I'm Dharma Hudson I'm John Peterson together we edit the institutions of the European Union we're here in Brussels in the heart of the EU quarter here are 10 things that we think you should know about EU institutions number one the EU cannot be understood without its institutions the popular image of the European Union is as some vast institution that has taken power away from the member states however this image is misleading the EU is better understood as a collection of institutions intergovernmental supranational and transnational that battle it out over au policy together these institutions make up what is arguably the most ambitious and powerful international organization ever created number two the EU is the most ambitious attempt ever to build supranational institutions supranational means the general combined collective European interests European Commission is a powerful supranational institution it plays a pivotal role in EU policymaking by proposing all EU policy and legislation in most cases here we are inside the bear limo the headquarters of the European Commission this is where the College of Commissioners meets and where the commissioners and their advisors have their offices it's open all hours and it's very much the nerve center of the EU institutions scholars have sought to understand the European Commission from a variety of theoretical perspectives one of the first academics to look systematically at the European Commission was Ernst has his neo functionalist approach to the study of European integration saw the Commission as a new centre of power he argued that economic interest groups like trade unions would shift their attention away from national capitals to the Commission he expected the Commission also to lead integration he expected the Commission to break the deadlock between member states through initiatives that would conveniently empower the Commission he called this process upgrading the common interest Stanley Hoffman the great pioneer of intergovernmentalism argued that has had exaggerated the power of bodies such as the European Commission compared to the combined weight of member states scholars continue to study the European Commission to think about it in different ways the study of the European Union matters for wider debates about politics and international relations number three national governments try to maintain a tight grip on the EU through intergovernmental institutions some argue that the EU is very tightly controlled by inter governmental institutions made up of representatives of national governments the Council of Ministers brings together ministers from EU Member State States to decide on whether a commission proposal should become law when an EU regulation is a did on for example bankers bonuses it originates as a commission proposal but cannot become EU law without the backing of the Council the council's capacity for consensus building makes an extraordinarily efficient institution but it's also one that faces criticism for its secrecy and lack of transparency number four the EU is a remarkable experiment in transnational politics transnational institutions derive their authority from sources other than national governments in the case of the European Parliament the peoples of Europe the European Parliament began life as the common assembly of the European Coal and Steel community it later changed its name to the European Parliament and in 1979 MEP s were directly elected for the first time a major problem for the European Parliament is that it is invisible to many of its citizens who turn out in low numbers to vote for it in 2014 less than 15% of people in slovakia voted for their MEP s nonetheless the European Parliament plays a major role in AU policymaking today it is a colle legislature alongside the Council of Ministers this means when the Commission proposes the law for example a regulation of bankers bonuses it must be adopted by both the council and the European Parliament number five the European Council has become the locus of power in the European Union a powerful intergovernmental organization the European Council brings together the heads of state of government of the Member States it has become the institution of last resort for the Union dealing with its all-too-frequent crises in July 2015 heads of state of government met here in Brussels to deal with Greece's worsening debt crisis an agreement was eventually reached after a long night of talks but the EU was heavily criticized for riding roughshod over Greek democracy number six the head count of EU institutions has increased dramatically since the 1990s at its launch in 1952 the European Coal and Steel community had five institutions by 2016 there were 70 new institutions a big puzzle for students of the European Union is why member states are so willing to cooperate but so reluctant to empower the European Commission along traditional lines part of the explanation may lie in the design of these institutions many of the new bodies created by the European Union especially since the 1990s are Intergovernmental in design they allow member states to cooperate while keeping a tight grip over the functioning of these oddities number 7 the size of EU institutions has increased dramatically the high authority of the European Coal and Steel community had just 500 staff and total by our estimates the total number of staff working for the EU institutions had grown to 54,000 this is large by the standards of an international organization but small compared to national governments there are around 14 million public servants working for the EU Member States number eight EU institutions are in a perpetual state of reform to the outside world EU institutions may seem like glacial bureaucracies that are incapable of reform but the reality is quite different maybe the most radical change of recent years is the so-called Spitz encanta Dantan system the 2007 lisbon treaty required the european council to take into account the most recent european parliament elections when appointing a commission president controversially European political groups in the Parliament used the provision to put forward their own nominees for Commission president before the 2014 AP election when the European People's Party emerged as the largest party it insisted that its nominee the former luxembourg prime minister jean-claude juncker be chosen as commission president that move allowed Younker to claim a Democratic mandate that his predecessors had lacked although it is doubtful that the European Council would have chosen him on his own merits number nine EU institutions are in crisis in the two thousands the Convention on the future of Europe met here in the European Parliament building in Brussels to draw up the European Constitution this was a bold and daring experiment designed to bring Europe closer to its citizens it was an incredible experiment in participatory democracy that failed spectacularly when voters in France and the Netherlands rejected the treaty since then the European Union has gone from one crisis to another from the global financial crisis to the euro crisis to the European migration crisis to the UK's extraordinary decision in 2016 to vote in a referendum to leave the European Union we're very used to the idea that EU institutions can muddle through crises and they often do but they have rarely faced so many crises at once and is now legitimate to ask whether EU institutions having endured for so long can endure much more number ten EU institutions matter in the 1950s institutions were created in Europe that still exist today the European Commission the Parliament the Council of Ministers they now coexist alongside newer more specialized institutions such as the European Central Bank or the European external Action Service or the European Border Agency Frontex EU institutions are shaping Europe's response to a range of challenges including the euro crisis the migration crisis and conflicts in Syria and Ukraine whether the EU should wield such powers as a matter of fierce dispute but there's no questions EU institutions matter and debates about who governs Europe and how Europe shapes the world