summary of the chapter, Sintesi del corso di Politiche dell'Unione Europea

Scarica summary of the chapter e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Politiche dell'Unione Europea solo su Docsity! EU POLITICS AND POLICIES IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD - B026821 III. The Institutional Framework The primary purpose of EU’s institutional set-up is to make sure that all relevant interests, those of MS, citizens and the EU as a whole, are represented in key phases of decision making. This set-up ensures that decisions are made in a consensual manner and can rely upon the support of all interest parties. It has been the overriding concern which has resulted in a complex organisation of the powers of the institutions, in particular when it comes to legislative and executive powers, where Instead of locating executive and legislative power in clearly separated branches of government and bas- ing them on popular sovereignty, the EU has several sources of power and distributes these tasks over multiple bodies. I. THE EU INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK The institutional framework is outlined in article 13 of the TEU (Treaty on European Union). There are overall 7 official institutions which form the backbone of the EU’s decision-making apparatus. The EESC (European Economic and Social Committee) and the CoR (Committee of Regions) are also considered valuable institutions as they are advisory bodies. Other institutions such as the Court of Justice and European Parliament can also be found in the national political systems while there are others such as Commission and Council which cannot be found anywhere else. The overall institutional framework of the EU is unique and cannot be compared to that of national nor international organisations. It is more of a mixed government. While in contemporary democracies the executive and legislative powers are ultimately rooted in one clear sovereign (the people), the EU has several sources of power which are represented by different institutions. - Which interests do the different institutions represent and protect? In national political systems, there is the principle of popular sovereignty in which citizens determine the compositions of the legislative and executive branch as a result of the need of a democratic system. The EU does seek to make sure the citizens can directly affect the composition of one of its institutions, The European Parliament, it seeks also to incorporate a wide range of interests. Those that represent the MS (The European Council and the Council) are called intergovernmental institutions, while those representing the union as a whole are considered supranational institutions. (Commission, Court of Justice, European Central Bank, Court of Auditors, European Parliament). • Citizens are represented by the European Parliament, whose members are chosen via direct popular elections in each of the member states. However, the parliament is also considered a supranational institutions as its members represent the EU’s citizens not so much on basis on nationality but on the basis of ideology. This in turn creates a body which very often wants different things than the Council. •  Member states are represented in the European Council – bringing together the Heads of State and Government of the member states – and the Council of Ministers – consisting of representatives at ministerial level of the member states. • The interests of the European Union as a whole are represented and protected by all other institutions: Commission, Court of Justice, Court of Auditors and European Central Bank. Officeholders in each of these institutions are to act independently and without instructions from any government or other institution. - How are the different governmental functions - executive, legislative and judicial - allocated over the different institutions? 1. Executive tasks consist of giving political direction, implementing policies and externally representing the EU. In the EU these tasks are distributed over four different institutions: • The European Council provides political direction and represents the EU externally in its relations with other countries and international organisations. • The Council’s executive role consists of the implementation of policies. • The Commission fulfils all three executive roles. It initiates legislation, it implements policies (such as in the area of competition) and it represents the EU externally with respect to specific policies for which the Commission bears responsibility • The European Central Bank has an executive role in terms of implement- ing monetary policy in the member states that have the Euro as their currency. 2. Legislative tasks consist of examining, modifying and adopting legislative measures which provide the basis for EU policies. In the EU the European Parliament and the Council share Organisation and decision-making: - it meets 4 times a year in Brussels. It can, if necessary, meet for additional extraordinary or informal sessions. Meetings last 2 days. Day one starts in the afternoon with a meeting with the President of the European Parliament, who will inform the European Council of the most pressing issues. This is followed by a first working session which is usually devoted to discussing general issues. The session is adjourned for the ‘family photo’ and followed by a dinner which is used for further bilateral discussions and deliberations on outstanding issues. During the night the President will finalise the draft decisions and conclusions which will be discussed on the second day. This day starts with a second working session which is devoted to discussing foreign policy issues and finalising these conclusions. After the meeting is over, the President will call a press conference, as will the member states who meet with journalists in their press rooms in the Council building. - To keep the meetings as effective and informal as possible, deliberations take place behind closed doors and attendance is limited to the Heads of State and Government only. Only if the issue at hand necessitates may they be joined by one additional member of their government, such as a foreign minister or minister of finance. - The General Affairs Council prepares the draft decisions and conclusions. It is one of the configurations of the Council of Ministers. - The President will engage in bilateral contacts to explore member states’ positions on issues and early on identify areas of agreement and contention. - Member state delegations are briefed on the proceedings every twenty minutes by a member of the Council secretariat which summarises the main points to the so-called Antici group, consisting of the personal assistants of the permanent representatives of the member states. They will subsequently communicate this information to the other members of their delegation. - Article 15.4 TEU states that decisions are made by consensus, except when the Treaty provides differently. One of those exceptions is the appointment of its President which does not require unanimity. III. THE COUNCIL The Council has been around since the start of the EU as the institution representing the MS at the European level. It meets much more than the European council and does more work overall. It essentially has a say over all of the EU’s policies, and is the major policy-making organ when it comes to the CFSP. Whilst in an institutional sense the Council operates as a singular entity, it is in practice a multifaceted organ. It operates in different configurations which focus upon specific policy areas. Member states themselves can determine who they send to a specific meeting as long as it is someone ‘at ministerial level who may commit the government of the Member State in question and cast its vote’ (Article 16.2 TEU). This gives governments some flexibility in choosing their delegate: they can also send one of their permanent representatives to attend the meeting. (Permanent representatives: MS ambassadors to the EU who reside in Brussels and prepare much of the work of the European Council and Council). Tasks: It operates in different configurations and is both legislative and executive. One of the consequences of having double roles is that Council meetings are only partly public. The executive power is exercised behind closed doors, while the legislative is public and transmitted via the EU’s audio-visual services. • It acts as a legislator as well as a co-legislator with the EP. It is like a legislative chamber in which the EP is a representative of the EU’s citizens and the Council represents the interests of the MS. • It concludes international agreements with third countries and international bodies in the areas of Common Commercial Policy, Development Aid and Humanitarian Operation. • In its executive role it is responsible for the EU’s external relations through the CFSP. • It adopts conclusions, recommendations, decisions and sanctions on a wide range of issues such as armed conflict, human rights issues, terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. • It is able to take operational measures in the executive area via its European Security and Defence Policy. This means that it can send civilian, police and military missions to contribute to peace keeping, state-building and the rule of law in countries with an unstable political climate. The Union’s High representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is responsible for implementing these policies. They are in charge of the external service, the EU’s own corps diplomatique. • It makes key formal decisions in the accession procedure of new MS by officially declaring countries as candidate members and deciding upon accession process following the Copenhagen criteria. Organisation: - It is built of a multitude of preparatory bodies and groups which resolve the bulk of decision- making issues. The decisions are either legislative or executive (ex: on extending sanctions against a certain country or on the continuation of external missions). - 80% of the decisions are A-points which do not require further deliberation and can be rubber- stamped by the ministers. The rest are B-points for which agreement needs to be found at the highest level before definite decisions can be taken. - There are 10 different configurations currently in which the Council meets. 1. The most important is the General affairs Council, which meets monthly and is responsible for the overall coordination of the Council’s work. This includes acting as a transmission belt to the European Council aka it prepares meetings of the European Council and is responsible for following up on decisions being made there. 2. The second most important is the Foreign Affairs Council. It discusses all matters relating to the EU’s foreign relations. 3. Another important council is the Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) and the Agriculture and Fisheries Council. - MS take turns in presiding over Council meetings for a period of 6 months. The country assumes the so-called Presidency of the EU. It chairs all the Council meetings and those of the bodies to prepare them. The only exception is the Foreign Affairs Council which is also chaired by the High Representative. - MS which have presidency set the agenda of the Council and focus on specific priorities. However, it is still limited. It debates and decides on legislation in progress but the decision is given by the Commission, which initiates most legislation. Second, external events might affect new initiatives a ms might want to launch (ex: global financial crisis). Third, presidencies are preferred to facilitate the council meetings, not dominate. - Most of the Council’s work, similarly to national political systems, is prepared at the administrative level by civil servants who debate, discuss, negotiate and then decide upon the bulk of issues on the basis of mandates from their governments. There is a system of 250 working parties. - It is after such long discussions in the forums that the proposals come to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper), which is the highest preparatory body for meetings of the Council and European Council. - Technical matters in specific policy areas are discussed in Coreper I, which is attended by the deputy permanent representatives of the MS. EU’s permanent representatives meet in Coreper II and discuss all political, financial and foreign policy issues. - In some policy areas the meetings of the council are prepared by special committees, such as the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) or the Political and Security Committee (COPS). IV. THE COMMISSION It represents the general interest of the Union and it has executive tasks (art 17 TEU). It is headed by a college of Commissioners which are 27 currently including the president. The commissioners have to swear an oath before the Court of Justice as they have to work independently from any government and in the general interest of the community. This oath is taken in Luxembourg and it involves all of the EU’s institutions and MS governments. The process: A president of the Commission is nominated by the European Council, which needs to be approved by the European Parliament with a simple majority -> After the president is elected, each of the MS nominates a Commissioner in consultation with the president- elect who allocates portfolios amongst the nominees -> The Council nominates the other members -> The European Parliament conducts a hearing with each of the commissioners-designate. It can formally approve the • Budgetary powers: For a long time the EP only had a say on a limited number of budget categories, Treaty of Rome, but since the Lisbon Treaty it is able to modify any expenditures as long as it stays within the bounds of the so-called multi-annual framework. The EP also discharges the Commission on a yearly basis for its management of the budget. • Legislative powers: Since the Parliamentary Assembly, EP’s precursor, there were advisory powers on legislative issues. The launch of the Single European Act in 1985 for the first time granted the EP real legislative powers through the introduction of the assent procedure (giving it only the right to approve or reject a proposal) and the cooperation procedure (allowing it to suggest modifications before the Council cast a definitive vote). The EP does not have the right to initiate legislation however through the adoption of its own initiative reports, motions for resolutions and written declarations it can press the Commission to take action on a certain policy issue. Since the Treaty of Maastricht the EP has also obtained the right to formally demand that the Commission submit legislative proposals ‘on matters on which it considers that a union act is required for the purpose of implementing the treaties’ (Article 225 TFEU). The Commission does not have the obligation to yield to those demands, but if it does not do so, it has to provide an explanation. - The 1992 Treaty of Maastricht brought the EP on to equal footing with the Council by introducing co-decisionIn a co-decision procedure both the Council and the EP need to agree on legislation proposed by the Commission. Both the Council and the EP can propose amendments to the proposal. Co-decision initially applied to fifteen policy fields (such as internal market, services, environment), and was gradually extended to cover more and more areas. Under the Lisbon Treaty the procedure now covers 85 legal bases and applies to more than 95% of Community legislation. For this reason it is now called the ordinary legislative procedure. • Scrutiny of the executive: 1. First, the EP has the right to ask for and receive information, by submitting written or oral questions to the Commission, Council and European Council. The right to ask for information thus provides a first way to keep these executive bodies accountable and is used quite frequently. 2. 2. A second tool of scrutiny concerns the EP’s right to set up temporary commissions of inquiry to investigate ‘contraventions or maladministration in the implementation of Union law’ (Article 226 TFEU). These committees work as fact-finding missions in all those cases where the EP feels that it has been insufficiently informed about certain developments. While the Commission, Council and member states are to provide all relevant information upon request, the EP ultimately depends upon the willingness of these actors to cooperate. Information may be withheld because of considerations of secrecy or national security and witnesses cannot be forced to appear at hearings. 3. Third, the EP is able to submit cases to the Court of Justice. The EP can challenge decisions when it believes that they have been made on the wrong legal basis. The EP can also bring cases before the Court when it believes legislation has been incorrectly implemented. • Appointment and dismissal of the Commission: - Appoint: It has a negative power, which is the right to approve the President of the Commission and needs to approve the full Commission before they can take office. But it cannot propose candidates. Since 1995 it has made use of public hearings to scrutinise the candidates. In the run- up to these hearings candidates have to submit testimonials on their professional experience, their outlook on the EU and on their portfolio. - Dismiss: In addition to having the power of approving the College of Commissioners, the EP also has the ability to dismiss the College. The procedure to do this is quite demanding. First, a motion of censure needs to be tabled, after which at least three days need to pass before it can be voted upon. The adoption of the motion requires at least two-thirds of the votes, and the votes in favour of dismissal need to represent at least half of the members of the EP. Hence a double majority is required to dismiss the full Commission. The most important hurdle for dismissal of the Commission is the fact that the EP has to send away the full Commission. This means that in practice only a severely malfunctioning Commission will be disapproved to such an extent that a double majority will be obtained. Organisation: The EP is autonomous in organising its work and has established its own Rules of Procedure which provide a detailed overview of its organisational structure and its modus operandi. Its internal organisation strongly resembles that of national parliaments. - A paramount feature of this is the division of labour and specialisation via specialised parliamentary committees (Subdivision of Parliament dealing with specific policy areas. Prepares and debates proposals before sending them to the full, plenary Parliament for final decision-making). - First and foremost of the committee’s activities consists of debating legislative proposals. Depending upon the type of legislation such debates may in fact involve several committees. In principle committees can discuss and deliberate on any issue they deem to be important for their policy area. Such debates may involve hearing representatives of the Council, Commission or any other experts as the sample agenda shows. In addition to being members of committees, MEPs may also be part of one or more of the EP’s delegations. These delegations maintain contacts with the parliaments of other countries, including those of candidate member states. - For every piece of legislation one of the committee’s members is appointed as a rapporteur. (Member of the Parliament responsible for summarising a committee’s opinion and its modification proposals on a specific piece of legislation). The rapporteur’s task is to summarise the committee’s opinion and consolidate all the possible amendments in a draft report. In case legislation touches upon the work of different committees, one committee will be assigned the leading role and incorporate the opinions of other committees in its final report. It is only after the committee has agreed on the rapporteur’s draft report that it is submitted to the plenary Parliament and votes are taken on all the amendments. - Securing those rapporteurships is one of the most challenging tasks of the different political groups and often generates enormous strife between and within them. In order to distribute these positions fairly each political group is allocated a number of points based upon its size in the EP. In a kind of auction the rapporteurships are awarded to the group willing to bid the highest number of points. - In addition to meeting in plenary, subgroups of the EP meet on a much more regular basis in one of these committees. Hence, while the media tend to favour pictures of the plenary chambers of the EP in Brussels or Strasbourg, most of the work of the EP is actually done in one of the countless smaller meeting rooms that are rarely featured in newscasts. - Currently the EP has twenty standing committees each focusing on a specific policy area and which are identified by their French acronyms – such as PECH for fisheries and JURI for legal affairs. The committees bear primary responsibility for all the legislative groundwork in their respective policy areas. - Committees range in size between 24 and 78 members and their political composition should reflect that of the plenary Parliament, with chairmanships being distributed according to the size of the political groups. - The EP is the only parliament in the world that has multiple seats. Its official seat is in Strasbourg where it has to meet in plenary session twelve times a year. Most of its work is done in Brussels, however, where it holds additional plenary sessions, and MEPs meet in committees and political groups. VI. THE COURT OF JUSTICE Judicial powers in the EU are allocated to one institution, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJ). It was called the European Court of Justice (ECJ) before the Lisbon Treaty. Like any court in a democratic political system, the Court and its judges enjoy full independence in order to properly carry out their work. The Court’s judges are ‘appointed by common accord of the governments of the Member States’ (Article 19 TEU). All candidates are reviewed by a panel consisting of judges from the Court as well as legal experts from the member states. Judges normally have considerable judicial experience in their member state, including their country’s highest court, or are highly regarded legal scholars with an excellent track record in academia. They are appointed for a renewable term of six years. There are, however, import- ant limitations on the Court’s powers. First, the Court has been excluded from some areas of EU policy-making. It cannot rule on issues concerning CFSP and has limited jurisdiction in the areas of judicial cooperation in criminal matters and police cooperation. Second, the Court depends upon the cooperation of member states to enforce its rulings. It does not have its own enforcement agencies and cannot instruct those of the member states. Court cases consist of a written and an oral part. The oral part of the procedure is open to the public. Deliberations of the judges take place behind closed doors. If necessary, the uneven number of judges in each chamber ensures that it is always possible to take a definite vote on a ruling. election outcomes where none of the political parties has a majority of the seats. Accordingly, the government will most of the time consist of coalitions that usually command a sizeable majority of the seats in parliament. Consensual systems put a strong emphasis on ensuring broad support for policies. Such systems usually also allow courts to review the legality of acts in order to further restrain the exercise of power. Consensual models are especially appropriate in political systems that are heterogeneous in terms of ethnicity, religion and language. Switzerland, with its many religions and languages, provides a good example. This explains the EU’s emphasis on balancing all relevant interests when making decisions. - The EU has an institutional configuration in which almost no decision can be taken by one institution on its own, but always needs to be approved by, confirmed by or negotiated with other institutions. A further restraint on the powers of the executive is achieved via the power of the Court to review these executive and legislative decisions. (Majoritarian political systems seek to concentrate executive power and put relatively few constraints on its exercise. As the term indicates, these political systems value the ability to actually govern over the need to secure the consent of all interested parties. Hence, such systems give all executive power to the party that simply has the majority of votes, even if it is only a bare majority. The United Kingdom provides the most clear-cut example of such a political system) Summary: • The EU’s institutional framework consists of seven institutions each of which represents different interests and has been allocated executive, legislative, judicial and other powers. • Executive powers are exercised by the European Council and Council, which represent the member states, and the Commission, which represents the general interest of the Union. Legislative powers are in the hands of the Council, representing the member states, and the European Parliament, representing the citizens. Judicial powers are in the hands of the Court of Justice.   • The organisational structure of the EU’s executive and legislative institutions is characterised by a horizontal and vertical division of labour. The Council, Commission and EP have organised themselves according to different policy sectors. In addition each of these institutions prepares and discusses policies at lower levels (in committees), allowing the top level to rubber-stamp most of the decisions and concentrate on unresolved issues. • The division of labour between these different institutions cannot be readily compared to those of national political systems. The EU does not have a presidential or a parliamentary system because legislative and executive powers do not emanate solely from the people. Instead it can be better characterised as ‘mixed government’ or as ‘a polity with many principals’. • While the institutional hardware of the EU is unique, it is based upon a common model for organising democratic systems: that of consensual- ism. It aims to disperse power and constrain the use of it.