THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT and OTHER EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
AND THE EU INSTITUTIONS

Gabriel Nissim op
Decere Espaces Strasbourg

Through the regular election of the European parliament every 5 years European citizens are able not only to influence several political decisions that affect our lives (they are more and more) but also to take a position on the general European project itself.

The EU : a unique project
We must keep in mind that the project of the EU represents, in the history of mankind, something exceptionally original and ambitious. As a matter of fact, until the 20th century, unions of peoples and nations were obtained - apart from some exception such as Switzerland and Belgium - by means of constraint, conquer or forced annexation. This is the case of the great empires, from the Roman empire up to the colonial empires, passing through the Russian empire, the Turkish empire the Austro-Hungarian empire and eventually the Nazi third Reich. The Society of Nations has already adopted a new model just after World War 1 in order to avoid new wars : the model of a international net of negotiation. It is this model, called "intergovernmental" that was adopted with improvements by the United Nations in 1945 as well as by the European countries in the framework of the Council of Europe, with its 47 member countries. Yet, the EU has higher ambitions than these. It is neither an empire, nor United Nations nor United States :
 compared to empires, an unions of peoples is based on a free voluntary and democratic basis
 compared to United Nations or the Council of Europe, EU is not a matter of negotiation among governments but the creation of a real community of states and peoples that put in common a part of their resources, of their difficulties and eventually of their sovereignty for the common good of everybody.
 the EU functioning is not intended so that each country defends its national interest through negotiation and everyone tries to obtain from others the maximum of advantage at the least cost : the EU project is basically communitarian, with everyone looking for the common good of the whole, in the conviction that the good of each ensemble is much more than the sum of interests of countries
 the EU is not the Unites States of Europe either. The American model is not fit for Europe : in the US there were individuals who united together - each one with their language, their cultures, their histories - not peoples. The American states are originally a geographical, not cultural expression. Their inhabitants were recent immigrants who came to America with the goal to melt in the melting pot of the American project ; differently from European countries they were not nations with a long tradition : a tradition that often keeps until today the memory of the conflicts -sometimes bloody conflicts- that had divided them. Thus, building a European union is not only an immense bet on our ability of understanding and reconciliation, but a political project of a completely new type through which we have to invent original political institutions that may translate this project into facts. Therefore - we should not forget this - the EU is not the "Europe" we usually listen about, even though it is its strongest political actualization. First, because there is another European institution that plays an important role : the Council of Europe (CoE) with its 47 members states (not 27 as the EU). The CoE is an "inter-governmental" institution, not a "communitarian" one. Its goal is to implement the European convention of human right, in order to enforce these rights, democracy and legality all over our continent. The European Court of human rights in Strasbourg and other organisms of CoE have established along years a body of standards regarding human rights and democracy that they progressively enforce in all our continent. Finally, we must keep in mind that neither the EU nor the CoE are Europe. First of all Europe is simply a human entity, a space of civilization that has played a major role in the history of mankind. This gives Europe such a responsibility within the mankind that the projects of European building can not be carried on nor realised without taking into account this global responsibility.

Therefore, the European Parliament election must be put in a larger political, cultural and human framework : it represents for each citizen of EU countries a democratic means of showing our responsibility and our solidarity beyond the borders of our countries as well as of our continent.

The role of the European Parliament within EU_ Differently from national parliaments, European Parliament does not have full legislative power within EU. It shares it with the EU Council and with the Commission. Also, we often make the mistake of believing that the real executive power is held by the Commission in Brussels and by its officials. The essential part of the political power within EU is actually held not by commissioners but by the ministers of member states within the two councils 1 : the European council and the council of the Union2 The European Council is composed by the heads of state and prime ministers, with the president of the Commission and the commissioners being in charge of external relations. The Commission establishes the main political and economic orientations of EU, as well as agenda and priorities.
The Council of the Union (aka Council of Ministers), gathers the ministers of the 27 members states according to the subjects to be treated : foreign affairs, agriculture, economy, finances, justice, internal affairs. It takes decisions both with a qualified majority and at unanimity, according to subjects. It is the decisional organism of EU. It covers the three columns of EU, that is, the three areas where the EU countries have common policies.
 1st column : monetary and economic policy (customs, Euro, common agricultural policies, and a number of subjects where the competence of EU are limited with regard to those of members states)
 2nd column : foreign and common security policy.
 3rd column : cooperation in the areas of justice and interiors (judiciary cooperation, police, fight against terrorism, crime, slavery). They are the heads of states and governments and the ministers of the 27 members states those who control both the executive and legislative powers 3 within the EU. The result is that, while originally the functioning of Europe was "communitarian", the EU is now largely "inter-governmental" and it works by negotiation among member states.

The "Brussels Commission" does not take decisions but it is the organism that submits to the Council the decisions to discuss on, and that is in charge of put such decisions into practice. Also, it guarantees the application of European treaties. It is mainly the Commission that allows the EU to keep its "communitarian" spirit. Indeed, each commissioner does not represent its state of origin but is in charge of an area of the common policy for the good of the whole union. The Commission’s officials work with the same aim.

The European Parliament
The legislative power works in a more complex way : actually it is divided between the Commission - who makes propositions - the European Parliament and the Council of the Union, that in general has the last word. However the competences of the Parliament have considerably increased over the last years and they would have increased more if the constitutional treaty had been put into effect. In this framework a) the Parliament is firstly a "co-legislator", as it shares with the Council of the Union the power of approving the communitarian legislation. The main procedures are - simple advice, through which the Parliament gives its position that the Council is not obliged to follow - according advice, that must be taken into consideration by the Council - co-decision between the Parliament and the Council, that is the most frequent procedure in several areas. This procedure put the two organisms at the same level, with a possible "shuttle" between the two in search of an agreement, but knowing that the Parliament may veto the approval of an European law. The path of directives or European laws is generally as follows : in the framework of the general guidelines defined by the European Council of heads of states and government, the Commission prepares a proposal (often following a long discussion with social bodies through the "white books"). This proposition is then submitted to the European parliament either for a simple advice or an according advice or a co-decision. Twenty permanent parliamentary commissions examine each proposition according to their areas of interest, and give their report to the Parliament for the approval. After approval and possible changes made by the Parliament (the possibility of changes is key) the proposition arrives to the European Council that decides on its final adoption or rejection, either on its own or with a procedure of co-decision with the Parliament. Finally the Commission is in charge of the implementation of this European law.

b) EU Parliament is also a "controller" : over the executive power. - power of confirmation : it approves the nominations of commissioners and of president of the Commission. - power of censorship of Commission. - written and oral questions to the commissioners and to the Council  right of receiving petitions from citizens : the number of such petitions has considerably increased over the last years.

c) power in budget issues : the Parliament may stop the proposal of expenses and approves the budget. It has the last word on non-mandatory expenses, but the Council has the last word on mandatory expenses.

So, the European legislation is the product of a trio : the Council of Union, the Parliament and the Brussels Commission.

Composition of the European Parliament
The European representatives are elected by universal, direct suffrage for five years from lists determined country by country. The European citizens can vote or be elected either in their country of origin or in the country where they live. So, for instance, an Italian citizen resident in Germany may chose to vote in Italy or in Germany and can also be a candidate to European Parliament in either of the countries. Each EU member state has a number of representatives in proportion of its population. But, as they gather, the 736 Euro-representatives will enrol in one of the European (not national) parliamentary groups, of which the three main ones are : - the group of the European popular party and of European democrats - the group of the European socialist party - the group of the greens The Euro-representatives are not expected to work by country nor to defend the interest of their single countries, but to act for the good of the whole EU. This is why we may wish to elect the European representatives, in a future, not on the basis of lists defined country by country and according to national political criteria, but rather on the basis of European lists corresponding to the major options of the European policy.

Other EU institutions To complete the picture of the EU organization, we have to remember the judiciary power in charge of the Justice Court of Luxembourg4, that grants the respect of rights in the application of the European treaties and can decide over litigations on this subjects. The Financial Court checks the regularity of expenses and of the European budget. The European Central Bank has the power to decide the monetary policy of the member countries that adopt Euro as their currency. It is independent from the governments of the member states and from the Commission. Its role is decisive with regards to Euro but also with regards to the compliance of member states to the stability and growth Agreements.
Finally the EU has two consultative committees : the Committee of Regions, that gathers the representatives of the Regions of the union, and the European social and economic committee that is made of the representatives of the different socio-economical categories (in particular the European trade unions).

The complex of EU institution represent, therefore, a real democratic system, as essential decisions and orientations are taken by heads of state and of government as well as by the ministers democratically elected in their countries of origin.

But it is the European Parliament, in spite of its limited powers, that ensures the EU its democratic functioning. It is more and more proving a spirit of independence and a political authority that allow us to trust in the future.
We hope that in the next European election, electoral campaign will not be focused on the political games of each country any longer, but on the European policies. Otherwise, there is the risk - as in the previous European elections - that the vote is used to approve or disapprove the local policies of the countries governments instead of to chose an orientation of policy at an European level. The Euro-representatives are expected to remain close to their electors during their office, with the goal to make EU institutions closer to the citizens. This is what we must demand from the European election candidates.

NOTES 1 we must keep attention not to confuse the Council of Europe (that is composed of 47 member states) with the two "Councils" within the UE of 27 States : the European Council (Heads of State and government) and the Council of Union (Ministers of the member States)

2 for this part we largely refer to "Enjeux et rouages de l’Europe actuelle", Foucher, 2007.

3 the Lisbon Treaty provides that the legislative part of the Council’s meeting is public ; this allows citizens to know how the minister of each State votes. Also, this prevents ministers who voted in favour of a measure to tell his country’s citizens that "Brussels decided it"

4 This Court should not be confused with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, that was established within the Council of Europe to watch over the application and respect of the European Convention of Human Rights.