voting deserves separate attention because it marks a significant transfer of sover-
eignty from the Member States to the EU. After a crisis during the 1960s (the
“empty chair crisis”), it was established that the decision-making procedure for the
Council allowed every Member State to veto a decision. This vetoing power was
also adopted for the Council; it guaranteed every Member State that EU legislation
could not be imposed upon it against its will.
In the ordinary legislative procedure, which was only adopted under the Lisbon
Treaty of 2007, it is possible to overrule a Member State. Member States do not
have a say in the Commission, or in the European Parliament, although nationals of
the Member States normally will participate in these two institutions. However,
these nationals do not act on behalf of their home states. Therefore, if a Member
State wants to block legislation, it must do so in the Council. However, the ordinary
legislative procedure makes it possible to overrule individual Member States in the
procedure with qualified majority voting.
Article 16, Section 4 TEU:
As from 1 November 2014, a qualified majority shall be defined as at least 55 % of the
members of the Council, comprising at least fifteen of them, and representing Member
States comprising at least 65 % of the population of the Union.
A blocking minority must include at least four Council members, failing which the
qualified majority shall be deemed attained.10.4 Main Institutions of the EU
The EU consists of several smaller organizations. The more important of these
smaller organizations are called “institutions,” and these institutions can still be
subdivided into main institutions and “the rest.” Here we will only discuss the main
institutions, which are the
- Commission,
- European Parliament,
- European Council,
- Council of Ministers,
- Court of Justice of the European Union.
10.4.1 The Commission
The seat of the Commission is in Brussels. The Commission is led by the President
of the European Commission, a function that is presently fulfilled by Jose ́Manuel
Durao Barroso.
To fulfill its many tasks, the Commission avails over a bureaucratic apparatus of
around 26,000 members (as it was in 2008).
218 J. Hage