"To us
all towns are one, all men our kin. |
Home | Whats New | Trans State Nation | One World | Unfolding Consciousness | Comments | Search |
Terrorism: European Union Law & Practise
Overview of EU Laws: EU-Upplysningen Fact Sheet [also in PDF]
January 2007 The institutions of the EU determine the laws and rules which
will apply throughout the EU. They make decisions in different ways on
different issues. In most cases the Commission submits the proposals for new
legislation. The proposals are discussed in the European Parliament and the
Council of Ministers. In many cases the Council of Ministers has to reach
agreement with the European Parliament to enable a decision to be taken. New
laws and rules are then interpreted by the Court of Justice. THE TREATIES DETERMINE WHAT THE EU CAN DO The treaties state what the EU should do and how the EU
institutions should take decisions on various issues. The member states have
negotiated and adopted the treaties jointly. The most important treaties are
the Treaty establishing the EC and the Treaty on European Union. In order to
amend the treaties or adopt a new treaty, the member states are required to
reach agreement at an Intergovernmental Conference. The amendment must then
be approved in all member states in accordance with national regulations in
order to come into force. The activities of the EU are usually divided into three
pillars following the structure of the treaties. The first pillar consists
of the Treaty establishing the EC and includes most issues. It includes, for
example, the single market,agricultural policy, competition policy,
environmental policy and economic and monetary union. The second and third
pillars were added in connection with the Treaty on European Union. The
second pillar includes the Common Foreign and Security Policy, while the
third pillar covers police cooperation and criminal law. ISSUES FOR THE INSTITUTIONS AND ISSUES FOR MEMBER STATES The reason why the cooperation of the EU is divided into
three pillars is that the forms of cooperation differ between the pillars,
particularly between the first pillar and the other two. Issues belonging to
the first pillar are transferred from the member states to the EU
institutions for decision. As far as the second and third pillars are
concerned,decision-making authority remains to a greater extent with the
member states themselves.Another way to describe the difference in
decisionmaking authority is to say that the first pillar is largely
supranational,while the second and third pillars are mainly
intergovernmental. Supranationality and intergovernmentalism can mean
different things in different contexts. The table below illustrates these
concepts with examples.
Intergovernmental DIFFERENT DECISION-MAKING PROCEDURES GIVE PARLIAMENT DIFFERENT LEVELS OF INFLUENCE Not only do the forms of cooperation within the EU differ between the different pillars, but they also differ inside them. It is mainly the influence of the European Parliament that varies between different issues. The most common decision-making procedures are described below.Codecision is the process that gives the European Parliament the greatest power to influence the content of decisions. It means that if the European Parliament wishes to change any part of a proposal from the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers must be in complete agreement for a decision to be taken. Codecision applies for example when decisions are to be made on the single market, the environment, transport policy, issues relating to food and consumer policy.Consultation is the process in which the European Parliament has the least power to influence decisions. In this case the European Parliament functions only as a consultative body to the Council of Ministers. Consultation is used mainly when decisions are to be taken on agricultural policy, trade with countries outside the EU, and issues relating to police cooperation and criminal law. Assent is a special process which is used when adopting certain international agreements. The process requires the European Parliament to give its assent to approving new member states in the EU and to the Council of Ministers for concluding association agreements with countries outside the EU. DIFFERENT LAWS FOR DIFFERENT AREAS The institutions of the EU use different types of legal instruments and other regulations. Some of these are binding for all or some member states, while other legal instruments are merely recommendations to the member states.There are five types of legal instruments: Regulations are binding and apply simultaneously and in the same way in all member states. They are common in the areas of agricultural policy and customs duties. Directives are binding on the objective to be achieved in the directive and aims to harmonise the legislation of the member states. However, it is up to each member state to determine how the directive is to be implemented in national legislation or other national regulations. Directives are common in environmental policy and consumer policy,for example. Decisions are binding only for the person or persons to whom the decision applies. Decisions can for example concern one particular member state or a company, and are common in the field of competition policy. Recommendations and opinions are not binding. These are common when EU institutions can only recommend how the member states should react, for example within the areas of employment and economic policy.
THE COURT OF JUSTICE INTERPRETS LAWS AND SETTLES DISPUTES The Court of Justice has two main tasks. These are to interpret legislation common to the EU and to settle disputes between member states and institutions. The court is sometimes called the EC Court of Justice because its principal authority is within the first pillar, the EC. The common regulatory framework of the EU is called European Community Law, or EC Law. It is EC Law that the Court of Justice is required to interpret and develop so that the regulatory system can be followed in the same way throughout the EU.
It is the European Commission�s task to ensure that member states comply with EC Law. If the Commission considers that a member state is violating the regulatory framework, they will contact the government of the country concerned. The government of this country will then be given the opportunity to respond to the views expressed by the Commission and suggest how the situation can be remedied. If the Commission and the member state cannot agree, the Commission may bring the member state before the Court of Justice for violation of a treaty. If the member state is found guilty, it can be required to pay fines. A member state can also have a legal instrument of the EU examined by the Court of Justice if it considers that the instrument has no basis in the treaties or is wrongly constituted.The member state�s opposite party in the Court of Justice in this case is the Council of Ministers or the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. Apart from settling disputes between institutions and member states, the Court of Justice may also settle disputes between institutions of the EU or between member states themselves. THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE FOR PRIVATE CITIZENS Private citizens or companies and organisations may only in exceptional circumstances bring cases before the Court of Justice. A private citizen has the right to do this if any of the institutions of the EU has made a decision that affects him or her directly. This may apply to someone who has been refused access, for example, to a document from an EU institution or to a company that has been refused by the Commission to merge with another company. In cases like this the person or company that is affected by the decision may approach a special court called the Court of First Instance. It is possible to appeal against rulings made by the Court of First Instance to the Court of Justice.
EU LEGISLATION IN NATIONAL COURTS In order to ensure that EU legislation applies in the same way in all member states, the Court of Justice has, in its rulings and judgments, established some common principles.One such principle is that EU legislation is to have precedence over national legislation. This means that a national law or regulation that contravenes EU legislation may not be applied. Another principle is that EU legislation can in some cases have direct effect. This means that a private citizen can refer to these rules in national courts. However, not all rules of the EC Law have direct effect. The direct effect that they may have depends on the type of rule invoked and how it is formulated. If a national court, for example a Swedish district court (tingsr�tt), is uncertain as to how provisions of EC Law should be interpreted or whether a national law contravenes EC Law, the Swedish district court can ask the Court of Justice for advice. The national court then requests a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice. The task of the Court of Justice is not to try a case that should be settled by a national court, but to provide information about the interpretation of a rule in EC Law. The national court is then obliged to follow the interpretation provided by the Court of Justice. The court within a national legal system whose decisions are not subject to appeal is obliged to request a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice if there is any doubt as to the interpretation of EC Law. However, the Court of Justice does not reconsider rulings made by national courts. |