European Union Institutions

The European Union is composed of five main institutions.

European Commission
The European Commission is sometimes referred to as the executive of the EU. It is the sole proposer of legislation, and it assists the Court of Justice of the EU in making sure member states are following EU rules. The College of Commissioners is at the top of the Commission, with 1 Commissioner from each member state representing a certain policy area. The Commission normally serve 5 year terms, starting from a few months after European Parliament elections. The Commission is also supposed to represent the EU's interests as a whole, and any Commissioners will be expected to not let any past loyalties with their countries affect their work.

The President of the European Commission, currently Jean-Claude Juncker, is elected following European Parliament election results since the Treaty of Lisbon. The European Council currently submit the Commission President candidate (taking into account the results of the European Parliament elections), but the European Parliament can reject that choice should they wish. They also have to approve the College of Commissioners, and at any point during their term, should they wish, the European Parliament can vote to dismiss the College of Commissioners. While this power hasn't been used yet, the threat of can and has had an impact.

The Commission has been a source of lots of controversy, as it isn't directly elected by the people, but in a lot of cases it's hardly less accountable that national governments are. In many places, people don't directly elect cabinet ministers or the "head of state", but they are still held accountable indirectly through the power of Parliaments. This isn't to say there's no case for reform, however. See here in the future for a discussion of that.

European Council
The European Council has limited power in legislating, but its meetings often steer the overall direction the EU is heading in. Comprised of the 28 heads of state of the EU, it meets at least 4 times a year to discuss important EU issues and agree on strategies to tackle them. Other people, like the European Commission President, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy and the European Parliament President will attend meetings to highlight their positions, but they have no voting power within the Council.

The President of the European Council, currently Donald Tusk, is elected whenever the holder's term runs out (2 1/2 years, renewable once). The President is supposed to act as a neutral arbitrator between the governments, and represents the European Council as an institution when they need to.

European Parliament
The European Parliament is comprised of 751 MEPs, directly elected by the citizens of the EU member states. As such, it is supposed to represent the citizens of the EU. European Parliament elections are held every 5 years, with all using some form of proportional representation. MEPs are roughly allocated to member states on the basis of population, but no state can have less than 6 MEPs and no state can have more than 91. The Parliament is best understood as a "co-legislator" with the Council of the EU, as both their consent is needed for laws to be made.

The President of the European Parliament, currently Antonio Tajani, is elected for 2 1/2 year terms, renewable once. They chair debates in the European Parliament and represent its interests to the other institutions.

Council of the European Union
The Council of the EU/Council of Ministers is a "co-legislative" body along with the European Parliament. It is supposed to represent the interests of the member states in EU decisions. Along with the European Parliament, they vote on proposed laws and can reject/amend them. It meets in 10 different configurations, from "Environment", "Competitiveness" and "General Affairs". These configurations are made up of the respective ministers from that area of policy in the member states (for example, the environment ministers from an EU country would take part in the environment council). The Council of the EU also defines the EU's foreign policy. The vast majority of decisions taken by this body are by Qualified Majority Voting - 55% of member states representing at least 65% of the population have to agree.

The Presidency of the Council of the EU (currently Malta) is rotating between member states, with each member state holding the presidency for a 6 month period. During that time, they can guide the discussions/policy and represent the institution when needed. Presidencies are normally combined into groups of 3 (presidency trios) to ensure similar priorities for an 18 month period.

Court of Justice of the EU
The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) is the judicial arm of the EU. Mainly, it has cases with EU law involved referred to it when national courts need the EU law interpreted. As well as that, action can be launched against members that aren't complying with EU regulations, with fines potentially being imposed. The court consists of 28 judges, 1 from each member state. It is split into 2 courts - the General Court normally deals with "competition law, State aid, trade, agriculture, trade marks", while the Court of Justice deals with "requests for preliminary rulings from national courts, certain actions for annulment and appeals." Judges serve 6 year terms.

The 2 courts elect their own Presidents, who serve renewable 3 year terms.

Council of Europe
The Council of Europe isn't an EU institution at all, but commonly gets confused as one and gets confused with the European Council and the Council of the EU. The European Convention/Court on/of Human Rights is also part of the framework of the Council of Europe, rather than the EU. In the EU treaties, reference is made to the EU acceding to the Convention, but this hasn't happened yet. Regardless, all member states of the EU are also members of the Council of Europe, so even were they to withdraw from the EU, they'd still be bound by Convention rights.