欧盟最有效力的组织

Among all the EU institutions, do you think which one

is the most powerful? And why?

Within the European Union, there are several significant institutions, including the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council of the EU , the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the Court of Auditors. I think if we are to judge which one is the most powerful, we must be familiar with the role each of them play.

the European Parliament

Firstly, the European Parliament represents European citizens. Senators were directly elected by EU voters every 5 years, so they are responsible for the voters. The role they play can be mainly concluded into three parts. First, they debate and pass European laws, with the Council. Second, they scrutinize other EU institutions, particularly the Commission, to make sure they are working democratically. Third, debate and adopt the EU's budget, with the Council. We can see that their importance is obvious. However, European Parliament lacks three of the typical defining powers of a legislature. It cannot directly introduce proposals for new laws, cannot decide alone on the content of laws and cannot raise revenues. Why it have these restrictions? The factors influence them involves the following four items. Firstly, most of the EP’s handicaps stem from the unwillingness of the governments of the member states to surrender their powers of lawmaking or to give up their grip on decision making in the Council of Ministers. Secondly, the EP has a credibility problem: few Europeans know (or much care) what it does. Thirdly, most voters in EP elections are making their choices on the basis of domestic rather than European issues. Finally, low voter turnout: few voters are interested in what it does because of its limited powers. Therefore, these causes contributes to the reality of the EP today. The EP is thus considerably closer to being the main legislative body of the European Union. But it still cannot introduce new legislation and suffers from the lack of a strong psychological link with voters that would give it the credibility it needs to fully exploit its advantages.

the European Council欧洲理事会

The second one is the European Council. European Council meetings are essentially summits where EU leaders meet to decide on broad political priorities and major initiatives. It sets the EU's general political direction and priorities. It deals with

complex or sensitive issues that cannot be revolved at a lower level of

intergovernmental cooperation. It sketches the broad picture and usually leaves it to the other institutions (particularly the Commission and the Council of the EU) to fill in the details. But it has no powers to pass laws. The European Council is an

important motor for integration. Because it launches major new initiatives (including every new EU treaty), it issues key declarations on international crises, it generates EU institutional changes and it gives new momentum to EU foreign policy. But the European Council has also had its failures including its inability to speed up

agricultural and budgetary reform, reach agreement on common EU responses to the two Gulf wars, the Bosnian conflict, the crisis in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999 and respond more quickly and vigorously to the debt crisis in the Eurozone.

The Council of the European Union

The third one is The Council of the European Union. It’s more usually known as the Council of Ministers, or simply “the Council”. It’s the forum in which national government ministers meet to make decisions on EU law and policy. And it is

comprised of ministers of 28 Member States, representing Member State’s point of view. Different compositions depends on subject matter: FAC, Environmental etc. Council presidency rotates among Member States every six months (except Foreign Affairs Council). The Council has a mix of legislative and executive functions. It is the main decision-making body of EU. Jointly with the Parliament, it passes EU laws; Jointly with the Parliament, it approves the annual EU budget; It coordinates the broad economic policies of EU member countries; It signs agreements between the EU and other countries; It decides on foreign and defense policy issues; It coordinates cooperation between courts and police forces of member countries.

the European Commission→leadership欧洲委员会

The forth one is the European Commission. It represents the interests of the EU as a whole

It is headquartered in Brussels. It has 28 Commissioners, representing the European perspective, each responsible for a specific policy area. The term “Commission” refers to the 28 Commissioners, the permanent staff or the institution as a whole. It’s EU’s executive branches are:

It initiates legislation and policies (except foreign and security policy). It manages Union’s day-to-day business and budget. It negotiates international agreements. It enforces rules. Finally, its decision-making rule is normally consensus or simple majority if vote requested

the Court of Justice of the European Union欧盟法庭

The fifth is the Court of Justice of the European Union. It is the highest EU judicial

authority, with 1 judge per member state. It is not involved in the initial decision-making process, but it has the power to interpret EU law to ensure that it is applied correctly and uniformly. It settles legal disputes between EU governments and EU institutions (non-application, annulment, failure or act). Individuals, companies or organizations can also bring cases before the Court if they feel their rights have been infringed by an EU institution. Thus it acts as an independent policy maker (case law). But the Court has no direct powers to enforce its judgments; Implementation is mainly left up to national courts or the governments of the member states, with the Commission keeping a close watch.

the European Central Bank

The European Central Bank (ECB) is one of the EU institutions. Its main purpose is to keep prices stable (keep inflation under control), especially in countries that use the euro and keep the financial system stable—by making sure financial markets and institutions are properly supervised.

The ECB has several roles including setting key interest rates for the Eurozone and controlling the money supply, managing the Eurozone’s foreign-currency reserves and buying or selling currencies when necessary to keep exchange rates in balance, helping to ensure financial markets and institutions are adequately supervised by national authorities, and that payment systems function smoothly, authorizing central banks in Eurozone countries to issue euro banknotes, monitoring price trends and assessing the risk they pose to price stability.

the Court of Auditors

The sixth one is the Court of Auditors. The European Court of Auditors audits EU finances. Its role is to improve EU financial management and report on the use of public funds, It was set up in 1975 and is based in Luxembourg. It has two purpose: one is to ensure that EU taxpayers get maximum value for their money, the Court of Auditors has the right to check ('audit') any person or organization handling EU funds. The Court frequently carries out on-the-spot checks. Its findings are written up in reports submitted to the Commission and EU national governments. The other one is that the Court of Auditors has no legal powers of its own, if auditors discover fraud or irregularities they inform the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). It has some tasks. One of the Court's most important jobs is to present the European Parliament and the Council with an annual report on the previous financial year (the 'annual discharge'). Parliament examines the Court’s report thoroughly before deciding whether or not to approve the way in which the Commission has handled the budget. The Court also has to give its opinion on EU financial legislation and how to help the EU fight fraud. Auditors frequently carry out inspections in EU institutions, member countries and countries receiving EU aid. While the Court's work mainly concerns money for which the Commission is responsible, in practice 80% of the income and expenditure is managed by national authorities.

Conclusion

After knowing the seven major institutions in EU, we learnt that almost every institution has its advantage and dis advantage. It’s time for us to consider which one is the most powerful. In my opinion, the most powerful one is the European Commission. Here are my reasons.

Firstly, it oversees the removal of barriers to the free movement of coal and steel. I can still remember that one factor of European congregation is that we want natural resource to travel around countries freely. Therefore the European commission has the power to help the EU to be better and better.

Secondly, the European commission has several powers, including powers of initiation, powers of implementation, managing EU finances, and being external representative. We say it has the power of initiation because the Commission is legally obliged to make sure that the principles of the treaties are turned into practical laws and policies. It’s a think tank and a policy formulator. And it provides leadership for the EU. We say it has the power of implementation because once a law or policy has been accepted, the Commission is responsible for ensuring that it is implemented by the member states. The Commission has no power to do this directly but instead must work through national bureaucracies. The Commission has the power to collect information from member states so that it can monitor progress on implementation, take to the Court of Justice any member states, corporation, or individual that does not confirm to the spirit of the treaties or follow subsequence EU law and impose sanctions or fines if a law is not being implemented. Then, the Commission ensures that all EU revenues are collected (working with national agencies), plays a key role in drafting and guiding the budget through the Council of Ministers and Parliament, and administers EU spending (cooperation with the Court of Auditors), especially under the Common Agricultural Policy and the structural funds. Finally, the Commission act as the EU’s main external representative in dealing with international organization such as the UN, the WTO, and the OECD. Discussions on global trade are overseen by the Commission acting on behalf of EU member states (trade negotiators with third parties). The Commission has also been a key point of contact between the EU and the rest of the world. The Commission oversees the process by which applications for full or associate membership in the EU are considered

Thirdly, the Commission deserves credit for the rich and creative role it has played in the process of European integration. It encouraged member states to harmonize their laws, regulations, and standards in the interest of bring down barriers to trade. It’s at the heart of some of the defining European policy initiatives, including the single market, efforts to create a single currency, efforts to build common foreign policy positions, and enlargement.

In these respects, I think the European commission plays the most important role and is the most powerful institution among all.