Describe the functions of the Council of Ministers, European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice in making and interpreting European Union law.

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Law Exam Question

June 2003

3 (a) Describe the functions of the Council of Ministers, European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice in making and interpreting European Union law (15 marks)

There are 4 main institutions established by the Treaty of Rome, which make and interpret law in the European Union. The first of these is the Council of Ministers. For example, the Minister for Agriculture will attend meetings when the issue to be discussed involves agriculture. This means that the exact membership of the Council varies depending on the topic. Twice a year there are summit meeting where the heads of government meet to discuss broad matters of European policy. The Member States take it in turn to provide the President of the Council for a six month period. The President is assisted with the day-to-day work of the Council by a committee of permanent representatives known as Coreper.

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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 ...

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