The European Union Decision Making Procedure and how to influence it BEUC/X/039/2002
BEUC/X/039/2002 10 October, 2002 Contact : Jim Murray Email : [email protected] Lang : EN The European Consumers’ Organisation The European Union Decision Making Procedure and how to influence it BEUC Seminar for Consumers' Organisations From Accession Countries 10th October 2002 Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs, Avenue de Tervueren 36, bte 4, B-1040 Bruxelles Tel: +32(0)27 43 15 90, Fax: +32(0)27 40 28 02, [email protected], http://www.beuc.org Europäischer Verbraucherverband Europese Consumentenorganisatie Organización Europea de Consumidores Organização Europeia de Consumidores Organizzazione Europea dei Consumatori Neytendasamtök Evrópu Európai Fogyasztók Szervezete Evropska potrošniška organizacija Den Europeiske Forbrukerorganisasjonen Euroopan Kuluttajaliitto Europejska Organizacja Konsumencka Eυρωлαïkή Opyάνωση Kαταναλωτών Den Europæiske Forbrugerorganisation Den Europeiska Konsumentorganisationen How to influence the European Union’s Decision Making Procedure BEUC Seminar 10th of October 2002 PART ONE The EU institutions, and how to influence them Timeline Negotiations begin with all the applicant countries (except Turkey) 1997 1998 Cyprus Czech Republic Estonia Hungary Poland Slovenia 1999 Bulgaria Latvia Lithuania Malta Romania Slovakia Treaty of Nice, December 2000 2000 2001 EP elections, June 2004 2002 2003 2003: Target date for the first accessions 2004 2005 The European Institutions EUROPEAN COMMISSION ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE proposes, manages, regulates represents economic and social groups EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT comments, amends COUNCIL OF MINISTERS decides MEMBER STATES implement COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS represents local governments EUROPEAN COURT adjudicates The Brussels’ scene Industry Trade Organisations Media Non Governmental Organisations European Commission European Parliament Member States Representations Council of Ministers 50,000 influencers and largest press corps in the world The decision making process How to influence the process: European Commission § § § § § First stage in any campaign Regular consultation of BEUC, as the representative of European Consumers Members may be able to influence Commissioners of the same nationality BEUC member expertise and concrete cases may sway Commission thinking Identification of our potential allies within the different services How to influence the process: Council of Ministers § § § § Members lobby with national ministries BEUC lobbies Permanent Representations based in Brussels BEUC/ member co-ordination is essential Memorandum to the Presidency with BEUC priorities How to influence the process: The Council - Current Allocation of Votes Weighting of votes for Member States France Germany Italy United Kingdom Spain Netherlands Portugal 10 10 10 10 8 5 5 Belgium Greece Austria Sweden Denmark Finland Ireland Luxembourg (Qualified Majority requires 62 out of 87/ Blocking Minority is 26 votes ) 5 5 4 4 3 3 3 2 How to influence the process: The Council - future allocation of votes Weighting of votes for Member States and Candidate Countries: France Germany Italy United Kingdom Poland Spain Romania Netherlands Portugal Belgium Greece Czech Republic Hungary Austria 29 29 29 29 27 27 14 13 12 12 12 12 12 10 Bulgaria Sweden Denmark Finland Ireland Lithuania Slovakia Luxembourg Cyprus Estonia Latvia Slovenia Malta 10 10 7 7 7 7 7 4 4 4 4 4 3 How to influence the process: the European Parliament § Maintain good contacts with MEPs and key committees § Make our views understood by relevant committee and appointed rapporteur § Consumer Forum Intergroup How to influence the process: The European Parliament § § § § § § Most impact during first reading Rapporteurs and coordinators are key European perspective, but also National perspective can dominate Meetings at national level and in Brussels At the final stages: very political and very national Why involve the media § § § § Brussels has one of the largest Press Corps in the World Ministers, Commissioners, MEPs may be swayed by articles in influential press BEUC issues press releases before important votes in EP, Council or mid-week Commissioners meeting to try to sway votes Co-ordinated press activity with members to sway national Ministers and MEPs How we work ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Keep informed, through informal contacts and official information Secure agreement between our members Prepare consumer case based on member expertise and data Agree and plan co-ordinated political and media strategies How we must work Expertise Research Facts Develop personal relationships Not just documents Input of our members, for maximum impact Creative communication Use the European & national press PART TWO: How to prepare yourself How to prepare yourself § § § § Ensure your staff learns now how the EU functions and will function Meet members of the Brussels-based accession country missions Meet with national political parties and likely candidates to become MEPs Meet with likely candidate Commissioners Sources of information § § § § § § www.beuc.org www.europa.eu.int/comm/consumers www.europa.eu.int/eur-lex www.europarl.eu.int/addresses/institutions/websites www.euractiv.com Commission and European Parliament offices in your country Background Information I About BEUC BEUC Structure The General Assembly is composed of 34 Members from 24 European countries, from EU, Accession Countries and EEA. The GA determines general BEUC policy & priorities The Executive includes our members from Denmark, Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom. The Executive agrees how to implement the general policy BEUC Secretariat § Director and Deputy § § § § § § Administration and Finance Legal Department Economics Department Food Department Health, Environment and Safety Department Communications Our Publications § § § § § Memorandum, our priorities BEUC in brief, our positions BEUC brochure, our mission Annual report, our activities www.beuc.org, our future Our 40th Anniversary 1962 - 2002: 40 years working for consumers in Europe II The EU institutions, before and after enlargement The European Commission, before enlargement § § § § College of 20 Commissioners, and their cabinets France, Germany, Italy, UK, Spain have two Commissioners each The other Member States have one Commissioner Consumers are represented by Commissioner Byrne The European Commission, before enlargement § DG Sanco (Health and Consumers Affairs) § Very open and transparent § College meets every Wednesday § Commission Press Briefing every day at midday The European Commission, after enlargement § From 2005 the College of Commissioners will be limited to one member per Member State § Another ceiling on the number of Commissioners will be imposed once the Union has 27 Member States § Nationality of Commissioners will be determined by a fair system of rotation The European Commission, after enlargement Much remains undecided for the moment § An elected Commission President? § Increased powers of the President? § President will be able to to decide allocation of portfolios, to reassign responsibilities and to demand a Commissioners’ resignation The Council of Ministers, before enlargement § § § § § § The institution that ultimately decides 6-Month Rotating Presidencies setting the agenda Represented in Brussels by Permanent representations Preparatory work in working groups Very intransparent working procedures Intransparent working procedures The Council of Ministers, after enlargement Again, much remains undecided § § § § No longer a rotating Presidency? No longer setting the agenda? Reduced number of cases in which Member States can impose their veto Increased use of Qualified majority voting The Council of Ministers, after enlargement § § § § § Change in the weighting of votes from 1 January 2005 Weighting dependent on size of population Qualified majority must represent 62% of the total population of the Union Qualified majority threshold to be reviewed after each new accession Lobbying the larger Council likely to be much more difficult The European Parliament, before enlargement § § § § First ever Parliament with EPP as the largest political group Greens and Liberals can shift the balance of the vote Shares co-decision power with the Council Very intransparent procedures: for example informal trialogue with Council during first reading The European Parliament, before enlargement Members of the EP, by party PPE-DE 32 2216 45 PSE 234 50 ELDR GUE-NGL Verts-ALE 52 UEN EDD 175 NI PPE-DE: Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats PSE: Group of the Party of European Socialists ELDR: Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party GUE/NGL: Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left Verts/ALE: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance UEN: Union for Europe of the Nations Group EDD: Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities NI: Non-attached The European Parliament, before enlargement Number of seats, by country 87 87 99 87 9 15 16 16 21 64 22 25 25 25 31 Total: 626 Members Germany France Italy UK Spain Netherlands Greece Portugal Belgium Sweden Austria Finland Denmark Ireland Luxembourg The European Parliament, after enlargement § § § § § A maximum of 732 MEPs Increased qualified majority voting in Council, will generate more co-decision procedures German, French, Italian, Spanish and UK delegations will remain dominant Poland and Romania will have very large delegations Varying & new coalitions will be possible The European Parliament, after enlargement Germany Number of seats by country France Italy United Kingdom Spain Poland 72 Romania 72 72 Netherlands Belgium Greece 50 Portugal 99 Hungary 50 5 6 66 7 8 12 12 13 13 Czech Republic Sw eden Austria 33 25 22 13 17 22 17 18 20 20 22 Bulgaria Denmark Finland Slovakia Ireland Lithuania Latvia Slovenia Cyprus Estonia Luxembourg Total: 732 Members Malta Allocation of seats in the EP Now Decided in Nice German Federal Republic France Italy United Kingdom Spain Poland Romania Netherlands Belgium Greece Portugal Hungary Czech Republic Sweden Austria Bulgaria Denmark Finland Slovakia Ireland Lithuania Latvia Slovenia Cyprus Estonia Luxembourg Malta 99 87 87 87 64 31 25 25 25 22 21 16 16 15 6 - 99 72 72 72 50 50 33 25 22 22 22 20 20 18 17 17 13 13 13 12 12 8 7 6 6 6 5 Total 626 732 Dominant national delegations 60 SPD - D Labour - UK CDU/CSU - D Conservatives - UK LD - UK VVD/D'66 - NL Les Verts - FR Grüne - D 50 40 30 20 10 0 1999-2004 2004-2009 The eight core consumers’ rights
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