Page 109 - SEVEN STEPS for COMPREHENDING the EUROPEAN UNION

108 / SEVEN STEPS FOR COMPREHENDING THE EUROPEAN UNION

Role of EU Institutions in the EU Decision-making Process

th
79
The 13 chapter of the Treaty on the EU (TEU) recognizes seven EU
institutions: the European Commission, the European Parliament, the
Council of the EU, the European Council, the Court of Justice of the
European Union, the European Central Bank and the European Court
of Auditors.
The Court of Justice of the European Union monitors the
implementation of EU legislation in EU member states, while the
European Court of Auditors controls the spending of EU budgetary
resources. The European Central Bank runs the EU monetary policy and
secures the stability of the currency - EURO.
This publication only briefly discusses these three aforementioned
institutions (Court of Justice of the European Union, European Court
of Auditors and European Central Bank) because, as readers will see
later, they are not directly involved in EU decision-making procedures.
EU institutions, such as the European Commission, the European
Parliament and the Council of the EU, however, are direct contributors
to EU decision-making as well as creating EU legislation and initiating-
adopting-implementing various EU policies and initiatives.

EU Decision-making Procedures

The main procedure which is used for adopting EU decisions is the
so-called Ordinary Legislative Procedure which is applied to over
80
85% decisions to be adopted by the EU. In accordance with such a
procedure, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament jointly
adopt any initiative presented by the European Commission. Thus,
in order to adopt an EU decision through the Ordinary Legislative
Procedure, the European Commission initiative has to be approved by
both institutions. Technically, an initiative is initially submitted to the
79 Consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A12012M%2FTXT
The ordinary legislative procedure
80
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/council-eu/decision-making/ordinary-legislative-
procedure/