The council is the principal decision making body of the Union. The meetings are democratic and each country has a number of votes roughly in proportion to the size of its population. For most issues a qualified majority is required where at least 67 of the 87 votes must be in favour. Individual Member States also have a right to veto in certain situations where they consider the proposal being discussed to be of a ‘very important interest’ of their country.
Another institution is the European Commission, which consists of 20 Commissions who act independently and neutral from their home country. The Commissioners are appointed for a five year term during which they can only be removed by a vote of censure by the European Parliament. Each Commissioner heads a department with special responsibility for one area of Union policy, such as economic affairs, agriculture and the environment.
The Commission has several functions. It is the motive power behind EU policy as it proposes policies and presents drafts of legislation to the Council for its consideration. If a Member State fails to implement EU law within its own country, or has violated a Provision in some way, it is the Commission’s responsibility to intervene and if necessary, refer the case to the European Court of Justice. The Commission has performed this duty very effectively, which has resulted in judgements given by the court against Britain and other Member States. Another, less important institution of the European Union is the European Parliament or Assembly. The Parliament’s main function is to discuss proposals put forward by the Commission, but it has no direct law-making powers. It has standing committees which discuss proposals made by the Commission in more detail and then report to the full Parliament for debate. Decisions made by the Parliament are not binding, but they do have an influence on the Council of Ministers.
It has been argued that the Parliament has no real power, but the Single European Act 1986 did enhance its position. Now the assent of Parliament is required for the EU to enter into any international agreements, allowing the Parliament an important role in deciding whether new members should be admitted to the European Union. It also has some power over the EU budget, particularly obligatory expenditure, where it has the final decision on whether to approve the budget or not.
The fourth institution of the European Union is the European Court of Justice. This is the main body for interpreting law and does not make law. It consists of 15 judges, one from each member state, who are appointed from the highest judge in that state. Each judge is appointed for six years and can be reappointed for another six, but no more. The judges are assisted by nine Advocates General whose job is to research the legal points and publicly present a preliminary review of the case which can then be dealt with by the ECJ. These too hold office for six years.
The ECJ has three main jobs. It hears cases against members states who are not following the EU law. For example, Re Tachnographs – The Commission v. The UK, where the UK was charged with not implementing a directive to install electronic equipment in lorries. If the case cannot go any further in the member states’ own court hierarchy, which in Britain is the House of Lords, then the court has to refer the case to the ECJ if it involves EU law. This is known as mandatory referral as they have no choice but to refer it.
Because the ECJ has so much work to do, a Court of First Instance was set up in 1988 to deal with some its work. They ensure that laws across the Member States are all in line with EU law and bring the laws up to a certain standard, while the ECJ helps to clarify any problems faced in interpreting EU law.