Aprašymas:

Darbas:

CONTENT

1. What is the Europien Union ? 2
2. How the EU takes decisions ? 3
3. Consultation 3
4.Assent 4
5. Codecision 4
6. Modenysing the system 4
7. What does the Parliament do ? 6
8. How it the Parliament‘s work organized ? 7
9. How is the Council‘s work organized ? 11
10. What is the commission ? 13
11. Where is the commission based ? 14
12. What does the commision do? 14
13. How is the commission‘s work organized ? 16
14. Limiting the size of commission ? 16
15. What does the court do ? 18
16. How is the courts work organized ? 19
17. What does the court do ? 19
18. What does the EESC do ? 21
19. What does the committee do ? 22
20. How is the committee‘s work organized ? 23
21. How is the Bank‘s work organized ? 25
22. Literature 29

What is the Europien Union ?
The European Union (EU) is not a federation like the United States. Nor is it simply an organisation for co-operation between governments, like the United Nations. It is, in fact, unique. The countries that make up the EU (its ‘member states’) remain independent sovereign nations but they pool their sovereignty in order to gain a strength and world influence none of them could have on their own.
Pooling sovereignty means, in practice, that the member states delegate some of their decision-making powers to shared institutions they have created, so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European level.
The EU's decision-making process in general and the co-decision procedure in particular involve three main institutions:
• the European Parliament (EP), which represents the EU’s citizens and is directly elected by them;
• the Council of the European Union, which represents the individual member states;
• the European Commission, which seeks1 to uphold the interests of the Union as a whole.
This ‘institutional triangle’ produces the policies and laws that apply throughout the EU. In principle, it is the Commission that proposes2 new laws, but it is the Parliament and Council that adopt them.
Two other institutions have a vital part to play: the Court of Justice upholds the rule of European law, and the Court of Auditors checks the financing of the Union’s activities.
The powers and responsibilities of these institutions are laid down in the Treaties, which are the foundation3 of everything the EU does. They also lay down the rules and procedures that the EU institutions must follow. The Treaties are agreed by the presidents and/or prime ministers of all the EU countries, and ratified by their parliaments.
In addition to its institutions, the EU has a number of other bodies that play specialised roles:
• the European Economic and Social Committee represents civil society, employers and employees;
• the Committee of the Regions represents regional and local authorities;
• the European Investment Bank finances EU investment projects, and helps small businesses via the European Investment Fund;
• the European Ombudsman investigates complaints about maladministration by EU institutions and bodies;
• the European Data Protection Supervisor safeguards the privacy of people’s personal data;
• the European Central Bank is responsible for European monetary4 policy;

________________________________________________________________________________
Seek1 - ieškoti
Propose2 - pasiūlyti, pateikti
Foundation3 – pamatas, pagrindas
Monetary4 – piniginis, monetarinis

• the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities publishes information about the EU;
• the European Communities Personnel Selection Office recruits1 staff for the EU institutions and other bodies.
In addition, specialised agencies have been set up to handle certain technical, scientific or management tasks.
How the EU takes decisions ?
Decision-making at European Union level involves various European institutions, in particular2
• the European Commission,
• the European Parliament (EP),
• the Council of the European Union.
In general it is the European Commission that proposes new legislation3, but it is the Council and Parliament that pass the laws. Other institutions and bodies also have roles to play.
The rules and procedures for EU decision-making are laid down in the treaties4. Every proposal for a new European law is based on a specific treaty article, referred to as the ‘legal basis’ of the proposal. This determines5 which legislative procedure must be followed. The three main procedures are ‘consultation’, ‘assent’ and ‘co-decision’.
Consultation
Under the consultation procedure, the Council consults Parliament as well as the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR).
Parliament can:
• approve the Commission proposal,
• reject it,
• or ask for amendments6.
If Parliament asks for amendments, the Commission will consider all the changes Parliament suggests. If it accepts any of these suggestions it will send the Council an amended proposal.
The Council examines the amended proposal and either adopts it or amends it further. In this procedure, as in all others, if the Council amends a Commission proposal it must do so