European Office - European Institutions

European Parliament - direct link  http://www.europarl.eu.int/

The European Parliament is the institution that represents the citizens of the Member States and exercises democratic control over the European Commission 's activities and it is the only institution that meets and deliberates in public. Its debates, opinions and resolutions are published in the Official Journal and are available on the net.

There are at present 626 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)   who are directly elected for a 5 year period in EU wide elections. Our region is represented by seven MEPs .

The Parliament represents 370 million citizens, has a staff of approximately 3,500 and its operating budget is one and a half euro a year for each person living in the European Union.

European Commission - direct link  http://europa.eu.int/

The Commission acts as the EU executive body and guardian of the Treaties. Its main concern  is to defend the interests of the European citizens. One of its main tasks is to ensure the free movement of goods, services, capital and people throughout the territory of the Union.

The Commission consists of 20 Commissioners, 36 Directorates-general and specialised services. It has a staff of 15,000, relatively small bearing in mind its responsibilities and the fact that a medium sized European city will often employ more people.

The Commission can issue:

• Regulations- which automatically become Community Law
• Directives - which are binding on Member States, but the implementation method is left up to the member state ie legislation through our Parliament
• Decisions - which are binding on directed group: enterprises, individuals or Member States
• Recommendations and Opinions - which are not binding

Council of the European Union - direct link - http://ue.eu.int/

The Council is the European Union institution in which the governments of the member states are represented It is the lead institution for decision making on the common foreign and security policy and on police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

The Council consists of one representative of each member State at ministerial level.  Each Member State holds the presidency for a six month term according to an agreed rota. Ireland and the Netherlands in 2004, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom in 2005 and Austria and Finland in 2006.

Court of Justice - direct link - http://curia.eu.int/en/index.htm

This institution is responsible for enforcing Community law. It has jurisdiction in disputes between:

• Member States
• Union and its Member States
• Institutions
• Private individuals and the Union

Court of Auditors - direct link - http://www.eca.eu.int

The Court of Auditors monitors the Community accounts, examining the legality and regularity of the revenue and expenditure in the Community budget. This ensures sound financial management.

The Court of Auditors has fifteen members who are appointed for a six year renewable term by the Council acting unanimously.

The Committee of the Regions - direct link - http://www.cor.eu.int/

The Committee works to bring the European Union closer to the ordinary people. This is a two way process. On one hand the Committee acts as a spokesperson, passing on information from the European institutions to the towns and regions of Europe, while, on the other hand it is an active and strong mouthpiece for the voice of the local authorities in the institutional decision making process.

The Committee has 222 Members and 222 alternates and they are appointed for four years by the Council and have a mandate to act as the bridge between the European Union and the regions and municipalities of its Member States. The UK has 24 appointed representatives one of them being NELC's Councillor Mrs Muriel Barker. She can be contacted directly on muriel.barker@nelincs.gov.uk or telephone 01472 324185.

Euro Info Centre - direct link - www.hull.ac.uk/euroinfo