemented at local or regional level, so local and regional representatives needed to have a say in the development of new EU laws, within the European Union local and regional authorities have lobbied for an increased say in EU affairs. The European Union, therefore, should not take on tasks which are suited to national, regional or local administrations. Outside these areas, the Commission, Council and European Parliament have the option to consult the CoR on issues if they see important regional or local implications to a proposal. The CoR can also draw up an opinion on its own initiative, the CoR has 350 full members and the same number of alternate members. The number from each EU country roughly reflecting the size of its population and its members are locally and regionally elected representatives including mayors, regional presidents and councillors. Markku Markkula, member of the Espoo City Council, is the current President elected on 12 February 2015, the First Vice-President is also elected by the plenary assembly for two-and-a-half years and represents the President in the latters absence. Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, was elected First Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions on 12 February 2015, the Bureau is the executive body of the CoR. The Bureau generally meets seven or eight times a year to draw up the CoR’s policy programme, the members of the CoR meet in plenary session in Brussels six times a year, to discuss and adopt opinions, reports and resolutions. They prepare draft opinions and hold conferences and seminars focused on their areas of competence, each commission has approximately 100 members and is supported by a secretariat within the administration. A special Commission for Financial and Administrative Affairs is also established to assist the CoR Bureau, the members of each political group meet before major meetings to adopt common positions. The CoR also comprises 28 national delegations, Members meet in their national delegations before plenary sessions and other events to discuss common positions. The Secretary-General is appointed for five years by the Bureau, as head of the CoR administration, the Secretary-General must not hold a political mandate. He is responsible for implementing Presidents and Bureau decisions and the running of the CoR administration. Jiří Buriánek is the CoRs Secretary-General since 1 September 2014, the Secretariat-General consists of five directorates, Members and Plenaries, Legislative Work 1, Legislative Work 2, Communication, Human Resources and Finance. The Logistics and Translations Directorates are jointly managed with the European Economic, the total number of CoR staff in 2015 was 527. The CoRs 2013 budget represents only 0. 06% of the total EU budget and its 2014 budget breakdown according to purpose of expenditure is as follows,39, 7% - Consultative Works,30, 3% - Translation, Interpretation and Print, 30% - Administration and Functioning. The CoRs 2015 budget was 89,2 mil, most obvious examples are all CoR expenses related to its Members and their political activities
Committee of the Regions
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Committee of the Regions' Jacques Delors Building in Brussels, Belgium
Committee of the Regions
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European Committee of the Regions
Committee of the Regions
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CoR's Jacques Delors Building in Brussels
Committee of the Regions
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OPEN DAYS 2013. Former President of the CoR
Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso and the EU Commissioner responsible for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn are listening to the opening speech of the EC President José Manuel Barroso
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Italy
Netherlands
Luxembourg
France
Germany
Belgium
United Kingdom
Denmark
Spain
Greece
