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The European Union
Overview
The European Union (EU) is a unique international institution. Although the EU is not is not a unified state, it has created certain institutional bodies that will speak on behalf of the member nations on areas of economic and/or human rights interests. These interests were agreed upon by all members upon signing the EU formation treaties.
The History
On May 5, 1950 France proposed the creation of the “first concrete foundation of a European Federation”. Originally called the European Economic Common Market, initial membership consisted of six countries. The purpose of the EECM was to foster stronger economic ties amongst the member countries through the abolition of tariffs and the promotion of trade. Following the successes of the EECM, and the signing of the Maastricht treaty in 1991, the name was changed to the European Union. Since 1950, nineteen countries have joined the EU in five waves.
The Members
The Original Members
Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands
Joined in 1973
Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom
Joined in 1981
Greece
Joined in 1986
Spain and Portugal
Joined in 1995
Austria, Finland and Sweden
Joined in 2003 (Formally in May 2004)
Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Cyprus, and Malta
Principal Objectives
The principal objectives of the European Union are: to establish European citizenship, to ensure freedom, security and justice, to promote economic and social progress, and to assert Europe's role in the world. One of the qualifications for membership as an EU nation is a domestic abolition of the death penalty. The European Union has also taken a strong stance against the use of the death penalty in non-member nations (see the “Demarche” section below).
Organizational Structure
Five Primary Institutions (All information taken from the EU website)
European Parliament
Elected every five years by direct universal suffrage, the European Parliament is the expression of the democratic will of the Union's 374 million citizens. Brought together within pan-European political groups, the major political parties operating in the Member States are represented.
Parliament has three essential functions:
- It shares with the Council the power to legislate, i.e. to adopt European laws (directives, regulations, decisions). Its involvement in the legislative process helps to guarantee the democratic legitimacy of the texts adopted;
- It shares budgetary authority with the Council, and can therefore influence EU spending. At the end of the procedure, it adopts the budget in its entirety;
- It exercises democratic supervision over the Commission. It approves the nomination of Commissioners and has the right to censure the Commission. It also exercises political supervision over all the institutions.
Council of the Union
The Council is the EU's main decision-making body. It is the embodiment of the Member States, whose representatives it brings together regularly at ministerial level.
According to the matters on the agenda, the Council meets in different compositions: foreign affairs, finance, education, telecommunications, etc.
The Council has a number of key responsibilities:
- It is the Union's legislative body; for a wide range of EU issues, it exercises that legislative power in co-decision with the European Parliament;
- It coordinates the broad economic policies of the Member States;
- It concludes, on behalf of the EU, international agreements with one or more States or international organisations;
- It shares budgetary authority with Parliament;
- It takes the decisions necessary for framing and implementing the common foreign and security policy, on the basis of general guidelines established by the European Council;
- It coordinates the activities of Member States and adopts measures in the field of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
European Commission
The European Commission embodies and upholds the general interest of the Union. The President and Members of the Commission are appointed by the Member States after they have been approved by the European Parliament.
The Commission is the driving force in the Union's institutional system:
- It has the right to initiate draft legislation and therefore presents legislative proposals to Parliament and the Council;
- As the Union's executive body, it is responsible for implementing the European legislation (directives, regulations, decisions), budget and programmes adopted by Parliament and the Council;
- It acts as guardian of the Treaties and, together with the Court of Justice, ensures that Community law is properly applied;
- It represents the Union on the international stage and negotiates international agreements, chiefly in the field of trade and cooperation.
Court of Justice
The Court of Justice ensures that Community law is uniformly interpreted and effectively applied. It has jurisdiction in disputes involving Member States, EU institutions, businesses and individuals. A Court of First Instance has been attached to it since 1989.
Court of Auditors
The Court of Auditors ensures that all the Union's revenue has been received and all its expenditure incurred in a lawful and regular manner and that financial management of the EU budget has been sound.
4 Founding Treaties
- The Treaty to Establish Coal and Steel Community
- The Treaty to Establish a European Economic Community
- The Treaty to Establish the European Atomic Energy Community
- The Treaty on the European Union (Maastricht Treaty)
EU Death Penalty Demarches
The following is a sample of some of the European Union’s demarches on death penalty cases. To read all of the EU’s demarches since 1998, please click
here.
Mental Illness
- Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman (Tennessee)
- Percy Walton (Virginia)
- James Colburn (Texas)
- James Brown (Georgia)
- Alexander Williams (Georgia)
Mental Retardation
Juveniles
- Scott Hain (Oklahoma)
- Ronald Chris Foster (Mississippi)
- Kevin Stanford (Kentucky)
- T.J. Jones (Texas)
- Toronto Patterson (Texas)
- Napoleon Beazley (Texas)
- Chris Simmons (Missouri)
Foreign Nationals
- Javier Medina (Texas) (Mexico)
- Gerardo Valdez (Oklahoma) (Mexico)
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