The European Union represents one of the most important economic and political force in the international relationships of different kinds. Being constituted from a great variety of different countries-members, the EU obviously needs sufficient political force in its attempts to integrate and unify the nations living within its borders. In addition, it is important for the government of EU to effectively control the activities and status of each of its members; therefore, establishing and maintaining common internal and external policies regarding each member country and the Union appears to be vital for its functioning. Correspondingly, it is also worth concluding that the activities of EU and its countries-members are being supported and managed by not a simple institution and/or a single government.
Considering the significant number of the members of the Union, it is worth stating that not only the sufficient number of institutions controlling different activities within and outside the borders of the Union is needed, but also a common and unified model of politics is required to keep the societies within each member state integrated in order to be mutually effective for both themselves and the Union, as a result. Correspondingly, the following paper will consider not only the functioning of EU institutions as it is, but also will analyze whether they function on principles of negotiations and consensus in order to represent the integrative values for the European society.
The contemporary status of each of the most important EU institutions will be discussed in the following paragraphs; moreover, their functions and methods of cooperation with other EU institutions will be discussed, as well. In addition, it is worth stating that several institutions of EU are more than eager to cooperate directly with EU citizens in order to represent their will and establish the democratic system of governing within the borders of the union.
It is worth stating that without the principles of mutual cooperation and finding consensus, even the legislative power of the European Union would not be that effective and fair in administering its functions. As the EU’s legislative system is being executed by three different institutions, it appears more than obvious that their functions are designed and divided between each other to balance their power and establish cooperation in considering the legislative questions of EU. The legislative institutions of EU are represented by the European Parliament that is being directly elected by the EU citizens in order to represent their will and needs. Second institution is the Council of the European Union that represents the will and requirements and guarantees the rights of the EU member-countries with their respective governments. The European Commission represents the Union as an organization, where necessary.
Functioning on principles of cooperation and negotiations, these organizations introduce and consider different policies and laws that could potentially become applicable within the borders of the European Union through the mechanism of the “Ordinary Legislative Procedure”. In the majority of cases, the aforementioned legislative mechanism works as follows. The Commission introduces newly designed legislations, laws and policies for the consideration of the Parliament and the Council. On the adoption of the policies, the Commission bears the responsibility for their further implementation, application and following within the borders of the Union and within the borders of each member state (Europa.eu, 2016). Nevertheless, it is worth reminding that there are still cases that do not always follow the aforementioned scenario; therefore, it is worth considering the decision-making process of EU in a more detailed and precise way.
In this regard, it is worth stating that the EU legislature in total is divided into two major parts: primary and secondary legislation, where the first is represented by the treaties (fundamental rules for EU functioning in all its areas) and the second functions in the form of decision, directives and regulations amending the primary legislation according to the corresponding situation.
Considering this system in a more detailed way, it is worth stating that every action and operation of the European Union is grounded upon the principles of the corresponding treaties that have already been approved by all the member countries of EU democratically and voluntarily. Correspondingly, currently functioning Treaty of Lisbon declares the corresponding increase in the number of policies ruled by the aforementioned mechanism of “Ordinary Legislative Procedure”, also giving the Parliament more power to block a corresponding proposal upon its disagreement with the Council.
As for the secondary legislation, it represents the policies and decisions with the help of which the treaties are being followed. These legislative acts include but not limited to directives, decisions, regulations, opinions and recommendations with one of them being binding, and the rest – non-binding. Also, one of these are not necessarily applicable for all the countries of the European Union, as some of them might be specifically designed and approved for implementation in particular regions of EU or single countries.
Nevertheless, the EU law being equal in its legislative force with the national legislation guarantees rights and obligations for each member of the Union along with its individuals and economic subjects. Corresponding authorities within the national legislative and executive systems are obliged to implement the EU law in full and correct way, as well (Europa.eu, 2016).
However, in a variety of EU institutions, there are not only the legislative organizations responsible for maintaining the functioning of the legislative system of EU; for example, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has been established in order to guarantee and ensure that the law of EU is being interpreted and further implemented in same way in each of the member states of the EU in order to ensure that the countries and institutions abide by the law. Therefore, such organization along with the aforementioned simply equals to the principles of negotiations, cooperation and finding consensus in establishing the legislative systems within each member state of the EU.
In addition, CJEU maintains and solves the legal disputes occurring between the institutions of EU and national governments; moreover, this organization offers the corresponding right for individuals and organizations to take corresponding actions against a corresponding institution of EU in case its regulations appear to be unsatisfactory for them (Europa.eu, 2016).
Along with interpreting the law in a particular way that can be applicable in each member state of the EU, the institution is responsible also for enforcing the law through the corresponding infringement proceedings. In case, when a particular national government fails to cope with the law, the proceedings are initiated by another country of EU or by the European Commission. The regulations and decisions of these organizations are supposed to ensure the law fulfillment within the legal system of the country; otherwise, they have the corresponding right to apply corresponding administrative measures to stimulate this process. Certainly, all these measures are taken once the accused country is proved of failing to comply with EU law without any valid reason (Europa.eu, 2016).
CJEU has also the corresponding right to annul a corresponding law in case if it is proved to violate the fundamental treaties of the EU. The procedure of annulment is usually initiated by the Council of the EU, the Commission or the Parliament. In addition, private individuals can also initiate the annulment process once proved that a particular law violates their rights as the EU citizens (Europa.eu, 2016).
Additionally, the organization takes responsibility for ensuring the Union’s obligations of taking particular action under a certain circumstance. Otherwise, the measures are taken by CJEU, as it also has the rights to sanction the institutions of EU once the last are proved of violating the EU law. Therefore, having analyzed the CJEU, it is worth concluding that the institutions of the EU are not that powerful in their rights to rule the Union, as all of them are carefully designed and established to balance the functions, prerogatives and responsibilities of each other.
Another example of ensuring the principles of negotiations and finding consensus in solving the relevant questions is found within the activities of another EU institution, the European Ombudsman, who has corresponding rights to investigate and consider various complaints regarding EU institutions and their activities leading to poor administration of the Union. The aforementioned complaints and concerns can be initiated and sent from both residents and citizens of the EU along with associations and/or businesses physically based on the territories of the EU. In particular, the Ombudsman is obliged to investigate various types of weak administration including but not limited to abuse of power, lack of information along with any denial to provide it, unnecessary delays and incorrect procedures, examples of discrimination and unfair conduct (Europa.eu, 2016).
Moreover, the Ombudsman investigates corresponding complaints and disputes both according to a corresponding request and upon his own initiative. Representing a completely impartial body, he does not accept and/or follow any orders from any organization and/or government. The only institution he is somehow related to is the European Parliament, as he is supposed to provide it with regular annual reports of his activity.
In the majority of cases, the Ombudsman solves the corresponding problems by simply addressing them to a specific organization or institution according to its prerogatives. After informing, the corresponding institution is obliged to solve the occurred issue. In case, when the direct impact of the Ombudsman is needed, all his efforts and abilities are addressed to solve the problem and reach an amicable solution that satisfies all the related sides. Upon potential failure of this process, the Ombudsman is allowed to issue recommendations to a corresponding institution. If this does not work either, he issues a corresponding specialized report addressed directly to the European Parliament for them to make the necessary actions (Europa.eu, 2016).
Therefore, summarizing everything that has already been stated above, it is worth concluding that the overall functioning of the European Union as both international organization and a politico-economic union of the European countries is grounded upon the principle of finding the mutually effective solutions that would potentially satisfy the needs and represent the interests of the EU citizens. In particular, all the currently functioning treaties of the European Union are aimed to unite and unify the member countries in order for both the union and member countries to become more effective in terms of economic, political and social development (Eur-lex.europa.eu, 2016). Moreover, the overall success of the Union and each its member on the international arena depends upon its ability to provide the corresponding conditions for mutually profitable and effective cooperation in terms of various areas of cooperation. Therefore, the Union is founded and functions according to an effectively established system of institutions, complementing and balancing the functions of each other. The legislative system of the Union is represented by three most important and influential institutions, having their corresponding rights to introduce, consider and apply the necessary laws and legislative regulations. Nevertheless, it does not mean that one of them has the rights to diminish the powers of the rest; moreover, the non-legislative institutions of the EU can have even more direct and indirect influence upon the decisions of the Parliament, the Council and the Commission. The aforementioned organizations, institutions and bodies have been designed and elected in order to ensure that each law corresponds the interests of the Union and each national government of its members, in particular. Moreover, there are organizations designed particularly to ensure the equally effective and correct implementation of the EU law along with making sure that the applied legislature corresponds and represents the interests of both citizens and residents of the Union. Therefore, it is worth concluding that the success of the Union depends upon its high ability to unite and unify its members in continuous search for consensus in various aspects.
References
Eur-lex.europa.eu, (2016). Treaties currently in force - EUR-Lex. [online] Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/treaties-force.html?locale=en [Accessed 15 Jan. 2016].
Europa.eu, (2016). EUROPA - Court of Justice (CJEU) - The EU institutions explained. [online] Available at: http://europa.eu/about-eu/institutions-bodies/court-justice/index_en.htm [Accessed 15 Jan. 2016].
Europa.eu, (2016). EUROPA - EU institutions and other bodies. [online] Available at: http://europa.eu/about-eu/institutions-bodies/index_en.htm [Accessed 15 Jan. 2016].
Europa.eu, (2016). EUROPA - EU law. [online] Available at: http://europa.eu/eu-law/index_en.htm [Accessed 15 Jan. 2016].
Europa.eu, (2016). EUROPA - European Ombudsman - The EU institutions explained. [online] Available at: http://europa.eu/about-eu/institutions-bodies/ombudsman/index_en.htm [Accessed 15 Jan. 2016].
