Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- 1 History of European integration
- 2 The institutional framework
- 3 The making of Union law
- 4 The effect of Union law
- 5 Judicial control within the Union
- 6 Protecting fundamental rights within the EU
- 7 The free movement of goods
- 8 The free movement of persons
- 9 EU competition law
- 10 Selected EU policies
- 11 The EU as an international actor
- Index
2 - The institutional framework
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- 1 History of European integration
- 2 The institutional framework
- 3 The making of Union law
- 4 The effect of Union law
- 5 Judicial control within the Union
- 6 Protecting fundamental rights within the EU
- 7 The free movement of goods
- 8 The free movement of persons
- 9 EU competition law
- 10 Selected EU policies
- 11 The EU as an international actor
- Index
Summary
The organisational structure of the EU may, with all its complexity, seem Byzantine to outsiders. One will recognise an interesting mix between the traits of a traditional international organisation and those of a state-like entity with typical separation-of-powers issues.
According to Article 13 TEU (ex Article 7 TEC), the EU possesses the following institutions:
– the European Parliament
– the European Council
– the Council
– the European Commission
– the Court of Justice of the European Union
– the European Central Bank
– the Court of Auditors.
In addition, advisory institutions, such as the European Economic and Social Committee or the Committee of the Regions , shall assist the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. While the ‘institutional triangle’, consisting of the Council, Commission and Parliament which are largely responsible for the Union’s legislation, will be described in some detail in this chapter, the courts of the EU, the European Court of Justice, the European General Court as well as the Civil Service Tribunal, will be explained in Chapter 5 (Judicial control within the Union). This section aims at explaining the composition and internal decision making of the Union’s institutions, while their interaction in the context of European legislation will be analysed in Chapter 3 (The making of Union law).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Essentials of EU Law , pp. 15 - 37Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012