Structure

The European Union (EU) is not a federation like the United States. Nor is it simply an organization for co-operation between governments, like the United Nations. It is, in fact, unique. The countries that make up the EU (its "member states") pool their sovereignty in order to gain strength and world influence none of them could have on its own.

Pooling sovereignty means, in practice, that the member states delegate some of their decision-making powers to shared institutions they have created, so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European level.

The EU institutions

There are five EU institutions, each playing a specific role:

• European Parliament, representing the EU citizens and directly elected by them;
• Council of the European Union, representing the individual member states;
• European Commission, acting as an executive body and seeking to uphold the interests of the Union as a whole.

This "institutional triangle" produces the policies and laws (directives, regulations and decisions) that apply throughout the EU. In principle, it is the Commission that proposes new EU laws but it is the Parliament and Council that adopt them.

• Court of Justice, ensuring compliance with the law;
• Court of Auditors, controlling sound and lawful management of the EU budget.

These are flanked by five other important bodies:

• European Economic and Social Committee (expresses the opinions of organized civil society on economic and social issues);
• Committee of the Regions (expresses the opinions of regional and local authorities);
• European Central Bank (responsible for monetary policy and managing the euro);
• European Ombudsman (deals with citizens' complaints about maladministration by any EU institution or body);
• European Investment Bank (helps achieve EU objectives by financing investment projects);

A number of agencies and other bodies complete the system.

Interinstitutional bodies

• The Office for Official Publications of the European Communities publishes, prints and distributes information about the EU and its activities;
• The European Communities Personnel Selection Office recruits staff for the EU institutions and other bodies.

Decentralized agencies

• 16 specialized agencies ("Community agencies") handle specific technical, scientific or management tasks within the EU's "Community domain" (the "first pillar" of the European Union);
• the European Institute for Security Studies and the European Union Satellite Centre handle specific tasks relating to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (the "second pillar" of the European Union);
• Europol and Euro just help co-ordinate police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters (the "third pillar" of the European Union).