The European Union's institutions

Résumé du document

Exposé d'anglais (niveau lycée) sur le thème des Institutions de l'Union Européenne





There is a reason why the bi-annual meeting of the union's national leaders is called: 'EU Summit': at these meetings, they try to agree on a concerted line of action. At best, they would proclaim guide lines and objectives for European politics, but they won't be involved in everyday legislative procedures. Unfortunately, it is more lightly that national interests are in the fore, and that the countries judge their heads of government by the benefits they were able to bring for their countries. This results in very furious negotiations which often lead to personal disputes.



Then, The European parliament comes into play for the first time: it has to agree upon the decision made by the heads of government. As soon as the members of the European council have taken political line, the president of the commission report it to the European commission which will have to set a political direction and act in accordance to it.





The European Council

The European Commission

The European Parliament

The Council of The European Union

Extraits

[...] And, finally, we have the council of the European Union which consists of the ministers in the particular national governments. There are different councils which deal with individual department. As an example, the ministers of justice get together every three months for a meeting of the council of ministers. Of course, here two the national interests often take the center stage. Well, I presented to you the most important EU's institutions, but, nevertheless, we have to know that there are other institutions such as the EU's court of justice and court of auditors, and so on. [...]

[...] Then, The European parliament comes into play for the first time: it has to agree upon the decision made by the heads of government. As soon as the members of the European council have taken political line, the president of the commission report it to the European commission which will have to set a political direction and act in accordance to it. The European commission consists of 1 president who is currently Jose Manuel Barroso, and 27 commissioners. In fact, each country puts up its own commissioner. [...]

[...] Other, actually sometimes even more important roles are performed by The European council, the European commission, and the council of the European Union, which refers to the council of ministers. Yes, of course. The European council comprises the heads of government of the union's member states along with the president of the European commission. This is where the power of the national decision makers is cumulated. The presidency of the European council rotates every 6 months between the member states. [...]