Principle European Union Institutions - Assignment Example

Principle European Union s Introduction The European Union was under the administration of seven institutional bodies. The Union has been of 28 member governments. It handles tasks in the economic and political welfare of the member states. These nations are primarily from the Europe continent. These are the institutions that set up to coordinate the operations of the European Union. They include the council, court of justice, the European commission, the central bank, European parliament and the court of auditors (Cini and Borragán 2010, p.34). These institutions are independent and also intergovernmental. The parliament runs for a period of five years and then elections held. The origin of the European Union was the steel and coal community. Its formulation took place in 1950s and has grown tremendously to what called the European Union. The administration of the European Union cannot be done by a single body but a series of institutions. They have recorded growth since 1960s. In these institutions, there are three political bodies which have the legislative and executive power in the Union (Peterson and Shackleton 2012, p. 115). Discussion One of the bodies that form the European Union is the parliament. It is in Strasburg basis, and it is an elected body. The members of this body also called the MEPs for the members of the European parliament. The voters of the member states elect these members. However, there is no seriousness among the citizens in voting these members and law turn out can be put in records. The European Union is a consultant body and not a legislative body. It consultation on the issues that influence changes and also policy suggestion lies on this body. However, it cannot introduce these policies. This can only be done by the commission. The parliament holds two powers, but it is almost unlikely that they can ever practice them. The parliament has the power to dispose the budget, but this could be difficult with the centralized currency. It would stop all the tasks of the union and break the whole idea of working together of the European countries. When crashes between the two bodies occur it would give an advantage to the anti European countries. This is as a result of weakening of the fabric (Peterson and Shackleton 2012, p. 117). Another power that is in possession of the parliament is the right to dismantle the commission. If two thirds of the members of parliament vote for this, it could happen. The results of this would be huge chaos, and they cannot allow it to happen. The parliaments member’s election is for a term of five years. The population of a country regulates the number of seats to be allocated in the country. The parliament, however, gives pressure to the commission on the issues it feels should be implemented (Peterson 2002, p.27). The council of ministers is among the bodies that govern the European Union. This is a powerful decision-making body of the union. The members of this body are the foreign ministers of the individual member states. Other ministers of the individual nations often make contributions to the ideas motions that they hold expertise in. The body discussed the laws formulated by the non elected civil servants in the individual member states and also by the commission not elected. This has faced criticism by many as it is not fair for decisions of 130 million people to be made by a group of non elected civil servants (Cini and Borragán 2010, p.35) At the period of before 1986, just one country of the member states could veto an introduced policy. However, after that year a majority voting process came to existence. In this process, individual countries gained a block of votes that depended on the size of the country. The largest votes headed France, Germany and also Britain which are the largest. They received ten votes each. The total number of votes is 82 and the majority votes are 62 (Peterson and Shackleton 2012, p. 123). Another body that is operational in the European Union is the court of justice. This body is very crucial in undermining the political sovereignty of Britain. This court will make decisions on the member states. The people in the member states will have no choice but to comply with the decisions. The joining of Britain to the EEC placed the European law above that of Britain as a nation. However, the Rome treaty has no validity in Britain as what stated as well Britain adoption through an act of parliament (Best et al. 2008, p. 65). The justice court comprises of 15, member judges who are appointees of the member states. They take office for a period of six years, but the term is renewable. The function of this court is to implement the laws and also the directives passed on from the commission. The court also effects the application of the community law. The community law became derived from the treaties that European Union engaged in. The court got an obligation of settling cases that involve member states and also the commission itself. The authority of this court got upheld after long negotiations conduction. The court can only work to make the member states to agree on their rulings and do not have the power to implement its judgments (Peterson and Shackleton 2012, p. 124). Another body that makes up the institutions of the European Union is the court of auditors. There is no power that became vested in this body despite the name that it had. The duty of this body is to ensure that public money was used appropriately. This body formulates a report and presents it to the commission and also the parliament on an annual basis. The parliament used this report in making the decision on budget approval made by the commission. It is also to duty of this court to give advice of the anti-fraud activities and also the financial legislation. This body came to the existence in the year 1975 due to the sensitivity that resulted from the fraud issues (Best et al. 2008, p. 67). The European central bank came into operation in the year 1998. This bank is responsible for the formulation and also implementation of the euro zone monetary policy. This body got charged with the mandate of maintaining the stability of prices in the euro zone. The Euro currency has gotten adoption from sixteen states from the year 1999. European central banks system comprises of this bank as well as the central banks of the particular countries. The executive board together with the council that in governance is responsible for administering this bank. This body became a part of the EU with the entry of the Lisbon treaty (Peterson 2002, p.26). The basic laws in the European Union are of three basic types there are the regulations, decisions and also the regulations. The regulation law is similar to the national law. The difference that it has is that it is applicable to all European nations’ countries. The directives type of law is the general rules that can be transferred to form the national law by the member states. The third type of law is the decision law. This law deals with particular issues only, individuals or organizations (Cini 2006, p.27). The sources of European law may be classified into primary source, secondary source and also the supplementary source. The primary sources can be derived from the founding treaties. These treaties are the treaty of the functioning of European Union and also the treaty of the EU. The distribution of competency between the member states depends upon these treaties. They also establish the powers of the institutions of the European Union. These treaties, therefore, determine the legal framework for the implementation of policies of the institutions. Primary law may also include the amendments of the EU treaties, the new member states treaties of accession to the EU and also the protocols annexed on the treaties (Cini 2006, p.29). The secondary sources of European law comprises of the unilateral acts and also agreements. The unilateral act comprises of the acts listed in the article 288 on the functioning treaty. These include the directives, recommendations, opinions and the regulations. It also includes those that are not in article 288. These include the green and white papers and also the communications and recommendations. There are also agreements in this source. They can be international agreements, between institutions and also between the member states (Peterson 2002, p.30). Another source of the law is the supplementary law. This is a formulation by the international law and also the general principles. This type of law gives the court the mandate to bridge the gap left out by the primary and secondary sources. The source of inspiration of the court of law is the international law this happens when the court is developing a case. General principles are unwritten sources developed by the court. Conclusion The institutions of the European Union can be charged with the mandate of running the operations of the group of countries. Power that ensured accomplishment of targets was in these bodies. They control the political, economic and also the social aspects of the group of countries that make up the European Union. They also formulate the law to be followed in the nations. This makes these bodies accountable for the failure of this group of countries. References List Best, E., Christiansen, T., & SettembrI, P. (2008). The institutions of the enlarged European Union: continuity and change. Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar. Pp. 65-67 Cini, M. (2006). European Union politics. New York, Oxford University Press. Pp. 27-34. Cini, M., & Borragán, P. N. (2010). European Union politics. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Pp. 34-35. Peterson, J. (2002). The institutions of the European Union. Oxford [u.a.], Oxford Univ. Press. Pp. 26-27 Peterson, J., & Shackleton, M. (2012). The institutions of the European Union. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Pp.115-124 Read More