4.5 The European Parliament The European Parliament fulfils three main functions: it shares the power to legislate it exercises democratic supervision over all EC institutions it shares authority over the EC budget. The legislative and supervisory roles are based on the European Parliament's democratic legitimacy. Its members are directly elected every five years by the citizens of the EU member states. 4.4 The Council of the European Union The Council represents the interests of the individual member states and is seen as the legislative arm of the EU. It is composed of active representatives of the governments of the member states. Usually, these representatives are the departmental or junior ministers responsible for the matters under consideration at a specific Council meeting. This means that the Council itself, unlike the Commission, has no stable membership. Its membership varies depending upon the issues tabled for discu 4.3 The European Commission The European Commission is the political body that represents the EU as a whole. It is politically independent and can propose legislation, policies and programmes of action. It is also responsible for implementing the decisions of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. The European Commission is made up of a team of Commissioners (appointed by EU member states) and their support staff. Commissioners are chosen ‘on the grounds of their general competence†4.2 The European Council The European Council brings together heads of state and government in order to decide on issues of common interest and overall EU policy and to review progress. In principle the European Council must meet at least twice a year but usually meets four times a year. The meetings are known as Summits. The European Council is the highest level policy-making body of the EU: The European Council shall provide the Union with t 4.1 Overview The institutions of the EU work towards objectives related to the three pillars and the creation of a body of Community law that applies uniformly in all member states. The institutions having legal rule-making powers include the European Council, the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the European Commission. Finally, there is the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which has the power to settle 3.6 Summary of Part B In Part B you have learned that the EU arose from the need for post-war regeneration in the economic and social spheres. The EU is a comparatively recent political and legal institution. It has developed and grown over the past six decades. This development and growth is marked by a series of intergovernmental treaties which bind the member states together in a close political and legal entity. Except for third party materials and otherwise stated The relationship between the EC and the EU The words ‘European Economic Community’ (EEC), ‘European Community’ (EC) and ‘European Union’ (EU) have already been used in this unit, and many texts and journal and newspaper articles use them interchangeably. It is important that you are clear on their relationship and what they mean. This unit will always refer to the current position as the EU, but what is the relationship between the EC, the EEC and the EU? As mentioned earlier, the Maastricht Treaty (19 3.4 How does the EU operate? The EU operates through institutions created in the treaties. These institutions can have decision-making powers, law-making powers or may act as part of a checking and consultation procedure. The institutions include: The European Parliament (represents the people of the EU). The Council of the European Union (represents the member states of the EU). The European Commission (represents the interests of the EU). Why create the EU? All the member states of the EU have declared a belief in certain fundamental values and aims. Those fundamental values include the securing of lasting peace, unity, equality, freedom, security, solidarity, democracy and the rule of law (Article 6 [1] TEU). Remember that the creation and growth of the EU, like the European Convention on Human Rights, was achieved through the efforts of individuals and states that experienced the horrors and economic aftermath of the Second World War. Since it 3.2 The evolution of the EU The EU has grown out of a series of intergovernmental political initiatives which have been expressed in a number of treaties. These treaties form the building blocks that give authority and power to the institutions and law-making bodies of the EU. The process is evolutionary, as treaties are reviewed and amended to reflect both the changing membership and the vision of the EU. The EU is founded on several treaties: The treaty that established 3.1 Background Like the Council of Europe, the European Union (EU) also arose as the result of the desire to heal political and social scars left by the Second World War. The complete collapse of Europe had led to the creation of ideas, not just for the prevention of such horrors occurring again but also for a new European order. The initial focus for the evolution of what we now call the EU was economic growth. There are many European organisations and it is important to be able to identify correctly 2.6 Summary of Part A The European Convention on Human Rights emerged after the Second World War. Its aim was the protection of certain individual rights. Some of these rights are absolute and there can be no exceptions (derogations), while others are qualified rights. If a right is qualified, a member state may impose legal and proportionate restrictions. The European Court of Human Rights has ultimate responsibility for the interpretation and application of the European Convention on Human Rights. 2.5 The ECHR and UK law OpenLearn unit W100_5 Human rights and the law will explore the Human Rights Act 1998 and its effect and relationship with the ECHR. It is important to remember that both states and individuals can bring a case to the European Court of Human Rights (although some countries have tried to bring restrictions on an individual's right to do so). An individual must have first exhausted all remedies in their own domestic legal system. Both the court and the application procedure differs from that i 2.4 The European Court of Human Rights Common law and the court hierarchy, statutory interpretation and judicial precedent are all peculiar to the domestic English law. The European Court of Human Rights operates in a different way. The rights in the European Convention on Human Rights are stated in general terms and are interpreted according to international legal principles. For example, Article 31(1) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties states: 2.3 Application of the ECHR The ECHR places an important emphasis on individual rights whilst trying to strike a balance between individual and collective rights. 2.2 The Convention itself The ECHR is essentially a charter of rights. Any charter of rights represents a consensus, a negotiated agreement between the drafters. Every state intending to adopt a charter will have its own vision and aims, and the drafters have to find a way of accommodating these visions and aims. This often results in the creation of provisions that are a compromise and are drafted in the widest possible terms. The ECHR is drafted in such a way. It is a vaguely worded aspirational charter inten 2.1 History The Council of Europe was set up in 1949. It is an intergovernmental organisation (based in Strasbourg, France) set up to protect human rights, promote cultural diversity and to combat social problems such as intolerance. Its creation was seen as a way of achieving a European approach to the protection of certain individual rights. Although presented now as historical events, the horrors of what had taken place in the Second World War were then fresh in the minds of the governments and 1 Unit overview Apart from the English Parliament and common law, there are other major sources of legal rule-making that impact on English domestic law. These are the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and European Union (EU) law. In comparison with parliamentary legislation and common law, these sources are a recent development. In fact, both the ECHR and EU are just over 50 years old, having emerged as sources of legal rule making in the mid-twentieth century. This makes them relatively dev Next steps After completing this unit you may wish to study another OpenLearn Study Unit or find out more about this topic. Here are some suggestions: 10 Review of the learning outcomes After studying this unit you should be able to: Part A explain what the common law is and how it developed: In 1154 Henry II institutionalised common law. Judges travelled throughout the country bringing consistent justice to every citizen, and the practice developed where past decisions would be cited in argument before the courts and would be regarded as being of persuasive authority.
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Activity 1 Drafting a charter of rights
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