European Union: Power or Integration?

Whenever you hear about European Union, for those who have already recognized their existence that it is not a strange one. Whereas, some others may not even know what kind of entity they are.. Thus, I'll explain here..

European Union is the unity of some European states which are undermined by laws. It has a long history so that it now becomes a distinguished international actor. It now has a Treaty of Lisbon, signed 2002, as the primary law as the fundamental one. However, it also has secondary laws, consists of directives, decisions, recommendations as well as the law.

European Union consists of 27 countries which has each own national interests. The balance of power between EU institutions has shifted overtime since its members has developed from six founding countries to 27 countries now. Thus, in decision-making process, they must meet many debates and conflicts among its members that they want to hold their own national interest.

As day goes by, EU is getting more complex as it raised their member. It has some institutions to run, be in charge, create the laws, maintain, solve and manage the programs and matters around. There are three main institutions which have each own task of maintenance, such as European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Ministers. It will be a long explanation about their tasks but let's just see problems below.

Which institution is the most powerful?

European Union consists of several institutions, some are supranational while some others are inter-governmental insitutions. If the phrase “the most powerful” here means the insitution that may force member states to imply the regulations and directives made by the EU, thus the European Commission is the most powerful one. It, called as the “Guardian of the Treaties”, is a supra-national institution consists of a commissioner from each member states. If the member states do not imply the decisions, it can bring them to the Court of Justice to oblige them to comply the law. However, as European Commission is an “excecutive arm” which runs and implements the EU based on the law, it is responsible before the European Parliament.

Which institution could most accurately be described as the motor of integration?

As the motor of integration, the European Union has the European Parliament as representatives from EU’s citizens, consisting of various kind of organitation areas from different political views of member states. It takes part in the legeslative process by having co-decision procedure along with the Council of EU. Nowadays, EP has This reflects and encourages the bottom-up integration that it do not only come from the government but also the citizens.

Is the relationship between the institutions characterized by cooperation or conflict? Is it a change or continuity?

The relationship between the institutions characterized by cooperation as it is stated above that they have triangle decision-making process or “Ordinary legislative procedure” to create a law for the member states. Moreover, there are also other institutions function in judicial matters, monetary policies, auditing, economic and social issues, etc. They are all cooperating in order to achieve peace and prosperity for its member states and international relationship based on the Community’s common purposes. This is a positive change as European used to have conflicts among countries which was far way from peace and prosperity for the people.

All in all, pertaining to the title of this post, I could conclude that the power of EU's power is impossible without the integration of each member states.

cheers

- M -