EU law institutions
membership, role, legal functions of European Commission
membership, role, legal functions of CJEU
membership, role, legal functions of European Parliament
membership, role, legal functions of Council of EU
each Member State is assigned one Commissioner who acts independently of their national origin and interests
commissioners appointed for a 5 year term and can only be removed by vote of censure by European Parliament
each commissioner heads a department with special responsibility for one area of Union policy
puts forward proposals for new laws to be adopted by the Parliament and the Council
it is the 'guardian' of the treaties and ensures that treaty provisions and other measures adopted by the Union are properly implemented
if a Member State fails to implement Union law within its own country, or has infringed a provision in some way, the Commission has a duty to intervene, and if necessary, refer the matter to the CJEU
the commission is responsible for administration of the EU and it has powers to implement the Union's budget and supervise how the money is spent
Members of European Parliament are directly elected by the electorate of the Member States in elections which take place once every 5 years - number of MEPs from each country is determined by the size of its population
European Parliament meets on average about once a month for sessions that can last up to a week where they discuss proposals made by the Commission and then report to the full Parliament for debate - decisions are made by the Parliament and the Council
Parliament can now co-legislate on an equal footing with the Council in most areas - it can approve or reject a legislative proposal made by the Commission or propose amendments to it
Parliament decides on international agreements, whether to admit new Member States, and reviews the Commission's work programme and asks it to propose legislation
government of each MS sends a representative to the Council - foreign minister usually is a country's main representative, but a government is free to send any of its ministers to Council meetings
usually the minister responsible for the topic under consideration will attend a meeting, sot that the precise membership will vary with the subject being discussed
the Council is the principal law-making and decision making body of the EU - negotiates, amends and adopts laws, together with the European Parliament, based on proposals from the Commission as well as coordinating EU policies
usually twice a year, twice a year, government heads to meet in the European Council to discuss broad matters of policy
MS take it in turns to provide the President of the Council for a 6 month period - a committee of permanent representatives assists with the day-to-day work of the Council
the court's function is set out in Article 19 of the Treaty of European Union (TEU) - states that the court must 'ensure that in the interpretation and application of the Treaty the law is observed' uniformly in all MS
it does this by: hearing cases to decide whether a MS has failed to fulfil its obligation under EU treaties - such actions are usually initiated by the European Commission, although they can also be started by another MS
the CJEU is assisted by 11 Advocates General who also hold office for 6 years - each case is initially assigned to an Advocate General whose task under Article 253 is to research all the legal points involved and to present publicly, with complete impartiality and independence, reasoned conclusions on cases submitted to the Court with a view to assisting the latter in the performance of its duties
under Article 253 of the Treaty of Functioning of the EU (TFEU), judges are appointed from those who are eligible for appointment to the highest judicial posts in MS or those who are leading academic lawyers
hearing references from national courts for preliminary rulings on points of EU law - if a national court had to consider a matter of EU law that had not arisen before, it could refer the case back to the CJEU which would then refer the case back to the national court when their ruling had been given
each judge is appointed for a term of 6 years, and can be reappointed for a further term of 6 years - the judges select one of themselves to be President of the Court - the court sits in Luxembourg and has one judge from each MS
Re Tachographs: court held that UK had to implement a Council Regulation in the use of mechanical recording equipment in road vehicles used for the carriage of goods
this reference function is important, as rulings made by the CJEU are then binding on courts in all MS - this ensures that the law is indeed uniform throughout the EU
the status of the CJEU as a court for UK courts after leaving the EU is yet to be finalised