European Union law

European Union law is the body of legal rules and regulations that govern the European Union (EU) member states. The EU is a political and economic union of European countries officially formed in 1993. At first, the EU consisted of twelve nations but grew to twenty-eight nations by 2013. The United Kingdom (UK) formally left the EU in 2020, dropping the number of member nations to twenty-seven. As of 2024, the members of the EU are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

EU law is a complex system that originates from treaties signed by the member nations and actions from three legislative branches: the European Commission, European Parliament, and Council of the European Union. Legislation derived from the mutually signed treaties is known as primary law, while laws agreed upon through the legislative process are known as secondary law. Secondary law is itself divided into five types: regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations, and opinions. Regulations, directives, and decisions are considered legally binding, while recommendations and opinions are not.

Overview

The roots of the European Union go back to the years after World War II (1939–1945) and the growing desire among European nations to avert future conflict. The EU began as the European Coal and Steel Community, a six-nation agreement to run their coal and steel industries under common regulations. The idea was proposed in 1950 by French foreign minister Robert Schuman, who believed that it would prevent individual nations from arming themselves for war. The European Coal and Steel Community—consisting of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands—officially took effect in 1952.

Five years later, the six nations agreed to expand their cooperation to other sectors in the hopes of eliminating trade barriers between member nations. Under the Treaty of Rome, they formed the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). In 1967, the three groups merged into a single administrative body commonly referred to as the European Community (EC).

In 1973, Denmark, Ireland, and the UK joined the EC, raising its membership to nine. By 1986, Greece, Spain, and Portugal had also joined. The twelve members of the EC met in the Netherlands in 1992 to sign the Maastricht Treaty, which officially created the EU. The treaty established a common European citizenship among the twelve nations, allowing citizens to move freely across the borders of member states. It also created shared economic and foreign policies and increased cooperation in legal and security matters. The treaty also set the stage for a future common currency, the euro, which became the financial currency of nineteen of the member states in 1999 and began circulating physically in 2002. The Maastricht Treaty took effect on November 1, 1993.

In 1995, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU. Ten new nations joined in 2004, including eight former communist nations: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. They were joined by the island nations of Malta and Cyprus. The former communist nations of Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007; Croatia became the last to join the EU in 2013. Three years later, the UK voted to leave the EU, officially withdrawing on February 1, 2020.

EU Structure

The government of the EU consists of seven institutions grouped into four branches. The executive branch consists of the European Council and the European Commission. The European Council is made up of the twenty-seven heads of state or government of the EU member nations. The Council is headed by a president and typically meets four times a year in Brussels, Belgium. The Council has no power to make laws but does set the political agenda for the EU.

The European Commission is the administrative arm of the EU and sole entity capable of proposing new legislation. The Commission consists of twenty-seven commissioners from each of the member states. One candidate is selected by the European Council to serve as Commission President. He or she then consults with the Council to select a team of twenty-six other commissioners. Each of the nominations is then sent to European Parliament for approval. The Commission is also headquartered in Brussels.

The EU legislative branch comprises the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, which is often referred to as the Council of Ministers. The European Parliament is a body of 705 members who are directly elected by voters in the twenty-seven EU nations. Members serve five-year terms. Members of the European Parliament debate and vote on legislation proposed by the European Commission. The Parliament is based in Strasbourg, France, but also has officers in Luxembourg and Brussels.

The Council of the European Union is made up of twenty-seven government ministers from the EU nations. The composition of the Council varies depending upon the specific policy being discussed. For example, foreign policy legislation would be debated by the nations’ respective foreign ministers; agricultural legislation would be handled by the ministers of agriculture. The Council also meets in Brussels.

The EU’s judicial branch consists of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Auditors. The Court of Justice of the European Union is the highest court in the EU. It has the responsibility of interpreting and clarifying EU law and arbitrating legal disputes. The European Court of Auditors checks the EU’s annual budget to eliminate fraud and ensure that funds are properly spent. Both courts are headquartered in Luxembourg.

The European Central Bank makes up the EU’s financial branch. It monitors and regulates the financial system of the EU and its currency, the euro. The European Central Bank is based in Frankfurt, Germany.

Legislative Process

Unless the EU treaties specifically state otherwise, most European Union law is passed through a process called ordinary legislative procedure. It begins with the European Commission, which meets to discuss the policy direction and strategic objectives of potential legislation. The Commission can propose its own legislation or act on the recommendation of the European Council. Issues may be delegated to staff members known as directorates-general who are experts in a specific policy area. As of 2022, the Commission had a staff of 32,000 people working in more than fifty departments. Legislative proposals are then brought before the twenty-seven Commission members and need a simple majority to pass.

If the Commission approves the legislation, the proposal is sent to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union for approval. In Parliament, the legislation is first discussed in a committee dedicated to a specific policy area. Committee members can approve the legislation, reject it, or suggest changes. The issue is then put before the full Parliament where members vote on the legislation and any proposed amendments.

At this point, the legislation goes before the Council of the European Union. To approve legislation, at least 55 percent of the Council’s ministers must support the law, and these ministers must represent at least 65 percent of the EU’s population. If four member nations representing at least 35 percent of the population vote against a proposal, then that legislation is rejected. Rejected legislation is sent back to the Parliament for further debate. The two bodies continue to negotiate the proposal until they agree upon a final piece of legislation. If the proposal is agreed upon by both institutions, it becomes EU law.

Types of EU Law

The foundational law of the EU is based upon the treaties agreed upon by its member nations and approved by their respective parliaments. The treaties are known as EU primary law and lay out the specific rules, government structures, and relationships between its members. The core of EU primary law was established in the Treaty of Rome and the Maastricht Treaty. In 2007, EU nations agreed to amend their original treaties with a new agreement—the Treaty of Lisbon. Among the provisions of this treaty was the strengthening of the European Parliament and the ability for individual members to leave the EU.

The 1957 Treaty of Rome established five types of secondary law that can be legally binding or non-legally binding. Regulations are binding legal acts that apply to all member states. Once passed, they immediately become part of all EU nations’ national law. Directives are legally binding acts that establish a goal for all member nations to meet. The EU allows each individual member the freedom to implement directives as they see fit. This includes setting their own deadlines to make a directive national law. Decisions are legally binding acts that are targeted at a specific nation or organization. Only the specific entity is required to implement the EU’s decision.

Recommendations are non-binding and represent the EU’s viewpoint on a specific subject. Member nations have a choice of implementing recommendations and face no legal consequences if they choose to ignore the advice. An opinion is the equivalent of a public statement by the EU. They are also not legally binding.

Applications

The treaties—the primary law of the European Union—spell out the fundamental rules of the EU. For example, the criteria for membership in the EU were set forth in the Maastricht Treaty and amended in future agreements. The main conditions for admission are that a perspective member must have a free-market economy and a stable democracy and must adhere to the rule of law. The nation must also agree to follow all EU legislation. One of the primary conditions included in the Maastricht Treaty is that all EU members must eventually join the EU monetary union and accept the euro. As of 2022, nineteen member states used the euro as its primary currency, with the remaining eight members agreeing to do so in the future.

In another application of primary law, the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon redefined the powers of the EU in relation to its member states. The treaty established three competencies, or levels of authority, for the EU. Exclusive competencies are legal areas where only the EU can pass laws. National governments have no jurisdiction over these areas. Exclusive competencies include trade agreements, the EU customs union, and business competition. For example, EU law sets limits on the maximum yearly yield for maritime fishing and fishing fleets. Exclusive competencies also include monetary policy for the member states that accept the euro.

Shared competencies are legal areas in which national governments can pass laws, but only if the EU has not passed any superseding related legislation. Shared competencies can include laws affecting environmental, agricultural, public health, and transportation regulations, among others. Supporting competencies are legal areas in which the EU can only pass legislation that reinforces existing laws in member states. Supporting competencies can affect issues dealing with education, tourism, sports, and social policies.

The number of ordinary legislative procedures passed by the EU varies by year. According to Eur-Lex, the European Union’s online law database, the EU passed forty-four regulations, directives, and decisions in 2011 and amended thirty-three others. In 2021, the EU passed fifty-eight regulations, directives, and decisions and amended twenty-nine.

EU regulations can cover a multitude of legal areas. For example, a 2006 regulation establishes specific guidelines to protect the use of geographical terms for agricultural products. In this way, only products that come from a specific geographical area can label themselves with the region’s name. A type of prosciutto from the Parma region in Northern Italy is the only one legally allowed to call itself Parma ham. Another regulation from 2015 set up common rules for all imports into the EU. A 2019 regulation established the European Labour Authority, an organization created to enforce EU laws on worker mobility.

Some examples of directives include the 2000 Working Time Directive, which limited the number of hours people were allowed to work each week. However, the directive did allow the EU member states to administer the law with some flexibility. A 2006 directive instructed EU nations to coordinate their various rules on the issuance and acceptance of drivers’ licenses. Another directive from 2014 established a framework under which people from non-member nations could enter and work within the EU.

One of the most high-profile decisions in EU history occurred in 2004, when the European Commission fined the software giant Microsoft more than $790 million for its monopolistic competition practices. In 2009, the Commission issued another decision against Microsoft for failing to comply with the 2004 decision. This time, the EU fined the company more than $1.4 billion.

In 2015, the EU issued a recommendation to judicial services workers in member states promoting a more efficient use of videoconferencing across borders. Another recommendation in 2009 advised financial services employers to avoid structuring compensation packages that encourage employees to take financial risks. Opinions are usually issued to state the position of a particular EU institution on work being done by another institution. For example, in 2010, the European Commission issued an opinion on Montenegro’s application to join the EU. The Commission’s opinion came out in favor of the Balkan nation joining the EU. In 2014, the Committee of the Regions, a local EU advisory board, issued an opinion supporting the clean air policy package, which set out goals to reduce air pollution across Europe.

After more than thirty years in existence, by the mid-2020s, many had begun to question the future of the EU. This came in the wake of Brexit and the EU’s tenuous relationship with Russia. As of 2024, ten prospective applicants for EU membership were countries that had been republics of the former Soviet Union. Others had been members of Cold War alliances such as the Warsaw Pact. One of the aspirants, Ukraine, was engaged in a years-long war with Russia. Many perceived new EU members from within these countries as risky given likely Russian opposition. On the other hand, others argued that these members were needed to counteract Russia’s increasingly aggressive postures. Another challenge to the EU was the rise of far-right populism in member countries such as Hungary.  

Many projections have the EU increasing the number of member states from twenty-seven to thirty-five by 2035. A further exit of countries such as England is not in the immediate forecast. Instead of the original, free-market ethos of the EU, others expect it to evolve to a more protectionist nature.

About the Author

Richard Sheposh graduated from Penn State University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and journalism. He spent twenty-three years working in the newspaper industry as a writer and an editor before entering the educational publishing business.

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