Editing European Economic Community (section)

==Institutions==
{{Further|Institutions of the European Union}}
There were three political institutions which held the executive and legislative power of the EEC, plus one judicial institution and a fifth body created in 1975. These institutions (except for the auditors) were created in 1957 by the EEC but from 1967 onwards they applied to all three Communities. The Council represents the member state governments, the Parliament represents citizens and the Commission represents the European interest.<ref name="Europa Institutions Commission">{{Cite web|title=Institutions: The European Commission|publisher=[[Europa (web portal)]]|url=http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/comm/index_en.htm|access-date=25 June 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623104055/http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/comm/index_en.htm|archive-date=23 June 2007}}</ref> Essentially, the council, Parliament or another party place a request for legislation to the commission. The Commission then drafts this and presents it to the council for approval and the Parliament for an opinion (in some cases it had a veto, depending upon the [[European Union legislative procedure|legislative procedure]] in use). The commission's duty is to ensure it is implemented by dealing with the day-to-day running of the Union and taking others to Court if they fail to comply.<ref name="Europa Institutions Commission"/> After the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, these institutions became those of the European Union, though limited in some areas due to the pillar structure. Despite this, Parliament in particular has gained more power over legislation and security of the commission. The Court of Justice was the highest authority in the law, settling legal disputes in the Community, while the Auditors had no power but to investigate.

===Background===
[[File:Luxembourg0080.JPG|thumb|The High Authority had more executive powers than the Commission which replaced it.]]
The EEC inherited some of the [[European Coal and Steel Community#Institutions|Institutions of the ECSC]] in that the [[European Parliament|Common Assembly]] and [[European Court of Justice|Court of Justice]] of the ECSC had their authority extended to the EEC and Euratom in the same role. However the EEC, and Euratom, had different executive bodies to the ECSC. In place of the ECSC's Council of Ministers was the [[Council of the European Union|Council of the European Economic Community]], and in place of the [[High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community|High Authority]] was the [[European Commission|Commission of the European Communities]].

There was greater difference between these than name: the French government of the day had grown suspicious of the supranational power of the High Authority and sought to curb its powers in favour of the intergovernmental style Council. Hence the council had a greater executive role in the running of the EEC than was the situation in the ECSC. By virtue of the [[Merger Treaty]] in 1967, the executives of the ECSC and Euratom were merged with that of the EEC, creating a single institutional structure governing the three separate Communities. From here on, the term ''European Communities'' were used for the institutions (for example, from ''Commission of the European Economic Community'' to the ''Commission of the European Communities'').<ref name="ENA Merger">{{Cite web|title=Merging of the executives|publisher=CVCE|url=http://www.cvce.eu/obj/merging_the_executives-en-575850b6-f472-406a-936d-8c08a9e0db32.html|access-date=26 April 2013}}</ref><ref name="ENA Council">{{Cite web|publisher=CVCE|title=Council of the European Union|url=http://www.cvce.eu/obj/the_council_of_the_european_union-en-de23700c-e50a-4e0e-a7de-80665e4caf9f.html|access-date=26 April 2013}}</ref><ref name="ENA Commission">{{Cite web|title=European Commission|publisher=CVCE|url=http://www.cvce.eu/obj/european_commission-en-281a3c0c-839a-48fd-b69c-bc2588c780ec.html|access-date=26 April 2013}}</ref>

===Council===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F078267-0023, Bonn, Ministerpräsidenten mit EU-Kommissar Delors-CROPPED.jpg|thumb|[[President of the European Commission|President]] [[Jacques Delors]], the last EEC Commission President]]

The [[Council of the European Union|Council of the European Communities]] was a body holding legislative and executive powers and was thus the main decision-making body of the Community. Its [[Presidency of the Council of the European Union|Presidency]] rotated between the [[European Union member state|member states]] every six months and it is related to the [[European Council]], which was an informal gathering of national leaders (started in 1961) on the same basis as the council.<ref name="Europa Institutions Council">{{Cite web|title=Institutions: The Council of the European Union|publisher=[[Europa (web portal)]]|url=http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/council/index_en.htm|access-date=25 June 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703155822/http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/council/index_en.htm|archive-date=3 July 2007}}</ref>

The council was composed of one national [[Minister (government)|minister]] from each member state. However the Council met in various forms depending upon the topic. For example, if agriculture was being discussed, the council would be composed of each national minister for agriculture. They represented their governments and were accountable to their national political systems. Votes were taken either by majority (with votes allocated according to population) or unanimity. In these various forms they share some legislative and budgetary power of the Parliament.<ref name="Europa Institutions Council"/> Since the 1960s the council also began to meet informally at the level of heads of government and heads of state; these [[European Council|European summits]] followed the same presidency system and secretariat as the council but was not a formal formation of it.

===Commission===
The [[European Commission|Commission of the European Communities]] was the [[Executive (government)|executive arm]] of the community, drafting [[European Union law|Community law]], dealing with the day to running of the Community and upholding the [[Treaties of the European Union|treaties]]. It was designed to be independent, representing the interest of the Community as a whole. Every member state submitted one commissioner (two from each of the larger states, one from the smaller states). One of its members was the [[President of the European Commission|President]], appointed by the council, who chaired the body and represented it.

===Parliament===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F023908-0002, Straßburg, Tagung des Europarates.jpg|thumb|The [[European Parliament]] held its first elections in 1979, slowly gaining more influence over Community decision making.]]
Under the Community, the [[European Parliament]] (formerly the European Parliamentary Assembly) had an advisory role to the Council and Commission. There were a number of [[European Union legislative procedure|Community legislative procedures]], at first there was only the [[consultation procedure]], which meant Parliament had to be consulted, although it was often ignored.<ref>{{Cite web|date=29 May 2019|title=Europeans used to ignore their parliament. Not any longer {{!}} Caroline de Gruyter|url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/29/europeans-parliament-young-people-eu|access-date=31 August 2022|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Sebald|first=Christoph|date=31 August 2022|title=The European Parliament needs independence and a strong voice|url=https://www.thenewfederalist.eu/The-European-Parliament-needs-independence-and-a-strong-voice,05603|access-date=31 August 2022|website=The New Federalist|language=en}}</ref> The [[Single European Act]] gave Parliament more power, with the [[assent procedure]] giving it a right to veto proposals and the [[cooperation procedure]] giving it equal power with the Council if the council was not unanimous.

In 1970 and 1975, the [[Budgetary treaties of the European Communities|Budgetary treaties]] gave Parliament power over the [[Budget of the European Union|Community budget]]. The Parliament's members, up-until 1980 were national MPs serving part-time in the Parliament. The Treaties of Rome had required elections to be held once the council had decided on a voting system, but this did not happen and elections were delayed until 1979 (see [[1979 European Parliament election]]). After that, Parliament was elected every five years. In the following 20 years, it gradually won co-decision powers with the Council over the adoption of legislation, the right to approve or reject the appointment of the Commission President and the commission as a whole, and the right to approve or reject international agreements entered into by the Community.

===Court===
The [[European Court of Justice|Court of Justice of the European Communities]] was the [[supreme court|highest court]] of on matters of [[Law of the European Union|Community law]] and was composed of one judge per state with a president elected from among them. Its role was to ensure that Community law was applied in the same way across all states and to settle legal disputes between institutions or states. It became a powerful institution as Community law overrides national law.

===Auditors===
The fifth institution is the ''[[European Court of Auditors]]''. Its ensured that [[taxpayer]] funds from the [[budget of the European Union|Community budget]] had been correctly spent by the Community's institutions. The ECA provided an [[Auditor's report|audit report]] for each financial year to the Council and Parliament and gave opinions and proposals on financial legislation and anti-fraud actions. It is the only institution not mentioned in the original treaties, having been set up in 1975.<ref name="Europa Institutions Auditors">{{Cite web|title=Institutions: Court of Auditors|publisher=[[Europa (web portal)]]|url=http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/auditors/index_en.htm|access-date=25 June 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222001147/http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/auditors/index_en.htm|archive-date=22 December 2009}}</ref>