The European Commission - The Driving Force of the E.U.

The Future

• During the expansion of the Union, the current system for allocating commissioners would create over 30 members
• Therefore, from 2005, the Commission will only include one representative from each member state, up to a maximum of 27
• The expansion of the commission will also provide greater executive powers for the President of the Commission, currently the Italian Romano Prodi
• In the future the President will be able to hand out portfolios and change commissioner’s portfolio’s at will
• The President will also have the power to demand the resignation of a commissioner, with the Commission’s approval

The European Parliament

The European Parliament has the usual powers of a legislative body, checking the executive, as well as some legislative and financial control.

The Past

• The European Parliament started with 626 MEPs
• The number of MEPs elected from the member states was dependant on the size of the state, e.g. The U.K. has 87 MEPs in contrast to Luxembourg’s 6 MEPs.
• The Parliaments power was restricted to advice

The Present

• The composition of the European Parliament has remained unchanged – 626 MEPs democratically elected by citizens in Member States
• However, the Parliaments powers have been increased. Parliament may:

1. Amend and debate legislation
2. Require the European Council to have unanimity on legislation
3. Veto the EU budget
4. Check the work of the European Commission

• Overall, the European Parliament’s power (legislative and financial) has increased from its origins, however member states are reluctant to extend power

The Future

• The Nice Treaty (2000) will limit the number of MEPs to 732
• The redistribution of seats will take place in the 2005 election
• The proposed re-distribution will limit the seats available to the UK. The number of MEPs will be reduced to 72, 15 less than previously
• The council will also gain power to regulate organisations or political parties at European Level.

The European Council and The Council of Ministers

The European Council

• The European Council is the most important decision-making body in the EU
• It is made up of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary of all member states, both of whom can be held to account by their parliament and electorate
• The EC meets twice a year
• It makes the major decisions (e.g. The Euro) and decides the general direction of the EU
• Countries take turns in hosting and chairing the Council and influencing the agenda
• Proposed fundamental changes must have a unanimous vote while other changes only require a majority vote
• They must also be accepted by the UK Parliament and by referendums in European Countries
• Voting is organised so that Prime Ministers of minorities in the EU cannot block changes advocated by leaders of larger countries

The Council of Ministers

• The second most important EU decision-making process
• There are actually several different Council of Ministers, each covering different areas of EU work e.g. Agriculture
• Membership of relevant elected minister from each member state, e.g. British Chancellor of Exchequer represents Britain in financial matters
• As the members are elected, they can be called to account by the British Parliament and made to defend their decisions/actions
• Once the Council Ministers have decided, it is handed over to the relevant commissioner and to the member states to carry them out

Changes to the European Commission and the Council of Ministers

Voting

Changes to the voting system have been discussed because of the proposed expansion of the EU to 25 member states – with the increase in membership it will become almost impossible to reach unanimous decisions as is currently required to make any major changes, so this rule will be dropped. Instead, the agreement of ministers representing at least 62% of the total EU population will be needed for major decisions and all other matters will still only need a simple majority vote.

The number of votes allocated to each country will also change, although talks about this in December 2003 broke down – Poland and Spain refused to accept changes to the system agreed in 200 which gave them almost as many votes as Germany, even though each of their populations is around half the size of Germany’s.

Official Language

The number of languages European Commission employees are required to speak to be eligible for promotion is to be increased to 3 – their mother tongue plus two further EU languages instead of just one. The change will come into force in May when the new member states join, and will increase the cost of language training for the Commission to 5 million Euros per year. The extra foreign language will be required because the French are worried that English is becoming the new official language of the EU – 83% of new staff form the countries joining in May speak English, but only 24% speak French.