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ISSUES: Citizenship
Chapter 3: Politics in the UK
is to formulate policy proposals,
which it forwards to the Council
of the EU and the European
Parliament. It employs around
33,000 people, and is based in
Brussels (in contrast, the British
civil service employs around half
a million). Each member state
nominates onemember, who then
serves (independently) as the
“Commissioner” responsible for a
certain department. Recently, the
UK’s Commissioners have run the
EU’s trade (Lord Mandelson) and
financial services portfolios (Lord
Hill). The Commission sits for five-
year terms, and is usually referred
to by the name of its president
(hence, we currently have the
“Juncker Commission”).
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The Council of the European
Union is the main body for
the representation of member
states’ interests, where national
ministers meet to negotiate and
agree on legislation, supported
by national civil servants who
handle more technical aspects.
Decisions are taken by ministers
in their area of responsibility.
For example, when agriculture is
discussed, the farming ministers
attend, and so on. The Council
shares the power to decide with
the European Parliament whether
to adopt proposals made by the
Commission.
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The European Parliament is the
EU’s directly elected chamber.
It consists of 751 MEPs, drawn
from all the member states. There
are currently 73 British MEPs. In
the May 2014 election UKIP won
24 MEPs, Labour won 20, the
Conservatives won 19, the Greens
won three, SNP won two, and the
Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru,
Sinn Fein, Democratic Unionists,
and Ulster Unionists each won
one seat. However, MEPs sit
in
European
parliamentary
groups rather than as national
delegations.
For
example,
Conservative MEPs sit in the
European
Conservatives
and
Reformists (ECR) group, while
Labour MEPs sit in the Socialists
and Democrats (S&D) group.
The two largest political groups
are the centre-right European
People’s Party (EPP) and the
centre-left S&D group.
The main power of the European
Parliament is to take decisions on
EU legislation with the member
state governments in the Council.
The Parliament shares control of
the EU budget with the European
Council, ratifies international treaties,
oversees the work of the Commission,
and elects the Commission (after each
European election). The Parliament
also has the power to sack the
Commission, by a two-thirds majority
vote.
How does the EU make law?
For most legislation, the process starts
with a proposal by the Commission,
which is sent to the Parliament and
the Council for their consideration.
The Parliament and the Council can
each decide to amend, approve or
reject a proposal. For any proposal
to become law, it has to be agreed
by both institutions. EU citizens are
represented in this process by their
MEPs in the Parliament and their
ministers in the Council.
Once the Council and Parliament have
both agreed a text it becomes law,
and passes to national governments
to implement, overseen by the
Commission and the Court of Justice.
EU laws can take two forms. The most
common form – EU directives – are
the “softer” version: they specify
what should be done, but leave how
to the member states. This means
that member states have to pass
national legislation to bring it into
effect. Regulations, in contrast, apply
directly. There is no additional process
at the national level and no room for
national interpretation.
Produced by The UK in a Changing
Europe.
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Theabove information is reprinted
with kind permission from The UK
in a Changing Europe. Please visit
for further
information.
© The UK in a Changing Europe 2017
