European commission
Foundation: 1958
Location: Brussels
Composition: 28 commissioners, one for each state.
Functions:
-Propose laws to Parliament and Council
-Manages European policies and allocates EU funds
-Guarantees compliance with legislation
-Represents the EU in the world
European Parliament
Foundation: 1952
Location: Strasbourg/ Brussels
Composition: 751 MEPs
Functions:
-Approves EU legislation (together with the Council of EU)
-Supervise and control institutions
-Approves the budgets of the Union.
European Council
Foundation: 1992
Location: Brussels
Composition: Heads of states and Government
Functions:
-Decides the orientation and political poperties of the UE
-It deals with the most important issues of the Union
-Establishes foreign and security policy.
Council of the European Union
Foundation: 1958
Location: Brussels
Composition: Ministers of each state
Functions:
-Negotiates and adopts EU legislation (together with Parliament)
-Develop foreign and security policy.
-It concludes agreements betwen the EU and other countries or international organizations.
Justice Court
Foundation: 1952
Location: Luxembourg
Composition: One judge per country and 11 general lawyers(Court of Justice) and 56 judges (General Court)
Functions:
-Interpret European lay for national Courts
-Community law applies
-Cancels European regulations if they contravene treaties or fundamental rights.
-Sanctions the European institutions
European Central Bank
Foundation: 1998
Location: Frankfurt
Composition: Central Banks governors and the President and Vice President of the ECB
Functions:
-Fixed interest rates in the eurozone
-Supervises markets and banks
-Guarantees the soundness of the banking systems
-Improves EU financial management
European Court of Auditors
Foundation: 1997
Location: Luxembourg
Functions:
-Checks that EU funds are received and used correctly
-Improves EU financial management