European Union: Institutions, Treaty of Lisbon, and Direct Complaints to ECJ

LAW2110
Table of Contents

MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
REFERNCES ..................................................................................................................................6
MAIN BODY
Question 2
The European Union is the body which is formed after the second world war so as to strengthen
the European countries in order to maintain peace and harmony among the nations of the Europe.
It is created to boost the economic growth of the European Nations in order to emerge once again
as a power. Slowly and gradually, EU has expanded its power and authority by adding other non-
European countries as its member states. Initially, there are only six countries who became the
member of EU but today 22 more countries have been added as a part of EU(after the separation
of Britain)(Wallace and Martin-Ortega, 2020). There are no border implications between the
member states and there is an easy reciprocation of commercial activities and migration of
people from one state to another. For eg- if any product is manufactured in any of the member
states then it can be sold in the other country which is also a part of EU. If we talk about the
institutions of European Union, they were formed with the constitution of the European
Community in the year 1958. There has been a major shift in the power and the authorization
that is from the council to the parliament. The work of the commission is to create a balance
between the council and the parliament where commission is answerable to the parliament. The
growth of these organizations with additive changes from the conventions and their agreements
is legal instrument to the development union's body without any master plan. There are various
institutions of EU which are bifurcated on the basis of their functions that is executive,
legislative, judicial, and financial roles. They are-
i.The European Council : the work of this institution is to held the meetings with the
President of the European Commission so as to discuss about the European Union
policies and plans which are required to be executed further. These meetings are also

known as 'European Summits'. It includes each head of the states that forms EU. It is the
organization which creates EU's governmental direction and the priorities. It drafts
European Union's foreign policies and security plan of action. It propose and appoints
crucial EU functionary roles. It has a conventional role in the European Union's session
procedure. The council held the meetings 4 times a year. It generally adopts conclusions
in these meetings. The European Council is a group of European Union's top political
leaders. The meetings held by the council set the broad objective and settle high urging
issues.
ii.The European Commission : the work of this institution is to execute the policies and
activities which are discussed in the meetings held with the President of European
Commission. It also checks the implementation of the existing rules based on the various
treaties. The member states elect the President of the European Commission. No member
state oppose the decisions taken by European Council because it has taken with the prior
consent of the members. But in some cases voting is done and then the final decisions are
taken. It acts as the executor y power of the European Union that is why it is accountable
for initiating the laws. 27 Commissioners forms this organizations and these people are
elected among the member states. To aid the commissioners there is a staff of 32000
people work in the commission. This staff also appointed from the member states which
consists of researchers, lawyers, translators and the policy officials. The commission held
its meetings once in a week to conclude on various policies and plans which are being
decided by the process of voting among the member states. Simple majority vote is taken.
iii.The European Parliament : as the name suggests, the work of this institution to make
the legislations which are meant to be followed by the member countries in order to
maintain the movement of commercial activities and trade activities among the member
nations. This particular institution is elected through a direct pole of the countries who
forms the part of the European Union. The European Parliament has the law making
power with it but on the other hand it cannot initiate the legislations. It organizes its work
in two aspects- first is Committee Meetings in which the laws are drafted and the Plenary
Sessions where the drafted legislations are passed through voting procedure which is
done by the member countries. The projected laws are sanctioned by the parliament only.