The European Parliament
The European Parliament is the only European institution directly elected by over 490 million EU citizens. 785 MEPs from the 27 Member States are elected for a five-year term by proportional representation (PR). The last European Parliamentary elections took place in June 2009. The term will run from 2009 to 2014.
The UK is divided into twelve regions, each with between three and ten MEPs. All the MEPs in your constituency represent you. If you live in Wales, for example, you have four MEPs. You can find out who your MEPs are from the London office of the European Parliament.
The Parliament is involved in drafting European Union laws - such as directives and regulations. With each revision of the Treaties, the Parliament has had an increase in its powers in relation to the other EU institutions. It is now a co-legislator - with the Council - which means that it can adopt European laws and accept, amend or reject the content of EU legislation. It also has budgetary powers and has democratic controls over the other EU institutions. In fact the EP has more power than ever before: it examines the Commission's annual work programme and can now ask the Commission to present legislative proposals for laws to the Council.
The EP has a Disability Intergroup, which meets on a regular basis to discuss issues of concern to disabled people, disability groups and the EU institutions.
The European Commission
The European Commission is the politically independent institution that is responsible for defending the general interests of the European Union. It has an almost exclusive right of initiative where EU legislation is concerned and it is the Commission that prepares then implements the legislation adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in the areas where the EU has jurisdiction. The Commission is the guardian of the EU Treaties and has responsibility for ensuring that EU law is implemented in the 27 Member States: it can take infringement action against Member States that do not apply EU law.
The Commission therefore has powers of implementation, management and control. It is the Commission that plans and implements common policies as well as executing the budget and looking after the different EU Community programmes.
The 27 Commissioners - one from each Member States - are elected by the Council, and thus the Member States, for a five-year term. Their work is supported by Directorate Generals (DG), staffed by European civil servants. The current Commission President is José Manuel Barroso, from Portugal.
The Council of the European Union
The Council is the EU's main decision-making body and it defines the general political guidelines of the European Union. It brings together the government of the 27 European Union Member States and the president of the Commission. The Council headquarters are in Brussels and it meets, in different configurations, several times a month.
The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe, which was signed in Rome on 29 October 2004, but has never come into force, proposed to replace individual six-month presidencies by joint eighteen-month presidencies by three member states, the so-called Troikas. Although the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe is not legally binding, member states have decided to adopt the concept of the presiding Trio. The current Trio (January - July 2009) is composed of France, the Czech Republic and Sweden.
The Council takes decisions on proposals from the European Commission and therefore, in conjunction with the Parliament, it acts in a legislative and budgetary capacity. This is generally through a procedure called codecision but can also be through what is called the consultation procedure. It is important to remember that in most cases (for agriculture, employment, health, transport, single market issues etc.), the Council agrees its position through a qualified majority (QMV) system, i.e. a majority of the Member States must agree. Depending on the subject in hand, the Commission can also take decisions by simple majority or unanimously.
The Council also leads on the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and it co-ordinates some economic policies.
NB - Other bodies such as the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe are pan-European organisations and as such are not part of the official EU-27 Institutions.
General access to information
We are working to encourage the European Institutions to improve the accessibility of their information and to make it available in alternative formats upon request. We have together with our European Blind Union partners produced the "European Blind Union access to information guidelines." This booklet explains in easy to understand language how information should be presented so that it is accessible to blind and partially sighted people.
We are using European consultations and European Parliament initiatives to highlight the issues of accessibility of the information society for blind and partially sighted people to the European Institutions.
We have also been pushing for accessibility of public and private websites in responses to European level consultations and European Parliament initiatives. RNIB is a member of the influential EuroAccessibility Consortium.
Get involved!
Would you like to campaign on European issues? If you are interested in how the EU affects you and your day to day life, contact the Campaigns team at campaign@rnib.org.uk or through the campaigns hotline on 020 7391 2123.