How does the EU work?

Bits and pieces for educational purposes

Generated by the project team in 2021

Erasmus+ school project “May ICT be with you”

CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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Who decides what in the EU?

• The European Parliament - the EU citizens
• The European Council - the presidents or prime ministers of the EU countries
• The Council of the EU - the governments of the EU countries
• The European Commission - proposes new programmes and laws

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European Parliament

• One of the two decision-making bodies (adopts the EU laws)
• 12 sessions/year (Strasbourg, France)
• Up to 6 sessions/year (Brussels, Belgium)
• 705 members of parliament (MEP) directly elected every 5 years

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7 political groups

EU Parliament

1. The Group of the European People's Party (EPP Group)
2. The S&D Group
3. Renew Europe
4. The Greens
5. Identity and democracy
6. European Conservatives and reformists
7. The Left

European Council

• European Summits at least four times per year
• The EU's main priorities and overall policy directions
• A president elected every 2.5 years
• Does not adopt the EU laws

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Council of the EU

• One of the two decision-making bodies
• Discussing EU matters and taking decisions on EU policies and laws
• Decisions mostly taken by a majority vote
• Sensitive areas such as taxatio or security - decisions taken unanimously
• The work of the Council is led by each EU country in turn for a period of 6 months.

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European Commission

• The executive body of the EU
• Manages EU policies and the budget
• Ensures that Member States apply EU law correctly
• Proposes new laws and programmes
• Seeks the opinions of national parliaments and governments, as well as interest groups and experts
• 27 members (one president + 26 commissioners)
• The Commissioners

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Court of Justice of the EU

• Based in Luxembourg (one judge per EU country)
• Ensures that EU legislation is interpreted and applied in the same way in each EU country
• A national court can ask the Court of Justice for clarification
• The Commission or another EU country can bring the matter before the Court if individual EU countries do not apply EU laws correctly

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Other EU institutions and bodies

• European Central Bank: www.ecb.europa.eu
• European Court of Auditors
• European External Action Service
• European Economic and Social Committee
• European Committee of the Regions
• European Investment Bank
• European Ombudsman
• European Data Protection Supervisor

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Europe and the wider world

Source: Wikipedia

Europe’s interests in the world

• Protecting Europe’s interests
• Averting terrorism, organised crime and illegal immigration
• Helping to maintain a habitable environment
• Influencing others to make and maintain peace
• Helping other countries to develop and overcome poverty
• Standing for democracy and the rule of law

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“Europe cannot control the fate of our planet alone, but nothing can progress without Europe, either. We live in a world in which we cannot live well while others are struggling.”

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Source: Europe. A journal for young people

Discussion questions

1. Why would you go to another country knowing that you are not welcome there or even barred from entry?
2. What do you think are the reasons for people from the south and the east to move to Europe?
3. The EU tries to persuade other countries to respect democratic fundamental rights and freedoms. Does the EU have the right to do so?
4. How successful has climate protection in Europe been so far?

Web sources

https://visiting.europarl.europa.eu/en

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/contact/visits/

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/council-eu/

https://ec.europa.eu/info/index_en

https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/j_6/en/

https://op.europa.eu/webpub/com/eu-and-me/en/

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