EU Law

Treaty of Rome 1957

Treaty of Rome 1957

• Treaty of the European Union

• Formed the European Economic Community, consisting of 6 members: Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium.

Treaty of Lisbon 2009

• Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union

• Restructured the EU

European Commission - Members

• Each member state appoints a commissioner who is supposed to act individually of national origin or personal interests

• Each commissioner is on a 5 year term, and can only be removed within their team by a vote of censure

• Each commissioner is a head of a department with special responsibilities for Union of policy. For example, head of economic affairs, or environment, or agriculture.

European Commission - Function

• It proposes new law and regulations for the EU to the Parliament and Council.

• It is the “guardian” of treaties and make sure all of the necessary provisions are in place in member states. If a member state does not employ these treaties 100% or at all, their job is to intervene. They can even refer member states to the European court of justice.

• The commission is also in charge of all administration for the EU, and it also delegates its budget out to the EU.

The European Parliament - Members

• Members are elected by the electorate of member states which take place every 5 years. The number of MEPs are decided on the size of population in a country.

• MEPs do not operate in national groups, but rather on political stance.

The European Parliament - Function

• The Parliament meets on average once a month and sessions can last up to a week.

• It has a standing committee which can discuss prior proposals made by the commission and then report to Parliament for the full debate. Decisions are made by the Parliament and the Council.

• It can reject or approve legislative proposal made by the Commission, or propose amendments to it.

• There are some areas, such as competition law, where Parliament cannot make law, but provide their opinion.

• The parliament can also: decides on international agreements

• It also decides whether to admit new Member States

• It can also review the Commision’s work programme and asks it to propose legislation

The European Council - members

• The government of each member state sends a representative to the council. This is usually the Foreign Minister of a country but it can be anyone from a governments cabinet.

• The minister responsible for the topic of conversation will attend a meeting, so the precise membership will vary according to the discussion at hand. For example, the minister of Agriculture will attend meetings on agricultural issues.

• Ministers attending the Council have the authority to commit their government to the laws agreed upon.

• Member states will take it in turns for presidency on a 6 month basis.

The European Council - function

• The council is the principal law-making and decision making body of the EU. It can negotiate, reject and adopt law proposals from commissions.

• Usually, twice a year, the heads of government of states will meet for a council meeting or a ‘summit’ to discuss broader issues.

• A committee of permanent representatives assists with the day to day work of the Council.

European Court Of Justice

• Judges are appointed under article 253 TFEU from those who are eligible to the highest judicial posts in their own country or who are leading academics.

• Each judge is appointed for 6 years, and can be reappointed once. President of the Court is decided amongst themselves.

• The Court has one judge from each member state.

• Court is assisted by 11 Advocates General who also hold office for 6 years. Under Article 253 TFEU, their job is to reach reasonable, impartial, and justified conclusions to their cases.

• A full court is 11 judges, and only issues of the most importance have this many. Normal cases have 3 to 5.

• Under Article 19 of the TEU it states that the interpretation and application of EU law must be uniform in all member states.

Court of Justice of the European Union - Functions

Function 1: Hearing cases to decide whether member states have failed to fulfil obligations under treaties.

• The cases are usually started by the Commission, but can be started by another member of state - Re Tachographs: The Commission v UK.

Function 2: Hearing references from national courts for preliminary rulings on points of EU law.

• If a national had to consider a matter of EU law, which had not arisen before, it may refer to the CJEU.

Request from preliminary hearing

• The reference function is very important since all decisions of the CJEU are binding on all courts of member states.

• A request for a preliminary ruling is made under Article 267 of TFEU

  • ‘The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings concerning:

    • a) the interpretation of treaties

    • b) the validity and interpretation of acts of the institutions of the Union

    • c) the interpretation of the statues of bodies established by an act of the Council, where those statues do provide