EU Institutions and Public Affairs Training

2 July 2010

Outline

The EU institutions and the balance of power

The European Commission Role, Structure, People

The European Parliament Role, political landscape, Committees and key MEPs, Voting behaviour patterns

The Council of Ministers Know your Councils, Role, Presidencies, Levels of negotiation, Voting system

EU Lobbying

Today’s objectives

• Today we will provide a basic understanding of the key players and functioning of the EU institutions and how to interact with them:

–Who are the key players?

–What do they do?

–How are decisions really made?

EU Institutions and balance of power

proposes

Parliament Council

amends/decides amends/decides

Commission

The Treaty of Lisbon

• Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009

• Amends the current EU and EC treaties, without replacing them. • Creation of two new posts:

– President of the European Council: Herman Van Rompuy– High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security

Policy: Catherine Ashton

• Impact on institutions (limited) is the following:– Increased involvement of the EP in the legislative process through

extended co-decision with the Council on a number of issues such as trade, budget, agriculture, transport, regional aid and justice and home affairs

– EP will decide on the entire EU budget together with the Council– Size of the Commission will reduce from 1 per Member State to 1

for two-thirds of Member States from 2014– The number of MEPs will be limited to 750

Institutional balance of power

European CommissionRepresents the EU interestAppointed, not elected - civil servants

European ParliamentRepresents EU citizens & political ideasDirectly electedPolitical groupsRight of scrutiny over the Executive and non-elected body

Council of the European UnionRepresents Member States’ governmentsGeopolitics (North/South; Atlantic / Mediterranean; East/West)Size and weight (QMV)Old and new Member States

COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

Working Group: Government Perm Reps

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

[Lead Committee]

NO TIME LIMIT MAX. 4 MONTHS

MAX. 4 MONTHS

CONCILIATION

PARLIAMENT COUNCIL COMMISSION

(FACILITATOR)

MAX 24 WEEKS

PROPOSAL FIRST READING SECOND READING THIRD READING ADOPTION

OPINION(1st Reading)

OPINION(2nd Reading)

NO TIME LIMIT

COMMON POSITION [Timing]

ADOPTED

LEGISLATION

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

[Lead Committee]

COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

Working Group: Government Perm Reps

The Co-decision Procedure

European Commission

• Who is the Commission?– 27 Commissioners – political appointees– 23,000 civil servants – jobs for life.– The defender of the European interest

• What do they do?

• The Administration of the European Union – right of initiative and implementation of existing legislation

• Guardian of the Treaty – launches infringements procedures

• The European Antitrust Authority

• The Trade Negotiator of the European Union

• The Think Tank of the European Union

The European Commission

European Commission in a nutshell

Commission: total staff of around 24,000 (excl. external staff).

‘College’ of 27 Commissioners • Appointed every 5 years within 6 months of the European Parliament elections

(next: November 2014) • Decision making body of the Commission, alongside the relevant Commission’s

Directorate Generals• 1 Commissioner per Member State • Portfolios similar to national governments• Loyalty to the EU, not to the Member States

Drafting of legislative proposals

Stakeholder consultation

(duration: +/- 8 weeks)

Unit

Director

Director General

DG DG DG

Inter-service consultation(10-15 days allocated)

Commissioner’s Cabinet

Heads of Cabinets

College of Commissioners

Council of Ministers

European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament

•Democratic Representation

(only directly elected institution)•Platform for political debate •3 fundamental powers:

–Legislative power Amends and adopts legislative texts No power to initiate European legislative proposals Power of political initiative

–Budgetary power

–Supervisory power Right to approve/reject newly appointed Commissioners Power to censure Commission Regular reports by Commission and Council Presidency Right to table written and oral questions

European Parliament Outline

• Elected every 5 years (next: June 2014).

• 736 MEPs (Germany with the most: 99; Malta with the least: 5).

• 1or 2 assistants per MEP on average.

• Three seats: Brussels (committees), Strasbourg (plenary), Luxembourg (administration)

• 20 Committees, 2 sub-committees, 1 temporary committee, 35 delegations, informal inter-groups

• Secretariat with some 5,000 staff, of whom about 1,500 work in the linguistic services covering a total of 23 working languages.

• The EP’s budget for 2009 is €1,53 billion, which covered staff costs, buildings, MEPs' travel allowance and expenses.

European Parliament Key Facts

• 20 parliamentary committees

• A committee consists of between 30 and 76 MEPs, and has a chair, a bureau and a secretariat. The political make-up of the committees reflects that of the plenary assembly

• Committees meet once or twice a month in Brussels. Their debates are held in public.

• The committees amend and adopt legislative proposals.

• Parliament can also set up sub-committees and temporary committees to deal with specific issues, and committees of inquiry under its supervisory remit.

• MEPs might also set up interest groups – not part of formal structures but political platform.

The European Parliament Political Make Up

35

184

5485

264

54

31

26 NI736 MEPs

49%

5%

25%

7%

11%

36%

7%

4%

4%

GUE-NGL PASDE Greens ALDE EPP-ED ECRG EFD NI

European Parliament Decision Making Procedure

Commission

EP appoints Committees and Rapporteurs

Committee Debates

Deadline for Amendments

Committee Vote

Plenary Vote

Deadline for Amendments

Council

Co-decision competence

• Environment (Energy)

• Transport

• Trans-European networks (Energy)

• Research

• Non-discrimination on the basis of nationality

• The right to move and reside

• The free movement of workers

• Social security for migrant workers

• The right of establishment

• The internal market (Energy)

• Employment

• Customs co-operation

• Equal opportunities and equal treatment

• The fight against social exclusion

• Implementing decisions regarding the European Social Fund

• Education

• Culture

• Health

• Vocational training

• Consumer protection

• Transparency

• Implementing decisions regarding the European Regional Development Fund

• Preventing and combating fraud

• Statistics

• Establishment of a data protection advisory body

The co-decision procedure, as established by the Maastricht Treaty, applies to the following policy areas:

The Lisbon Treaty has extended the application of the co-decision procedure to a larger number of policy areas, therefore giving more decision-making powers to the Parliament. These areas include agriculture, energy security, immigration, justice and home affairs, health and structural funds

Consultation competence

• Police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters

• Revision of the treaties

• Discrimination based on gender, race or ethnic origin, religion, political beliefs, handicap, age or sexual orientation

• European citizenship

• Legal immigration and the other policies connected to the free movement of people

•Competition law

•Tax provisions

•Economic policy

In the consultation procedure, the Commission submits a proposal to the Council, which then consults the European Parliament. While it is not bound by Parliament's opinion, the Council must nevertheless consult it in a certain number of cases, failing which the proposal cannot become legally binding:

Some EP voting behaviour patterns

• Political groups vs. political groups

• Committee vs. committee

• Alliance of national delegations

• Pro-environment MEPs

• Ad-hoc coalitions on specific issues

The Council of Ministers

Council of the European Union: also referred to as the Council of Ministers, the Council of the European Union is one of the 3 key EU institutions, together with the Parliament and the Commission.

European Council: this is the official name for the summits of EU leaders, which take place every 3 months, taking high-level political decisions and setting the strategic direction of the EU.

Council of Europe: a separate organisation based in Strasbourg, whose aim is to promote human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation.

Council of Ministers: know your Councils

Council of the EU

• Who is the Council?• Represents 27 individual Member States• Rotating six-month Presidency sets the Council’s political agenda • Permanent Representations as ‘Ambassadors’

• What do they do?

• Pass European law - jointly with EP

• Co-ordinate Member States policies

• Conclude international agreements

• Approve EU budget – jointly with EP

• Develop EU‘s Common Foreign & Security Policy

• Diplomatic, ‘secretive’ decision-making, the least transparent institution.

Decision-maker, shares with Parliament the responsibility for passing laws and taking policy decisions.

Representative of the 27 national governments.

Meets in different compositions depending on issue: Environment, Competitiveness, etc.

Rotating six-month Presidency sets the Council’s political agenda.

Diplomatic, ‘secretive’ decision-making, the least transparent institution.

Recent attempts to make it more transparent: when the Council addresses a proposal that falls under the co-decision procedure, the public will be able to listen to:

- The initial presentation by the Commission and the ensuing debate

- The final vote and explanations of voting by Ministers

Council of Ministers: its role

Council of Ministers: 3 levels of negotiation

Working Groups

COREPER

Ministers

The Council Decision Making Process

Council

COREPER

Council Working Groups

Political levelMinisters

Technical LevelsAttachés

Permanent Representatives

Brussels Member StatesBrussels

Heads of Government / Ministers

National experts

Working Group level:

First stage

Attended by attachés from Perm Reps and experts from MS capital cities.

• Working group discussions take place in parallel to EP with ongoing advice/intervention from Commission.

COREPER level:Second stage

Negotiate preliminary deals prior to Council meetings.

• Trade-offs possible.

Committee of Permanent Representatives

• COREPER II: MS Ambassadors

• COREPER I: MS Deputy Ambassadors

Council of Mins level:Final stage

• Each Council meeting -Environment, Energy, Competition, etc - consists of relevant ministers from the national governments of all 27 MSs.

• Each country has a number of votes in the Council broadly reflecting the size of their population, but weighted in favour of smaller countries.

• Most decisions are taken by qualified majority vote, although ‘sensitive’ issues such as defence, taxation, foreign policy require unanimity.

Council of Ministers: 3 levels of negotiation

Technical Political

Possibilty to influence

Council of Ministers voting system

The Council votes either by unanimity, when everyone has to be in agreement, or qualified majority voting - a system of weighted votes.

QMV is the most common method of decision-making, used in all but the most sensitive issues such as social policy, taxation, defence, foreign policy and treaty revision.

Since the entering into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009, the conditions for passing a vote have been simplified. Indeed, a QMV decision requires now a 'double majority' of 55% of MSs representing 65% of citizens. The aim of this change was to make it more difficult for a minority of countries to block a decision.

Council of Ministers voting system

Member State Votes allocated

Germany 29

United Kingdom 29

France 29

Italy 29

Spain 27

Poland 27

Romania 14

Netherlands 13

Greece 12

Czech Republic 12

Belgium 12

Hungary 12

Portugal 12

Sweden 10

Austria 10

Bulgaria 10

Member State Votes allocated

Slovakia 7

Denmark 7

Finland 7

Ireland 7

Lithuania 7

Latvia 4

Slovenia 4

Estonia 4

Cyprus 4

Luxembourg 4

Malta 3

Total 345

Qualified majority 255

Introducing lobbying

Introducing lobbying

What is the purpose of EU lobbying?

• Essentially to communicate a message in view to:

– Achieve a desired legislative outcome

– Strategic positioning (in a policy debate, for example) & reputation

What is lobbying in the EU

• Conflict avoidance

• Be part of the solution

• Sustained working relations with EU decision-makers

• Reputation

Who are the lobbyists?

• Companies, trade associations, NGOs, consumer groups, trade unions, industry federations, governments, international organisations, the media, consultants

Lobbying in Brussels: A competitive environment

• 27 Member States

• 25,000 policy and decision-makers

• 194 diplomatic representations

• > 3,000 interest groups

• > 15,000 lobbyists

• 4,400 lobbyists accredited by the European Parliament

Influences on the Decision Making Procedure

Technical/Regulatory Agencies

EEA

OFT

SESAR

Companies

Microsoft

Shell

Nestle

CitizenOrganisations

BEUCEuropean Transport Safety

Council

Think-tanks

EPC, CEPS,

Friends of Europe

Third countries

Diplomatic missions NGOs

Media

Brussels press corpsMedia in key markets

Trade Press

Trade Associations

BusinessEuropeDigital Europe

EuropiaIFOAM

GreenpeaceWWFOxfam

National Governments

EU Institutions

• Mastering the information flows

• Analysing and understanding the issues & impacts

• Strategy: Does it matter? (resources) -Taking action

• Focused approach on key issues

• Influence: Communicating with target audiences in time to achieve goals

• Geographical reach to 27 MS

What does lobbying involve?

Golden Rules for Lobbying

• Good knowledge of EU institutions and decision-making process

• Following all relevant issues

• Anticipating upcoming issues and events – early warning

• Analysis of processes

• Stakeholder analysis

•Coalition Building

• Strong personal network and relationships with opinion leaders and decision-makers

• Timing is essential

• Be honest – Brussels is too small to lose your credibility

Desired outcome

Innovation

Tech. expertise

Competitiveness

Gaining Influence

Reputation

RegulationEnergy

Responsive

Environment

Transport

Business

Successful Lobby Groups

Multiple channels and levelsof communication

Is lobbying positive?

• “What gives the lobbyists influence is the people who hire them to work for them. It's all the people they represent.” – Bill Clinton

"The practice of lobbying in order to influence political decisions is a legitimate and necessary part of the democratic process. Individuals and organisations reasonably want to influence decisions that may affect them, those around them, and their environment. Government in turn needs access to the knowledge and views that lobbying can bring." – UK House of Commons Select Committee