3 11 12 1 52 PM The Executive The institutions of the EU Institutions as rules of the game Major Formal EU Institutions o Council o Commission o Parliament o Court of Justice Branches of government o Executive o Legislative o Judicial What does the executive do Administrative tasks Regulatory tasks Political tasks Legislative tasks Who is the executive of the EU The Council as executive Implements EU policies within member states Sets medium and long term policy goals Helps manage day to day tasks of EU Retains authority over CFSP The Commission as executive Structure of Commission o President of the Commission o High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy o College of Commissioners Reinforced the debates as to what to do with the size of the commission Small Countries didn t want to give up representation Wanted big countries to give up their second commissioner and they keep their own commissioner Winning argument 27 Commissioners o Directorates general Works under the college of commissioners Changed over time but now they are aliened with the portfolios of the commissioners Advise the commissioners do the work write regulations etc o Staff Write in other languages 20 official languages every document produced needs to be translated in all the official languages Power of the Commission o Agenda setter proposes and shepherds legislation Short term political setters laws commission gets first crack at writing the legislation o Regulatory power o Administrative power o Budgetary power Paying the bills collecting money etc Sets annual budget of the EU o International negotiator EU is a member of the World Trade Organization commission speaks for the EU at this event G20 EU is an official member commission represents the EU Largely on economic matters Council would choose the voice on political matters never happens since they don t talk in one voice o Sue member states for violating EU law European Court of Justice o Changes with Lisbon Comitology made up word Huh o Study of the science of committees o System of committees by which the Council oversees the Commission s implementation of the laws Council oversees Commission s implementation of the laws o Delegate power to commission oversees The procedures of comitology o Lowest level commission makes regulations and notifies Council o Highest Commission makes recommendation and the Council can veto not just suggest but Direct the Commission on what to do o Hix has the levels of Comiology Explaining the complicated executive structure Spatial theory o Way to simplify politics o Assumption Actors have fixed preferences Locate their preferences in some sort of space Dimensions of Politics ways to summarize political debates The closer the policy is to the ideal point the more the actor will differ if the policies are equidistant they will be indifferent Pro Integration Anti Integ L Economics R Principal Agent theory Principal can delegate power to the agent to do the work for them Principal has power delegates decisions o Delegation increases efficiency Up side of delegation o Delegation can lead to drift If you delegate to someone else with different preferences outcome can drift to someone else s preferences Legislature delegates to executive executive preferences are different to the outcome drifts more strain reduces the efficacy o Member states must balance desire for effective policymaking and desire to retain sovereignty control over outcomes Member states are the principals represented by the Council Members don t have the time or ability to do the work all Council could have different preferences than the member themselves states Council is the Agent Whatever the agreement policy is going to be further to the left than the Commission is sitting at Council can takes steps to prevent drift Common Foreign Security Policy Council does not delegate Preference Divergence If there is a divergence in preferences there is likely to be much more delegation The Legislature I The Council 3 11 12 1 52 PM The Council of Europe v the European Council c the Council of the European Union Council of Ministers Council Many Councils Council of Europe is not apart of the EU and for our purposes can be ignored Separate Institutions o The European Council Prime Ministers Chief Executives Serves as the Top of the councils put together o The Council of the European Union Ministers Councils made up of the ministers for the various councils Agricultural Ministers for the Agriculture Council Foreign Policy Ministers for the Foreign Policy council Structure of the Council At the top you have the European Council 1 everything else is the Council of the EU The Presidency o The old Rotating Presidency ROTA Rotating Presidency every 6 months rotating between countries share responsibility Troika Previous country current country and the incoming country o The new single Presidency Need to create a new position President of the European council Kept Council of EU with the rotating presidency 2 5 Year term chosen by the Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy current president given single face to the EU Going to be a well known large figure that would become the most visible person of the EU Chosen by the Council technically decided by QMV but strive for consensus Prime Minister of Belgium before President of EU Chosen because he demonstrated that he could bring together two areas in Belgium that didn t agree politically with each other If he could bring together two entities at odds with each other he could bring together the countries of the EU o Role o Influence The General Affairs Council 2 o Directly under the European Council foreign ministers o Under this you have equal entities Agriculture 3 ECOFIN 3 Fishing 3 o Economics and Finance Euro report to the General Affairs ECOFIN 3 Other Councils COREPER o All the people serving on the various councils are domestic politicians Members of the fishery council are fishery ministers o This is their second job not their primary all have jobs back home Senators would have jobs such as governor or secretary of agriculture back home in their own state o Council of permanent representatives help out the ministers Staff of the council Ambassadors do most of the work of the council full time jobs to SEE TABLE 3 2 HIX Page 67 be familiar with the frequency of council meetings ECOFIN COREPER know who sits on the councils what the councils deal with etc Decision making on the Council Unanimity