Lecturer: Miljen Matijašević G10, room 6/I, Tue 15:30-16:30 Session 9, 16 Dec 2014

1. Revision of the last session 2. Institutions of the European Union

Introduction to the EU

1. What two ideas were proposed at the Hague Congress 1948? 2. How many member states are there in the EU / COE? 3. What is the difference between EEC / EC / EU? 4. What do the European Communities include? 5. What year was the European Union established? 6. What were the three pillars of the EU? 7. What do you know about EU language policy? 8. What is primary legislation of the EU? 9. What about secondary legislation?

1. single market 2. common agricultural policy 3. economic and monetary union 4. EU citizenship 5. transeuropean traffic networks 6. environmental protection 7. social policy 8. common defense policy 9. human trafficking 10. bribe and corruption

1. jedinstveno tržište 2. zajednička poljoprivredna politika 3. gospodarska i monetarna unija 4. državljanstvo EU 5. transeuropske prometne mreže 6. zaštita okoliša 7. socijalna politika 8. zajednička obrambena politika 9. trgovanje ljudima 10. mito i korupcija

1. Member State 2. enlargement 3. founding treaty 4. accession treaty 5. language policy 6. official language 7. working language

1. Member State – država članica 2. enlargement – proširenje 3. founding treaty – osnivački ugovor 4. accession treaty – ugovor o pristupanju 5. language policy – jezična politika 6. official language – službeni jezik 7. working language – radni jezik

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

 European Economic and Social Committee  Committee of the Regions  European Investment Bank  European Central Bank  European Ombudsman  European Data Protection Supervisor  Office for Official Publications of the European Communities  European Personnel Selection Office  European Administrative School

 a.k.a. Council of Ministers  represents the interests of the Member States  SEAT: Bruxelles  members: 28 national government ministers  sits in 9 configurations, depending on the topic of discussion  presidency of the Council – each MS chairs for 6 months – rotation (current: Italy)

THE NINE CONFIGURATIONS:  General Affairs and External Relations  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 and Culture

 tasks of the Council: ◦ passes European legislation (co-decision with the EP) – proposals of the EC ◦ co-ordinates national policies of MS ◦ 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)

 represents the interests of EU citizens  SEAT: Strasbourg, Bruxelles and Luxemburg  members: 751 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)

Political groupMEPs European People’s Party (EPP)219 Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) 191 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)68 European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR)71 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 (EFD)48 Non-attached (NA)52 TOTAL751

 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

 represents the interests of the EU  SEAT: Bruxelles  members: 28 members of the European 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

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

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

 supervises the interpretation of EU law, enforces EU law  SEAT: Luxemburg (working language: French)  members: 28 judges  comprises: ◦ The European Court of Justice ◦ The General Court ◦ Civil Service Tribunal

 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 European Court of Justice  usually sits in chambers (3, 5 or 15 judges) or sometimes the whole Court  assisted by 9 independent advocates-general who propose opinions on cases  Written and oral stages  Judgments – majority decisions, read out publicly

 Gives rulings in five most common types of cases: 1. Requests for a preliminary ruling 2. Actions for failure to fulfil an obligation 3. Actions for annulment 4. Actions for failure to act 5. Direct actions

1. Preliminary ruling procedure ◦ National courts asking the Court to interpret a provision of EU law 2. Actions for failure to fulfil an obligation ◦ Actions brought against governments of EU member states for failure to apply EU law 3. Actions for annulment ◦ Brought against EU laws considered to be in conflict with primary legislation of fundamental rights

4. Actions for failure to act ◦ brought against EU institutions for failing to make decisions required of them 5. Direct Actions ◦ Brought by individuals, companies or organisations against EU decisions or actions

JURISDICTION:  direct actions brought by natural or legal persons against acts (regulatory or otherwise) of the institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the European Union (which are addressed to them or are of direct and individual concern to them) or against a failure to act on the part of those institutions, bodies, offices or agencies (e.g. a case brought by a company against a Commission decision imposing a fine on that company)  actions brought by the Member States against the Commission;  actions brought by the Member States against the Council relating to acts adopted in the field of State aid, ‘dumping' and acts by which it exercises implementing powers;  actions seeking compensation for damage caused by the institutions of the European Union or their staff;  actions based on contracts made by the European Union which expressly give jurisdiction to the General Court;  actions relating to Community trade marks;  etc.

Civil Service Tribunal  resolves disputes between EU institutions and their staff concerning working relations or social security issues (sick pay, occupational hazards, old age, etc.) ◦ handles about 120 such cases a year, pertaining to approx. 35,000 members of staff  disputes between various bodies of the EU and their staff

 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

1. Council of Europe 2. European Council 3. Council of the European Union 4. European Communities 5. co-decision 6. Directorate-General

1. Council of Europe – Vijeće Europe 2. European Council – Europsko vijeće 3. Council of the European Union – Vijeće Europske unije 4. European Communities – Europske zajednice 5. co-decision – suodlučivanje 6. Directorate-General – glavna uprava

1. Requests for a preliminary ruling 2. Actions for failure to fulfil an obligation 3. Actions for annulment 4. Actions for failure to act 5. Direct actions

1. Prethodna pitanja 2. Tužbe zbog neispunjenja obveze 3. Tužbe za poništenje 4. Tužbe zbog propusta 5. Izravne tužbe

New powers for national parliaments For the first time, national parliaments will have a direct input into the European decision-making process. Under the Lisbon Treaty, all proposed EU laws will have to be sent to national parliaments. Any national parliaments will have eight weeks to argue the case if it feels a proposal is not appropriate for EU level.

If enough national parliaments object, the proposal can be amended or withdrawn. This early warning system gives national parliaments an important role in ensuring that the EU does not overstep its authority by involving itself in matters that can best be dealt with at national, regional or local level.

Nove ovlasti nacionalnim parlamentima Po prvi puta nacionalni će parlamenti imati izravnog utjecaja na europski postupak donošenja odluka. Prema Lisabonskom ugovoru svi prijedlozi europskih zakona morat će biti upućeni nacionalnim parlamentima. Bilo koji nacionalni parlament imat će osam tjedana da izloži svoje argumente ukoliko bude smatrao da prijedlog nije prikladan za europsku razinu.

Ako dovoljan broj nacionalnih parlamenata uloži prigovor, prijedlog se može izmijeniti ili povući. Ovaj sustav ranog upozorenja daje nacionalnim parlamentima važnu ulogu kako bi se osiguralo da EU ne prekorači svoje ovlasti i uključi se u pitanja koja se najbolje mogu riješiti na nacionalnoj, regionalnoj ili lokalnoj razini.

Thank you for your attention!