EUROPE

Europe

EUROPE

In our view, if people knew the facts about the European Union
they would be worried about it. If it were suggested outright as
a proposal it would be rejected, even violently opposed. As it is,
it is a sneaking change which substantially reduces our
democracy. But because it is done bit by bit, and because they
have repeatedly denied intentions which they then later carry
out, opposition never forms against it as it otherwise would.

Most people don't know how the European Union is structured.
There follows below a very brief outline. We suggest you read
this, and in any other way you can (visit the European Union
website) try to find out how the European Union works, as it can
and does make laws which you have to obey

How the European Union works

There are three main parts of the European Union.
The parliament is only one third of the structure. There are two
other bodies more powerful than the parliament.

1 The EUROPEAN COUNCIL.(0r sometimes called the Council
of Ministers)
These are the Prime Ministers of the member states. This is
where the main policy decisions are made.{There are other
smaller summits, of say, the Environment ministers of each
member state, or the foreign ministers and so on, and these are
called the Environment Council, Foreign Council etc.But when it
is the Prime Ministers this is called the EUROPEAN COUNCIL}

This Council of Prime Ministers is the main decision making
body. They make all the decisions about the direction the
European Union will take. These are the areas these councils
cover;

General Affairs and External Relations
Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN)
Justice and Home Affairs (JHA)
Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs
Competitiveness
Transport, Telecommunications and Energy
Agriculture and Fisheries
Environment
Education, Youth and Culture

How they actually vote is that each country carries a certain
number of votes according to its population. Except in the areas
of tax, immigration, assylum, security and foreign policy,where
voting has to be unanimous, a majority of 255 out of 345
carries the vote, as long as it represents 62% of the population
of the European Union.

Each minister in these councils is taken as having the full
authority of his country, that is, of his government and his
parliament, and therefore his people. His signature on an act is
binding and becomes law, which must be obeyed in all countries
in the European Union.

2 THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

The law making part of the European Union is called the
COMMISSION. This is the body which actually drafts the laws
which will govern all the European Union territories in the policy
areas listed above.

{To Compare; In Britain, and in most other parliamentary
democracies, it is parliament which makes these laws, and
parliament is dominated by the party which has won the most
seats in a general election.}

This COMMISSION is a body of 27 people, one from each
member state, who are appointed by the Council of Ministers,
and stay in office for 5 years.

At present Britain's appointee is Peter Mandleson. Previous
Commissioners from Britain have included Neil Kinnock, John
Patten.

The commissioners are expected to be independent of their
countries and to instead uphold the interests of the European
Union as a whole, rather than the interests of their own
countries.

These 27 people are the only body with the power to draft
proposals for actual laws, which it then presents to the Council
and the to the European Parliament (see below)for approval.
They are responsible for drafting the budget and for
implementing the European Union's laws and programmes, and
spending its funds.

The COMMISSION is referred to as the Executive arm of the
European Union. (to clarify this term, Britain's Executive arm is
the Government) It has a staff of 25,000 to implement its
policies.

3 The EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
This is where the Euro MPs sit (MEPS)and they are elected in
the Euro elections once every 5 years.
There are 735 seats, each country having seats in proportion to
its population.
The parliament's role is largely consultative .Unlike our
parliament, it does NOT control or determine in any way, the
executive. It has to be consulted and has the choice to give
assent to a proposed law, or to reject it. In some cases only it
has the right to ask for ammendments. More recently a system
called Codecision is being used for most EU lawmaking, to give
parliament more power, supposedly equal to the Council.

4. Along with these bodies is the European Court of Justice,
which is responsible for enforcing the laws made by the
European Union. Any country found to be breaking one of these
laws can be heavily fined and this way the laws are imposed.

The Working Class Party