1. The Political System of the EU Present and Prospect
Markus Porsche-Ludwig 副教授

2. INDEX 1. The three pillars of the EU 2. The expansion of the EU
3. The history of the European
Integration
4. The institutions of the EU
5. The European Council
6. Authorization of the Council of the European Union
7. The distribution of votes in the
Council of the EU

3. INDEX 8. The European Parliament 9. Distribution of seats in the EP
10. The political groups in the EP
11. The European Commission
12. Directorates-Generals of the European Commission
13. The election of the Commissioners
14. Tasks of the European Commission

4. INDEX
15. The European Economic and Social Commitee and the Commitee of the Regions
16. The European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance
17. The legal system of the EU
18. The four liberties of the Single European Market
19. The history of the Economic and Monetary Union

5. INDEX 20. The convergence criterions
21. Planned reforms by constitution?
22. The results of the constitution
23. The ratification process
24. RESULT: EU Reform Treaty: Lisbon 2007

6. 1. The three pillars of the EU
The European Union
First pillar: European Unions: EC/EDSC (European Coal and Steel Community; expired in 2002)/Euratom
Second pillar: common foreign and security policy
Third pillar: police and judicial cooperation in criminal cases

7. 2. The expansion of the EU
Founding members: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands
1973: Denmark, Irland, GB
1981: Greece
1986: Portugal, Spain
1995: Austria, Finland, Sweden
2004: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Cyprus
2007: Bulgaria, Romania

8. 3. The history of the European Integration
Schuman Plan (1950) -> EDSC 1951 (1952) ->
TREATY OF ROME: foundation EEC (European Economic Community) + Euratom 1957 (1958), 6 member states
The Single European Act 1986 (1987)
Treaty on European Union (Maastricht) 1992 (1993)
Amsterdam Treaty 1997 (1999)
Treaty of Nice 2000 (2003)
Reform Treaty: Lisbon (2007)

9. 4. The institutions of the EU

10. Name: „summit meetings“
5. The European Council
Heads of state or government of all EU countries and the President of the European Commission
Highest political body of the EU which meets around four times a year; a body „which shall provide the Union with the necessary impetus for its development“ (inspection: political guidelines and success)
Name: „summit meetings“

11. 6. Authorization of the Council of the European Union
One of the two legislative institutions of the EU (being the EP); 27 members
Council of the EU and EP: budgetary authority
Coordination of the cooperation between the national courts and the police.
Coordination of economic policy of the member states
International treaties between the EU and one or several states or international organizations
Develops the common foreign and security policy within the competencies of the EU

12. 7. The distribution of votes in the Council of the EU
29 votes: France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom
27 votes: Spain and Poland
14 votes Romania
12 votes: Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Portugal
10 votes: Austria, Bulgaria, Sweden
7 votes: Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia
4 votes: Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovenia
3 votes: Malta
For qualified majority: 255 of 345 votes (72,3%)/it can be demanded that the yes votes are at least 62% of the EU citizens/and the majority of the member states have to agree

13. The Council of the European Union
The most important decision-making authority of the EU
It depends on the topics: the responsible minister is member of the Council of the European Union (foreign policy, financial policy, social policy, traffic policy etc.)
Presidency: is held by a member´s state government (currently Spain, since 2010/01/01 ); every six months: rotates beetween the states

14. 8. The European Parliament
736 members (2009) (until now: 785; after Lisbon treaty: 751)
three general functions: 1) legislative power, 2) budget, 3) control of the executive and supervisory powers
Hearings
Cooperation procedure
Codecision procedure
Assent procedure
Consultation procedure

15. 9. Distribution of seats in the EP
Germany: 99/99/(96) (until 2009/2009/(Lisbon treaty)
France, Italy, United Kingdom: 78/72/(74,73,73)
Spain, Poland: 54/50/(54,51)
Romania: 35/33/(33)
Netherlands: 27/25/(26)
Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Portugal: 24/22/(22)
Sweden: 19/18/(20)
Austria, Bulgaria: 18/17/(19/18)
Finland, Denmark, Slovakia: 14/13/(13)
Ireland, Lithuania: 13/12/(12)
Latvia: 9/8/(9)
Slovenia: 7/7/(8)
Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg: 6/6/(6)
Malta: 5/5/(6)

16. 10. The political groups in the EP
2004/2009)
European People´s Party/European Democrats: 288/262
Party of European Socialists: 217/183
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe: 100/83
European Conservatives and Reformists: 55/55
Union for Europe of the Nations: 44/-
European Greens/European Free Alliance: 43/55
European United Left/Nordic Green Left: 41/33
Independence/Democracy: 22/17
Non-Inscrits (members without groups): 30/48

17. Parliament‘s principal roles are as follows:
To examine and adopt European legislation
To approve the EU budget
To exercise democratic control over the EU institutions, possibly by setting up committees of inquiry
To assent to important international agreements such as the accession of new EU Member States and trade or association agreements between the EU and other countries

18. 11. The European Commission
- Is the executive branch of the EU
Responsible for
Proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union´s treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union
27 Commissioners from 27 states (included the President)
Each Commissioner: one vote
Method of cabinet: minorities are bound by majority
Also in the future: the number of 27 Commissioners is the maximum

19. 12. Directorates-Generals of the Commission
Policy DGs
External Relation DGs
General Services DGs
Internal Services DGs

20. 13. The election of the Commissioners
Heads of state and governement: appoint (with qualified majority): President of the Commission; he needs the agreement by the EP
Member states: propose Commissioners
President of the Commission and the Heads of the state and governement: appoint Commissioners
Commissioners need agreement by EP
Commission can work

21. 14. Tasks of the European Commission
Legislative initiative (can make formal proposals for legislation)
Representation of interests of the EU against the Council of Ministers and in the case of negotiations with third countries
Working out the budgetary bill and administration of the EU-funds
Commission has partly the function of an executive power
Commission as the custodian of the treaties
Commission enters into negotiations with the EU-candidat for accession

22. 15. The European Economic and Social Committee and the Commitee of the Regions
- Representatives: different economic and social fields of the organized civil society (employer‘s organizations, trade unions, farmers, consumer groups etc.)
The Commitee of Regions: representatives of the local and regional authorities of the EU
Consultative statements to the other institutions
344 members, term-period: 4 years and is renewable
EESC consists of 344 members, according to the population of the member states of the EU (from 5 [Malta] to 24 [Germany, France, Italy, UK]), depending on the size of the country
Treaty of Nice introduced an upper limit of 350 members

23. 16. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Court of First Instance
(established in 1952; based in Luxembourg)
ECJ: is made up of 27 judges (each member state appoint one judge for six years) and 8 Advocates General (5 of the 8 Advocates General are nominated by the big member states of the EU)
The Court of First Instance similar than the ECJ, but without permanent Advocates General
ECJ may sit as a full Court, in a grand chamber (13 Judges) or in chambers of three or five judges)
The Court of First Instance: working since 1989/10/31
Interpretation of law of the joint contracts

24. 17. The legal system of the EU
Sources of the Community Law:
Primary community law (treaties)
Secondary community law
Acts of law of the EU:
Bylaws
Guidelines
Decisions/resolutions
Recommendations and statements

25. 18. „Four Liberties“ First: free movement of goods
Prohibition of import duties and export duties in the member states
Harmonization and mutual acceptance of norms and regulations
But certain limitations are allowed

26. Free personal passenger transport
Cessation of frontier control
Freedom of settlement and freedom to employ (recognition of diploma)
Also after gainful employment: EU citizens with the right (under certain preconditions) to settle down somewhere

27. Free service transactions
Freedom to provide services (f.ex. Free choice of phone providers)
Harmonization of the bank supervision
Opening up transport markets and telecommunication markets

28. Free capital transactions
More liberalness of currency movement and capital movement
Steps to a common market for finance services (not allowed to levy double charge for transfer order)
Liberalization of the stock market

29. 19. The history of the Economic and Monetary Union
Euro cash introduction: 2002/01/01
First step: unlimited capital transactions; increasing cooperation of the central banks, free use of the ECU (European Currency Unit), improvement of the economic convergence
Second step: Setting up European Monetary Institute (EMI), prohibition of granting of central bank credits to public authorities, more coordination of the financial policy, more economic convergence, process with the end of the independence of the national central banks and at the latest ending the day of the setting of the European system of central banks, preparation works for the third step
Third step: Irreversible fixing of exchange rates, introduction of Euro, carrying out a standard financial policy by the European system of central banks, coming into effect of the exchange rate mechanism in the EU, coming into effect of stability and growth pact

30. 20. The convergence criterions
Increase of the consumer prices: not more than 1.5% of the average of the first three stable in price countries
The currency must belong to the European monetary system and it is not allowed that it is devalued in the last two years
It is not allowed that the interest rate level exceeds the average of the three best placed member states more than two percentages
It is not allowed that the yearly new borrowing is more than 3% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
It is not allowed that the whole national debt is more than 60% of the GDP

31. 21. Planned reforms by constitution?

32. 22. The results of the constitution
Most import keywords:
Simplification
Democracy
Transparency
Efficiency
Legitimacy

33. 22. The results of the constitution
EU with legal entity
General use of the legislative process
Low number of instruments
Better definition of competences (EU, member states)
Charter of Human Rights as a part of the treaty
Public meetings of the Council of the EU in its quality as a law-maker

34. 22. The results of the constitution
More control by the national parliaments (subsidiarity principle)
Consideration of the civil society
Balanced institutional system
Limitation of the right of veto
Progresses in the fields of freedom, security and law
Stronger role of the EU at the international level

35. 23. The ratification process
The treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE): was an international treaty intended to create a constitution for the EU
-> was signed in 2004 by representatives of the 25 member states of the EU
-> needed to be ratified by all member states to enter into force
-> but in 2005: rejected by French and Dutch voters

36. 24. RESULT: EU Reform Treaty:Lisbon 2007
International agreement signed in Lisbon on December 2007
Changes the workings of the EU
Is ratified by all member states, entered into force 2009/12/01
The treaty amends the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaty of Rome