English for Lawyers 4 Lecturer: Miljen Matijašević Session 8 e-mail: miljen.matijasevic@gmail.com Session 8

Today’s session Revision of the last session Institutions of the European Union

Revision of the last session Introduction to the EU

Answer the questions How many member states are there in the EU? What do the European Communities include? What are some of the most important historic treaties of the EU? What were the three pillars of the EU? What do you know about EU language policy? What is primary legislation of the EU? What about secondary legislation?

Translate into Croatian single market common agricultural policy economic and monetary union EU citizenship transeuropean traffic networks environmental protection social policy common defense policy human trafficking bribe and corruption

Answers jedinstveno tržište zajednička poljoprivredna politika gospodarska i monetarna unija državljanstvo EU transeuropske prometne mreže zaštita okoliša socijalna politika zajednička obrambena politika trgovanje ljudima mito i korupcija

Translate into Croatian member state enlargement founding treaty accession treaty language policy official language working language

Answers member state – država članica enlargement – proširenje founding treaty – osnivački ugovor accession treaty – ugovor o pristupanju language policy – jezična politika official language – službeni jezik working language – radni jezik

Institutions of the European Union

Institutions of the EU European Commission Council of the European Union European Parliament European Council Court of Justice of the European Union European Court of Auditors

Other EU Bodies European Economic and Social Committee Committee of the Regions European Central Bank European Investment Bank European Ombudsman European Data Protection Supervisor Publications Office of the European Union European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO)

Council of the European Union a.k.a. Council of Ministers represents the interests of the Member States SEAT: Bruxelles members: 28 national government ministers sits in 10 configurations, depending on the topic of discussion presidency of the Council – each MS chairs for 6 months – rotation

Council of the European Union THE TEN CONFIGURATIONS: General Affairs Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Competitiveness Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Agriculture and Fisheries Environment Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Foreign Affairs

Council of the European Union tasks of the Council: passes European legislation (co-decision with the EP) – proposals of the EC co-ordinates national policies of Member States concludes international agreements approves EU budget (shared with EP) common foreign and security policy freedom, security and justice decisions made by a qualified majority vote (55% of MS representing 65% of EU population)

European Parliament represents the interests of EU citizens SEAT: Strasbourg, Bruxelles and Luxemburg members: 750 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) chosen by EU citizens in elections for the EP elections held every 5 years representation by political groups, not by MS current president: Martin Schulz (S&D)

European Parliament 2014-2019 Political group MEPs European People’s Party (EPP) 214 Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) 189 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) 69 European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) 74 Confederal Group of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) 52 Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) 50 Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) 44 Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) 39 Non-attached (NA) 19 TOTAL 751

European Parliament tasks of the European Parliament: passes European legislation (co-decision with the Council) approves EU budget (shared with Council) supervision of other EU institutions approval of the members of the European Commission receive reports by the Commission and the Council and can ask them questions

European Commission represents the interests of the EU SEAT: Bruxelles members: 28 members of the Commission; (informally ‘commissioners’) a ‘government’ for the EU – the executive EC: 28 Directorates-General (glavne uprave) members proposed by national governments, approved by the Council and the EP Current president: Jean-Claude Juncker

European Commission tasks of the European Commission: drafts proposals of EU legislation implements EU policies enforces European law (‘guardian of the Treaties’) controls EU budget

European Council defines general directions and priorities of the EU SEAT: Bruxelles members: Heads of States or Governments of EU Member States + President and Commission President headed by the President of the European Council (Donald Tusk); a.k.a. President of the EU meets every six months

The Court of Justice of the EU supervises the interpretation of EU law, enforces EU law SEAT: Luxemburg (working language: French) members: 28 judges

The Court of Justice of the EU jurisdiction: supervises interpretation and application of EU law by national courts enforces EU law settles disputes between Member States, EU institutions, businesses and individuals

The Court of Justice of the EU comprises: The European Court of Justice preliminary ruling applications by national courts some annulment and appeal cases The General Court annulment applications by individuals, undertakings and sometimes MS governments competition law, state aid, trade, agriculture, trade marks

The Court of Justice of the EU The European Court of Justice usually sits in chambers (3, 5 or 15 judges) or sometimes the whole Court assisted by 11 independent advocates- general who propose opinions on cases Written and oral stages Judgments – majority decisions, read out publicly

Court of Justice of the EU Acts upon applications by national courts or the Commission in five most common types of cases: requests for a preliminary ruling infringement proceedings actions for annulment actions for failure to act actions for damages

Court of Justice of the EU preliminary ruling procedure national courts asking the Court to interpret a provision of EU law infringement procedure actions brought against governments of EU member states for failure to apply EU law action for annulment brought against EU laws considered to be in conflict with primary legislation or fundamental rights

Court of Justice of the EU action for failure to act brought against EU institutions for failing to make decisions required of them actions for damages brought by individuals, companies or organisations against EU decisions or actions

European Court of Auditors not an actual court one member from each Member State tasks: checks EU income and expenditure (EU budget) checks the collection of EU taxes from citizens and whether they are spent economically, legally and for the intended purpose investigates the financial statements of any person or organisation handling EU funds carries out a yearly audit and report to the EP and the Council

Vocabulary practice

Translate into Croatian Council of Europe European Council Council of the European Union co-decision Directorate-General

Answers Council of Europe – Vijeće Europe European Council – Europsko vijeće Council of the European Union – Vijeće Europske unije co-decision – suodlučivanje Directorate-General – glavna uprava

Translate into Croatian request for a preliminary ruling infringement proceedings action for annulment action for failure to act action for damages

Translate into Croatian zahtjev za prethodnu odluku tužba (postupak) zbog povrede tužba (postupak) za poništenje tužba (postupak) zbog propusta tužba (postupak) za naknadu štete

Thank you for your attention!