The Institutional System of the European Union

According to the founding treaties, as amended by the Treaty of Maastricht, the European Communities, as well as the European Union had five common community institutions, as follows: 1. the European Parliament; 2. the Council of the European Union; 3. the European Commission; 4. the Court of Justice of the European Communities; 5. The Court of Auditors. Concerning the Court of Auditors, it was created in 1977 to audit the accounts of the community institutions but it was recognized as a separate community institution by the Treaty on the European Union. Following the entering into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the European institutional framework has changed. Therefore, the Lisbon Treaty expressly recognizes the following seven institutions of the European Union: 1. the European Parliament; 2. the European Council; 3. the Council; 4. the European Commission; 5. the Court of Justice of the European Union; 6. the European Central Bank; 7. the Court of Auditors. The institutions are different from the other bodies, such as the European Economic and Social Committee, mainly because they have the powers to adopt compulsory normative act, addressed to the Member States, to the other institutions, as well as to individuals in Member States.

The European Unions institutional system consists of the five institutions and the other bodies provided by the treaties. Each institution must carry out the tasks entrusted by the treaties. Therefore, each institution has its own role, represents and protects specific interests at European level, as follows: 1. the European Parliament represents the interests of the European citizens; 2. the European Council must provide the impetus for the European Unions development and define its political directions and priorities; 3. the Council represents the interests of Member States themselves; 4. the European Commission represents the common interest, meaning the interests of the European Union; 5. the Court of Justice represents the interest of the law, because it ensures the interpretation and the uniform application of European Union Law by Member States and institutions; 6. the European Central Bank is responsible for the European monetary policy; 5. the Court of Auditors controls the financing of activities of the European Union, it verifies the legality and the regularity of operations concerning the accounts of the institutions. The Treaty of Lisbon also organizes and clarifies for the first time the competences and the limits on the European Unions powers, exercised through its institutions. The main rule is that the European Union is able to exercise those powers that have been conferred on it by the Member States. It must respect the fact that all other powers rest with the Member States. Therefore, now the treaties distinguish between three categories of powers of the European Union, as follows: 1. exclusive competence, meaning areas where only the European Union may adopt legally binding acts. Member States can only act if empowered to do so by the European Union or to implement European Unions acts (for example, in the field of custom union, competition or monetary policy of the euro area); 2. shared competence, meaning areas where the European Union and the Member States may adopt compulsory acts. The Member States can only exercise this shared competence if the European Union has not exercised its competence to act (for example, in the field of agriculture, internal market or consumer protection); 3. competence in order to support, coordinate or supplement the action of the Member States, meaning areas where the Member States have primary responsibility to adopt compulsory measures and the European Union may only act in order to support or complete the policies of the Member States (for example, in the fields of education, health or industry).