European Union Law

The Treaty of Lisbon amended the Treaty on European Union (“TEU”) and the Treaty establishing the European Community, which is now called the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”). The Treaty of Lisbon established the ordinary legislative procedure, which according to Article 289 of TFEU, consists in the joint adoption by the European Parliament and the Council of a legislativeact, i.e. regulation, directive or decisions, following a proposal from the Commission. The Treaty of Lisbon puts an end to the complex three-pillar structure of legislation and outlines powers of legislation for EU institutions. The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers are endowed with legislative powers. The Procedures set out in the TFEU and Regulation No 182/2011 outlinesprocedures enabling the institutions to implement Legislative and Non-Legislative acts respectively. Moreover, the EU also acquires legal personality, which was previously reserved for the old Community. It is therefore able henceforth to conclude treaties. Legislative Acts: According to Article 288 of the TFEU, Legislative Acts are “regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations and opinions.”Regulations are binding in their entirety and apply directly to all Member States. Directives are also binding but each Member state has to have national legislation about how to incorporate the directive. Decisions are binding upon the members whom the decision concerns. Finally, recommendations and opinions have no binding force. According to Article 289, “legal acts adopted by legislative procedureshall constitute legislative acts.” Because regulatory acts, regulations, directives and decisions, are binding on all member states, the procedure for regulatory acts is more democratic than other legislative acts. The procedure used for these is entitled “ordinary legislative procedure.” It has to be initiated by the Commission (created by experts and technocrats), submitted to the Council(representing member states) and Parliament (representing the European People) for approval. The European Union’s legislative powers are found in the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon. The TFEU authorizes the EU to make laws in specific fields. Article 289 of the TFEU sets out four legislative procedures by the four EU institutions. Regulation 182/2011 lays down the rules and general principles thatstates can use to control the Commission’s exercise of power. The Commission exercises significant legislative powers because it can exercise its initiative to make proposals to the Council and the Parliament about legislative acts and can implement supplementary acts. The Council and Parliament act by majority or QMV to pass legislative acts. In order to adopt regulations, directives anddecisions, which are binding on all states, the procedure is set out by Article 289 Section 1. These acts must be proposed by the Commission and then jointly adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. Section 2 of Article 289 provides for specific instances where a Treaty requires the adoption of regulations, directives or decisions that are not jointly adopted as in Article 289Section 1. In these instances, where the EU Parliament must adopt the “act”, it has to be with the participation of the Council of Ministers. In the case of the Council of Ministers having to adopt the “act”, then it has to be with the participation of the EU Parliament. These constitute “Special legislative procedures” and the Council and Parliament do not act jointly. Special Legislative proceduresconstitute the consultation procedure and assent procedures. Under the Lisbon Treaty, “both the ordinary procedure and the consultation procedures extended to about forty new fields.”1 Certain treaties may call for legislative acts to be adopted without the initiative of the Commission. Article 289 Section 4 of the TFEU provides that “Legislative acts may be adopted on the initiative of a group...