European Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

European Law - Essay Example there are The European Committee, The European Court of justice, The European Court of Accounts, The Economic and Social Committee, The Committee of the regions, The European Ombudsman, The European Bank of Investments and The European Central Bank as the institution the EU (Dumitru). The European Parliament is the apex body of the European Union. It represents the citizens of its 27-member countries who are European Union citizens by virtue of their respective country’s membership in the Union. The Parliament members are directly elected by their countries’ people to safeguard their interests in the E.U. Every E.U. citizen is entitled to vote from any E.U. member state they live. Thus every E.U. citizen has right to contest in the election for the E.U.Parliament held once in five years. Thus, the Parliament represents the democratic aspirations of its people through as many as 736 elected members from 27 Member States. Each Member State has a defined number of members to represent and there are seven political parties called political groups transcending the identities of individual member countries besides independently elected members (non-attached) without allegiance to any of the political groups. The Parliament’s General Secretariat is in Luxembourg. While its plenary sessions are held in Strasbourg, Committee meetings take place in Brussels. Parliament is vested with the power for enactment of European legislation. As the laws are passed by the elected members of the Member States, they lend legitimacy to the enactments and become binding on the Member States. As the European Council also has legislative power, the Parliament passes legislation through co-decision with the council. In some subjects, the Council alone can enact but with the consultation of the Parliament. In certain matters of admitting countries as members, Parliament’s assent s required. Second, it supervises the E.U institutions’ functioning. Its supervision over the E.U.