introduction:
Questions to be answered:
- Which interests do the EU institutions represent and how are executive, legislative and judicial powers allocated to them?
- What are the tasks of each of the institutions and how do they organize their work?
- How should we evaluate the EU’s institutional framework in terms of its capacity, on the one hand, to represent interests and, on the other hand, to act effectively?
- Primary purpose: all relevant interests (MS, citizens, EU as whole) are represented in key phases of decision-making
- Decisions made in consensual manner & have support of all interested parties
EU institutional framework:
| Name |
Role |
Representing |
| European Council |
Executive |
MS |
| Council |
Executive/Legislative |
MS |
| European Commission |
Executive |
Union |
| European Parliament |
Legislative |
Citizens |
| Court of Justice of the European Union |
Judicial |
Union |
| European Central Bank |
Executive |
Union |
| Court of Auditors |
Control |
Union |
- Additional bodies: European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) & Committee of the Regions (CoR) → advisory bodies
- institutional constellation cannot be compared one-to-one to national political systems, but institutions follow similar tasks
- design principle: balance different interests → distribute tasks over multiple bodies
- EU has several sources of power
- as opposed to: executive & legislative power in clearly separated branches
Representation of interests
- National political systems: citizens can directly affect composition of parliament & head of government (in presidential systems) → popular sovereignty: citizens determine composition of legislative & executive branch
- EU:
- Citizens: represented by EP → members chosen via direct popular elections in MS
- MS: represented in
- European Council → Heads of State and Government
- Council of Ministers → representatives at ministerial level
- European Union: represented & protected by all other institutions → officeholders should act independently & without instructions from any government or other institution
intergovernmental institutions:
- European Council & Council
- represent MS
supranational institutions:
- EP (represent citizens on basis of ideology), Commission, Court of Justice, European Bank, Court of Auditors