Are the Council of Ministers and the European Commission Interdependent or Competing Institutions - Essay Example

?Are the Council of Ministers and the European Commission interdependent or competing s? Introduction It is essential to understand the institutions and their functions to obtain a clear cut idea regarding any political system and therefore such an analysis in the case of European Union necessitates a through understanding of its different institutions and their interactions. The European Union is formed in the year 1991 by the integration of European Community and the governance of European Union is carried out by the collective efforts of a series of institutions such as the Council of Ministers, The European commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice where the Council of Ministers assumes superiority over all the other institutions. These institutions are responsible for the formation of public policy after series of arguments and discussions among the members and it is true that they consider the interest of the Union rather than that of member states while making important decisions and therefore assumes a higher degree of independence. The unique institutional structure of the European Union sets it apart from other traditional institutions as the entire member states have agreed to focus more on the national interest. Each of these institutions has a unique role to play in the decision making process by complementing each other. This paper is an attempt to analyse the importance and interdependence of the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. The council of ministers The most prominent among all the institutions of European Union is the Council of Ministers which instigated to draw more attention after the integration of European Community. According to Alex Warleigh, “the council of ministers is the collective noun for the member state representatives who meet to take final decision on all EU legislative proposals” (Warleigh, p.26). The Council is responsible for justice and home affairs and also for a common foreign and security policy. The legislation of the European Union is primarily done by the Council which shares its power of legislation with the European Commission as well as the European parliament. Primary members of the Council are the ministers from the member states of the EU and it is a permanent negotiating forum. On the other hand there are experts who consider the Council as an obstruction to the political incorporation which always hinder the innovative ideas suggested by the Commission and the Parliament. But the true fact is that the Council protects the people of the EU from profligate European proposals and also controls the powerful politicians from the member states and direct their state oriented discussions towards a shared and expanding policy agenda (Warleigh, p.1). The structure The council of ministers which encompasses one minister from each member states of the EU meets frequently in Brussels or in Luxembourg in order to make legislative decisions. EU nations choose the appropriate minister to represent them in the Council according to the subject under consideration. Each member nation holds the presidency for a period of six months which rotates among them. The Committee of Permanent Representatives which is also known as COREPER and the general secretariat prepare most of the work to be done by the Council. COREPER consists of officials from different governments of the member states. Decisions of the Council are made on the basis of vote and the population of each state is the factor which determines the weight of its vote (Pearson Education, publishing, 2011). It is comparatively an easy task to identify the institutions of a member state where the legislative and executive powers are easily distinguishable. But in the case of European Union such a distinction is hard to make as the executive powers are shared between the Commission and the Council and the legislative powers between the Council and the Parliament and therefore the Council of Ministers possess both the executive and legislative functions. Functioning of the Council is on the basis of various treaties as a ‘collective organ of the new European system of governance’. The council could be considered as a collective gathering of the member states of the EU and is expected to act in relation to the domestic as well as international affairs of the EU. The members of the Council are elected politicians from different member states and are responsible to consider the collective interest of the Union rather than the interest of individual states (Hayes-Renshaw, and Wallace, p.4). The primary role of the Council of Ministers is to take ultimate decision on the legislative proposals. The Council may either share its legislative power with the European Parliament or it may consult other institutions such as the European commission or the European Court of Justice in the process of law making. It is also necessary to discuss the proposal with the Economic and Social Committee and with the Committee of the Regions. The Council pass laws by simple majority, qualified majority or unanimity. A qualified majority of sixty two out of eighty seven is essential for a Commission proposal to become law. The density of population is the deciding factor of the number of votes permitted to each member state. (p.26) The Council of Ministers is the chief contributor to the policy making of the European Union however a consultation with other institutions on the proposals forwarded by the Commission is essential before taking the final decision and it cannot relies up on the Commission to recommend any proposal for discussion. Apart from the formal legislative process the Council also make political recommendations, statements and opinions. It also assumes a program setting role by taking decisions on the future policy developments of the European Union, discussing the financial policies of the member states and also authorizing different international agreements (Warleigh, p.34). The European Commission The European Commission is an important institution of the EU which is free from the interest of the national governments. The initial step of the law making process takes place in the Commission and this is the institution which forward legislative proposals to the Council of Ministers and to the European Parliament and also the one which functions as the executive arm of the European Union. The members of the Commission are powerful political leaders or ministers representing their motherland. The tenure of a commission is five years and a new commission is formed after the completion of the tenure. The formation of the European Commission takes the following steps. First of all the EU nations together decide the president for the new Commission and he is then approved by the Parliament. The president then communicates with the member state governments to suggest their representatives to the Commission. The consolidated list of members is then presented to the Parliament and the Council appoints the new Commission following the vote of approval from the Parliament. The commission is politically dependant and answerable to the Parliament which holds the authority to dismiss the Commission and the president is authorized to remove any commissioner from his designation considering the opinion of other members of the Commission. The Commission is obliged to elucidate and justify its policies and to be present at all the meetings of parliament. Policy areas for the commissioners are decided by the president and he is also authorized to alter the responsibilities if it is found to be necessary. Functioning of the commission Brussels is the place where the Commissioners meet regularly and decisions are made in their weekly sessions regarding various policy issues which are presented by respective commissioners. The Directorates General and services are the two departments of the Commission and all the members are part of either of the departments. Different policy areas are divided between the DGs and each one undertake the responsibility of a particular policy area with a Director General on the top. It is the Secretariat General which coordinates all the activities of the Commission including the weekly meetings. The Secretary General who is answerable only to the president leads the Secretariat General. The planning and the drafting of any legislative proposal are primarily done in the DGs but it becomes an official proposal only after receiving the approval in the weekly meeting of the Commission. An example would explain the process in detail. Suppose the Commission feels the necessity to prevent the pollution of rivers in Europe. The Directorate General which is responsible for the environmental affairs will plan a proposal on the basis of discussions with European industry, farmers, and environment ministers of different EU nations and also with environmental organisations. The draft is then discussed with other departments of the Commission and submitted for the approval by the Secretariat General and also by the Legal Service. The proposal is put to vote in the immediate weekly meeting after the preparation and the Commission adopt the proposal if it is approved by 14 out of 27 commissioners and finally it is forwarded to the consideration of the Council and the Parliament (The European Commission, n. d). Role and responsibilities Along with the chief responsibility to forward legislation proposals to the Parliament and to the Council the European Commission undertake certain other responsibilities also. It involves in the management and implementation of the Union policies and budget together with the enforcement of European law. The commission also act as the representative in international meetings. Proposals for new legislation are initiated by the Commission and these are presented to the consideration of Parliament and the Council. The proposals thus formulated protect interests of the Union rather than the member states. It is essential for the Commission to derive a clear picture of the new situation and issues in Europe in order to make a proposal and also to verify the necessity of new laws and also the possibilities of alternative methods. Therefore the Commission always maintain contacts with advisory bodies such as the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions and also with various interest groups and in certain cases it consider the opinions and suggestions from the member state governments. The Commission deals with issues on the basis of the ‘subsidiarity principle’. It tries to find solutions for issues at the lower levels and recommend the EU legislation only in the case of issue which cannot be solved at national or regional levels (The European Commission, n. d). The law making process is instigated by the Commission as it drafts the proposal on the basis of discussions and consultations. Even though the right to initiate legislative proposals is held by the Commission it is possible for the Council and the Parliament to make request for the initiation of proposals on their behalf and the Commission is obliged to respond as per the Maastricht treaty. But still the responsibility to choose among different policy approaches lies on the Commission (Cini, 1996, p.20). The Commission act as the executive hand of the Union and therefore it also bears the responsibility to implement and manage the Union budget. Majority spending is carried out by the national and local authorities but under the supervision of the Commission. The Commission is also responsible for the management of policies implemented by the Parliament and the Council. Competition policy and common agricultural policy are examples of such policies and in the case of the former the Commission is authorized to exclude or approve mergers between companies. The Commission and the Court of justice are responsible for the enforcement of EU laws in the member states and therefore the former is termed as the ‘guardian of the treaties’ which takes necessary steps to rectify the situation if a member state is found to violate the EU laws. The Commission makes official correspondence with such states asking for a detailed reply and also keep a definite dead line. The issue is then forwarded to the Court of Justice if the procedure fails. The European Commission act also as the ‘tongue’ of the European Union which helps the member states to express their views and ideas in international forums. It is also responsible for negotiations on international agreements for the Union as in the case of Cotonou Agreement (The European Commission, n. d). Conclusion It is obvious from the above discussion that the legislative and executive powers of the EU institutions are not easily distinguishable because it is neither a federation like US nor an organisation for cooperation as in the case of UN. The member states of the EU are independent and sovereign but they club their sovereignty together to obtain the power of unity. The decision making of the EU is a co-decision procedure undertaken by the three major institutions collectively. The European Commission studies various issues which may affect the interest of the Union and draws legislative proposals on the basis of relevant issues and forward these proposals to the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament for their consideration after the ‘adoption process’. The legislative proposals if approved by the Parliament and the Council become law. These laws are applicable to all the member states and the Commission together with the EU nations implement them. As we have already seen if any member state is found to violate any of these laws, the Commission interferes and hand it over to the Court of Justice. There are even more examples for the interdependent functioning of EU institutions especially between the Council and the Commission. The Parliament shares its legislative power with the Council and if both fail to agree on a particular proposal, a conciliation committee which include equal number of representatives from both the institutions consider the proposal and the proposal is send back to both the Council and the Parliament to adopt it as law. Consultation and assent procedures are also parts of the decision making process which explain the interdependency of institutions. The former is used in areas such as taxation and agriculture where the Council consults with the Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and Committee of the Regions regarding the proposal forwarded by the Commission and the Parliament may approve, reject or suggest amendments in the proposal. The proposal is then send back to the Commission to make necessary changes as per the suggestions of the Parliament and the amended proposal is again submitted to the Council. The only difference between consultation and assent process is in the absence of the provision for amendment in the case of the latter. The Parliament may accept or reject the proposal but it cannot suggest any amendment. All these factors fall as evidences for the interdependency of EU institutions and especially between the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. References Cini, M 1996, The European Commission: leadership, organisation, and culture in the EU administration, Manchester University Press ND. Hayes-Renshaw, F & Wallace, H S 1997, The Council of Ministers, illustrated Edition, Palgrave Macmillan. Pearson Education, publishing 2011, Council of the European Union, viewed 12 April, The European Commission n. d., The European Commission, viewed12 April, Warleigh, A 2002, Understanding European Union institutions,illustrated Edition, Routledge. Read More