An overview of how the EU’s different parts are appointed, and their links back to the union’s states and people.
Commission
President: José Manuel Barroso (Portugal)
UK commissioner: Baroness Catherine Ashton (foreign affairs)
Irish commissioner: Máire Geoghegan-Quinn (research, innovation and science)
The 27 commissioners are unelected, with each one nominated by a member state government. Once established, the Commission is independent of the governments and tasked with protecting the interests of the EU as whole. Its power rests in its ability to propose legislation, something which neither the Council nor Parliament can do. The other two institutions will then influence the legislation and the Commission ensures that the end result is implemented.
Each Commission is appointed after the European Parliament election, held every five years. Member states firstly agree on a new President, who must then be approved by the Parliament. The President then discusses whom shall fill the other posts with the national governments.
The Council approves the list of commissioners by qualified majority voting and sends that to the Parliament for approval. Each nominee is interviewed and MEPs vote to reject or accept the whole Commission. It is then formally appointed by the Council, again by qualified majority. Commissioners attend European Parliament meetings and can be dismissed by a vote of censure from MEPs. The Lisbon Treaty also requires commissioners to resign if this is requested by the President. They can also be removed by a Court of Justice judgment.
European Council
President: Herman van Rompuy (Belgium)
UK Prime Minister: David Cameron MP
Taoiseach:Brian Cowen TD
The European Council is the top-level grouping of prime ministers and also heads of state, where they have power in government e.g. the French President. The Commission
President is also a member and it has its own President, Herman van Rompuy (pictured). The European Council President is chosen by the Council, using qualified majority voting, for a two- and-a-half year term which is renewable once.
Meetings take place around four times per year and set the strategic direction of the EU.
Council of the European Union
Presidency: Belgium (July-December 2010)
UK Foreign Secretary: William Hague MP
Europe Minister: David Lidington MP
Ireland Foreign Minister: Micheál Martin TD
Europe Minister: Dick Roche TD
The Council consists of ministers from all member state governments, which are therefore democratically elected at a national level. It meets almost monthly and its presidency rotates among countries every six months. A country’s share of the 345 votes depends on its population; the UK has 29 and Ireland seven.
Not all governments are equally accountable to their electorates. In Northern Ireland, the Conservatives are the only national party running for seats so local voters have little say in the UK Government’s formation. Lidington was Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary from 2003 to 2007.
Parliament
President: Jerzy Buzek MEP (Poland)
UK MEPs: 72
Irish MEPs: 12
The only EU institution with its own elections, the Parliament is seen as most democratic part of the EU. Its 736 members have a five-year term. Proportional representation must be used.
Vacancies are generally filled by co-option i.e. an MEP is replaced by a party nominee if he or she stands down. Research by agendaNi suggests that Malta is the only country which now allows for by- elections; the island state sometimes uses co-options instead.
Northern Ireland is one of the few areas of the EU where voters choose their own MEP, by single transferable vote. Ireland and Malta are the other two countries using that system. Just 20 MEPs are therefore elected in person. All others use list systems, where a party draws up its own slate of candidates. These systems assume that people will back a party rather than a person. The first candidate on the list has the best chance of being elected and the last has the least; personal popularity is not tested by voters.
Five countries use regional lists, where the country is sub-divided up into constituencies i.e. the UK (for seats in Great Britain), Belgium, France, Italy and Poland. The remainder have national lists, where the whole country is a constituency. The largest ‘constituency’ is therefore Germany (99 seats), followed by Spain (54 seats). Altogether, the Parliament represents around 500 million people but voter turnout fell to a low of 43 per cent in the 2009 elections. Northern Ireland’s 42.8 per cent figure therefore almost met the broad trend. The UK’s turnout was 34.7 per cent and the Republic’s voters took a greater interest, with 58.6 per cent participating.
Committee of the Regions
President: Mercedes Bresso (Italy)
UK members: 24
Irish members: 9
The committee is an advisory body, comprising 344 local and regional elected representatives across Europe; its term is five years. Northern Ireland has four members: Jonathan Bell, John Dallat, Francie Molloy and Arnold Hatch.
The Northern Ireland Assembly and NILGA make two nominations each, which are then approved by the Assembly. These names are submitted by the UK Foreign Office to the Council, which makes the final appointments and can fill any vacancies.
Economic and Social Committee
President: Mario Sepi (Italy, pictured left)
UK members: 24
Irish members: 9
Also an advisory body, the Economic and Social Committee (EESC) again has 344 members, appointed by the Council in the same proportions as for the Committee of the Regions, and also for five years.
There are three groups of members: employers, employees and ‘various interests’ – the latter is a catch- all grouping drawn from professional organisations, scientists, academics and NGOs. This is designed to make the committee reflect European society as a whole, rather than just the two employment groups.
The UK Department for Business advertises for nominees to the first two groups. The third is filled by open competition with applications being sent to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Final approval in all cases rests with the Prime Minister; the First and deputy First Ministers also need to approve Northern Ireland nominees.
Northern Ireland’s two representatives – Jane Morrice and Mike Smyth – sit in the various interests category. Selection criteria include relevant experience in EESC areas, personal motivation and having time to prepare for attend meetings. Speaking a foreign language is an advantage.
Media missing out?
Journalists see their duty as holding those in authority to account but, according to two MEPs, Europe is the missing story in local pages and programmes.
Jim Nicholson remarked that the farming press gets “miles of print” out of the EU but “to get publicity on any other subject in Europe is near neigh an impossibility.” He pointed out that regional TV stations in England regularly interview their MEPs.
Nicholson thinks that local journalists lack interest in Europe and or “don’t want to find out some of the real stories that are going on.” MLAs tend to be interviewed about Europe rather than MEPs. He admits that EU stories are sometimes complicated but adds that good news, from Europe, does not sell newspapers.
Bairbre de Brún suggests the answer is to “tell stories”. For example, if a journalist was covering a post office closure, he or she would start by explaining its local impact rather than getting tied up in the technicalities of how the decision was made.
“It just takes a little more research for a journalist to do the same thing with the EU. I think that a lot of journalists get switched off by the fact that it’s ‘EU’ and by the fear that their readers will switch off when it’s ‘EU’.” She finds the apathy “amazing” given that many laws in the Assembly have their origins in Europe.
Diane Dodds finds the same difficulty and, as a Eurosceptic, is keen that people are “tuned in” so they can keep a watch on the EU. One relevant story she picks out is the proposal to limit self-employed lorry drivers’ working hours under the Working Time Directive.
The European Parliament provides press accreditation for visiting regional journalists and its UK office organises regular visits to the Parliament.
Tags: Europe
