Search

This fact sheet explains the role of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), an EU advisory body based in Brussels. It sets out the EESC’s legal basis, then describes its members, how they are appointed and how seats are divided among EU countries. It also explains how the EESC is organised, how it prepares opinions and when EU institutions must or may consult it. The fact sheet ends by looking at the EESC’s cooperation with the European Parliament and its role in bringing employers, workers ...

This fact sheet explains the role of the European Council, an EU institution formed of the Heads of State or Government of the EU Member States. It outlines the place of the European Council in the EU’s institutional system and the powers it has to provide the necessary impetus for the development of the EU. It presents an overview of EU priorities and strategies that have been set out in recent years by the European Council through its political guidelines.

This fact sheet explains the EU’s communication policy, including its legal basis, objectives, key instruments and programmes. It describes how the EU institutions carry out their role in fostering transparency, citizen engagement and participatory democracy through communication. It explains how the EU enables citizens to exercise their rights to information and participation, as established by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. It also outlines Parliament’s role in strengthening ...

This fact sheet sets out the European Union’s procedures for taking binding decisions that – unlike intergovernmental decisions – the Member States cannot veto. The institutions derive this supranational decision-making power from the treaties, which have been concluded by the Member States. The procedures outlined below include the main legislative procedures – ordinary, consultation and consent – as well as certain appointment procedures and procedures for concluding some international agreements ...

This fact sheet explains the sources and scope of European Union law. It outlines the EU’s separate legal order, its effect on Member States’ legal systems and the hierarchy of Union law. It also presents the main sources of Union law, including primary law, secondary legislation, international agreements, general principles of Union law and supplementary law. Lastly, it describes Parliament’s role in shaping and improving EU legislation.

This fact sheet explains the objectives, background and content of the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties. The Maastricht Treaty altered the former European treaties and created a European Union based on three pillars: the European Communities, the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and cooperation in the field of justice and home affairs (JHI). With a view to the enlargement of the Union, the Amsterdam Treaty made the adjustments needed to enable the Union to function more efficiently and ...

This fact sheet explains the objectives, background and content of the Treaty of Nice, including its reforms of the EU institutions, voting rules, legislative procedures, enhanced cooperation, fundamental rights protection and judicial system. It also outlines the role of the European Parliament and the work and outcome of the Convention on the Future of Europe.

This fact sheet explains the procedure for protecting the EU values set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It outlines the growing need to protect values and fundamental rights within the EU, as well as the instruments used to protect them. It explains Article 7 TEU, which provides for an EU mechanism to determine the existence of, and possibly sanction, serious and persistent breaches of EU values by a Member State. It also explains other policies aimed at strengthening the ...

This fact sheet explains the main developments of the early Treaties up to the entry into force of the Single European Act in 1986. These developments relate to the creation of Community own resources, the reinforcement of the budgetary powers of Parliament, the election of MEPs by direct universal suffrage and the setting-up of the European Monetary System (EMS). The Single European Act substantially altered the Treaty of Rome and bolstered the notion of integration by creating a large internal ...

This fact sheet explains how the Treaty on European Union defines the principle of subsidiarity, the numerous policy areas where it applies and how its implementation is monitored. In areas where the Union does not have exclusive competence, it may act where it can demonstrate that the objectives of the proposed action would not be efficiently achieved at national, regional or local level, but better achieved at Union level. This fact sheet also outlines Parliament’s role in upholding the principle ...