Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations - New York ...

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) expired on July 23, 2002). Each uses the same
organs, with the only variations lying in the powers exercised by them in accordance with each
of the Treaties. The primary organs are the European Parliament, the Council of the European
Union, the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, and the Court of First Instance.
In addition to these institutions, the organs of the Communities also include the Court of
Auditors and various specialized subcommittees. While not uniformly recognized as an organ of
the Community, the European Central Bank, established in 1998, also plays a very important role
in the implementation and management of the European Monetary Union. Additionally, the
informal European Council (not to be mistaken with the Council) consists of the Heads of State
or Government and the Foreign Ministers of the various Member States, and the President and
Vice President of the Commission. Since 1974, the European Council has met twice a year to
define political guidelines for the European Union.
The Council of the EC is the principal decision-making body of the Communities. As
stated in the EC Treaty, the principal role of the Council is “to ensure the co-ordination of the
general economic policies of the Member States.” In order to perform this task, the Council is
entrusted with the power to enact Community legislation through regulations, directives, and
decisions, and to adopt international agreements negotiated by the Commission.
The Council is composed of twenty-five Ministers, one from each of the Member States,
and a rotating six-month presidency. The identity of the Ministers varies depending on the
subject matter of the meetings. Within the Council, the voting procedures depend upon the
treaty under which it acts. Votes are allocated to Member States on the basis of population as
established by the Treaties. Qualified majority voting is the general rule under the EC Treaty,
while unanimity or a simple majority are required in certain instances.
The Commission is the organ of the Communities responsible for initiating European
legislation and action, and overseeing the implementation of common policies and Union
legislation enacted by Member States. The Commission is composed of thirty Commissioners
who serve five-year terms. Commissioners are nominated by mutual agreement of the Member
States and must be approved by the European Parliament. Each Member State currently is
guaranteed at least one commissioner. Commissioners are independent of Member States’
national governments. Although the Commission possesses a broad power of initiative when
direct regulation is necessary — that is, it can issue a regulation which has a direct effect in the
legal orders of Member States without any need for an internalization procedure — it is
generally limited to matters specifically mentioned in the Treaties. An important exception,
contained in the ECSC Treaty, allows the Commission to make decisions that directly bind
enterprises and to enforce these decisions by imposing fines and penalties. Acting in this role,
the Commission may institute proceedings before the European Court of Justice against Member
States it believes to be in breach of their obligations under the Treaties. Finally, the Commission
is the main budgetary authority within the Community.
The European Parliament is the parliamentary organ of the European Union. The
Parliament consists of 732 representatives, which are directly elected by the peoples of the
Member States every five years.
The Parliament is involved in the legislative process through the cooperation and codecision
procedures. The cooperation procedure allows the Parliament to amend or reject
positions taken by the Council on Commission proposals. While the Parliament can amend any
positions, they then have to send it back to the Council. The Council can then accept or reject the
amendments and resubmit to the Parliament. A decision of the Parliament, however, may be
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