A HandBook for the European Elections: Chapter 2 – A tour of the European Institutions

With the European elections now upon us I took the trouble to write a series of small posts to try to explain in detail, but in simple words, what the European Union is, what powers it has, and how our vote as citizens affects it. influence policies. I would like to point out that I will skip the rant that is normally made about the history of the European Union and how it has evolved over time, as it is not very relevant, with the aim of helping to understand the union today. I could here and there make references to specific events to explain why some traditions and/or rules are the way they are, but nothing more. I hope that this work can be useful in unraveling the greatest doubts and confusions about this entity that increasingly plays a fundamental role in the lives of all of us. So let’s buckle up and dive headfirst into this adventure

Chapter 1 What is the European Union?
Chapter 2 A Tour of European Institutions
Chapter 3 The Union’s Competences
Chapter 4 How do you make a decision in Europe?
Chapter 5 Present and Future of Europe
Extras

European Commission

Let’s start strong, with the European Commission, which represents the executive power of the union, therefore a sort of European government. The commission is made up of 27 commissioners, one per member state, each with an assigned area of ​​interest, a bit like how it works with ministries in Italy (Italy currently has a commissioner for the economy, in the figure of Paolo Gentiloni). Of these 27 members, 2 hold an important role, with the President of the European Commission (currently the German Ursula von der Leyen) and the High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security (currently the Spanish Josep Borrell i Fontelles), who they have the task of imposing the commission’s work agenda and representing it before other institutions and in the world.
The commission is mainly concerned with proposing new laws, as it has an almost absolute monopoly on the right of initiative (i.e. it is, except in very rare exceptions, the only body that can propose a law) and with enforcing those already approved, through the its role as guarantor of the treaties. To do this it uses 34 General Directorates), each with a specific area of ​​interest, and subjected to the control of the various commissioners.
The commission’s work is independent of any national influence, and its elections are held in agreement between the European Parliament and the European Council after each parliamentary election. The European Council in fact chooses a candidate for president of the commission who must then be approved by parliament. The president thus elected will receive indications from the various member states on which commissioner to choose for each nation, and will submit a complete list of all the commissioners to Parliament to be approved en bloc. If this vote is successful, the list will have to be confirmed by the European Council.

European Parliament

Il European Parliament it is the first co-legislator of the union, together with the council of the European union, and is therefore responsible for approving European laws which will then be applied in all member states.
It is elected every 5 years (the elections are in June) and is made up of 720 parliamentarians from across the union, distributed according to the population of each member state (Italy will elect 76 representatives).
The parliament has 2 seats, for historical reasons, in Strasbourg and Brussels, and presided over by a president (currently the Maltese Roberta Metsola).
Parliament has a purely legislative role and does not have the power to propose laws (an almost exclusive prerogative of the European Commission), except in very few exceptions, but it can proceed to propose amendments through its various commissions (committee, in English, so as not to confuse them with the European commission), specific for each topic
Final fun fact: even if on a practical level we vote for the various national parties, they converge into 6 European macro-parties called:

• European People’s Party (EPP)
• Party of European Socialism (PES)
• Renew (RN)
• European Greens (PVE)
• European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)
• Identity and Democracy (ID)
• The Left (GUE/NGL)

Council of the European Union

Il council of the European Union, is the second co-legislator of the union, in conjunction with the European Parliament. It meets periodically in 10 different configurations, depending on the topic covered, and is made up of a minister (related to the topic covered) from each member state. Its work is presided over by a presidency shared by all member states and which changes every six months, according to a calendar decided a priori (currently the presidency is held by Belgium), whose role is to decide the agenda of the council and work to find compromise agreements between the various members. The council votes according to the principle of qualified majority, whereby a bill is considered approved if supported by at least 55% of the member states, representing at least 65% of the population, and furthermore there is a clause which requires that a minority of member states can block a decision if it is only made up of at least 4 states, to prevent the 3 most populous countries of the union from sinking any proposal with their weight alone. The council can also vote by simple majority and unanimously, in very particular cases, which we will talk about in the next chapters.
For the more curious, the council is supported in its work by other smaller bodies, such as the committee of permanent representatives (COREPER) which is responsible for negotiating a compromise between member states before the final vote.

European Council

Il European Councilis made up of the heads of government of each of the 27 member states (in our case Giorgia Meloni), and is presided over by a president, currently Charles Michel, elected for a period of 2.5 years with the possibility of being reconfirmed for another 2.5 years (in total 5 years in such a way as to align its mandate with that of the other European institutions). The European Council has a purely gubernatorial function, that is deals with providing political direction to the union, underlining the priorities that member states intend to pursue in the following months. It also plays a fundamental role in the election of the European Commission, and in some special procedures, such as those related to the budget, foreign policy, and the infamous Article 7 (which the newspapers call "nuclear option", which allows a member state’s right to vote to be suspended if profound violations of the union’s values ​​are detected). The European Council has often given impetus to the development of European integration. Latest technical issues, meets at least twice every semester, and takes almost all decisions with the principle of "consent"a very smoky word, to which I leave a link for explore further).

Editor’s note:

The founding fathers of the European Union were jokers, and they decided to make the life of those who want to understand the union hell, not only by calling 2 different bodies "advise" but also giving it the same symbol and the same website. Furthermore, in order not to miss anything, there is also an organisation, external to the European Union, called the Council of Europe, to confuse the waters even further (yes, they were really assholes). Generally (and also in this text) with the term "advise" alone refers to the council of the European Union, while the European Council will always be named in full.

European Court of Justice

The European Court of Justice it is the body that embodies the judicial power of the union. Its task is to evaluate the compatibility of the secondary law of the union with the treaties, its application in the member states (to ensure that in each member state the law is the same de facto), and in general to resolve any European legal dispute. It is made up of 2 organs with different functions, which however I will not explain for simplicity:

• The court of justice composed of one judge from each member state
• The court consists of 2 judges from each member state

The European Court of Justice works in a fairly complex way and deserves a separate extra, I hope this little explanation of its purpose has been exhaustive for most

European Central Bank

The European Central Bank it is that European body independent which is responsible for monitoring the economies of the euro zone in order to then decide on common monetary policies. It is based in Frankfurt am Main, and is made up of 4 bodies

• An executive committee made up of 4 members, a president (currently Christine Lagarde) and a vice-president, who are chosen by the European Council for a non-renewable mandate of 8 years. His task is to implement the decisions of the Board of Directors
• The governing council, made up of the 6 members of the executive committee, and the presidents of the central banks of all the eurozone countries. Its task is to decide the monetary policy for the euro zone, through a voting system which, in order not to put too many irons in the fire, I will not explain, but for those who are interested it is explained Who.
• The general council that deals with the entry of new states into the eurozone
• The Supervisory Board which is responsible for supervising the operations of the banks within the union

European Court of Auditors

Il name it is quite explanatory, as it coincides with that of the Italian equivalent, and in fact this body is responsible for monitoring the use of European budget resources, acting as a consultative body for the commission on budget matters and use of European funds. It consists of one member from each nation elected by the council for a 6-year term. Despite its name it has nothing to do with the justice system. In general you will never hear about it in your life.

Extra

There are a number of other agencies that deal with specific topics, but I won’t bore you with them as they are not established by European treaties but by ordinary law of the union, and therefore have a different value and less importance (furthermore they are a infinity). If you have an agency that is close to your heart, ask, I might decide to explain it in little extras in the future.

All this was a birth, wow, I didn’t expect it, the union is a mess to explain, as always if you have any questions ask, I’m here