European union law
Introduction
The operations of the European Union are hinged on its supranational institutions and progressive agreements among its 28 member countries. Since its inception in the mid 1950s, this organisation has witnessed significant growths and the consequent adoption of various treaties all aimed at rearranging the constitutional and legislative frameworks among its major institutions. The latest of such treaties was the Treaty of Lisbon adopted in 2007 and one which accorded the European parliament to a higher legislative and constitutional level1.
As has been the case with most EU Treaties, at the centre stage of the Treaty of Lisbon was the distribution of constitutional and legislative powers among key institutions of the EU (the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers/ Council, the European Commission)2.There are however major debates concerning the extent to which this treaty created tangible changes to the legislative and constitutional powers of these institutions. This paper seeks to give a critical discussion on the constitutional and legislative power balance between various institutions of the European Union in the Post Lisbon period through a comparative analysis of such a power balance during the pre-Lisbon and post-Lisbon periods. Despite the seemingly major powers given to the parliament, the Council still remains partly more powerful than the parliament and the European Commission.
An Overview of the Pre-Lisbon Functionality of EU Institutions
The pre-Lisbon European Union’s institutional Framework was born out of a political process pitting member states hence the seemingly complex decision making and governance system characterising this framework3. At the centre stage of these revisions are two contradicting views; the federal state perspective and the “sovereignst” perspective-which strives to create an intergovernmental governance and decision making framework4. These conflicting ideologies have at times created wide power
The operations of the European Union are hinged on its supranational institutions and progressive agreements among its 28 member countries. Since its inception in the mid 1950s, this organisation has witnessed significant growths and the consequent adoption of various treaties all aimed at rearranging the constitutional and legislative frameworks among its major institutions. The latest of such treaties was the Treaty of Lisbon adopted in 2007 and one which accorded the European parliament to a higher legislative and constitutional level1.
As has been the case with most EU Treaties, at the centre stage of the Treaty of Lisbon was the distribution of constitutional and legislative powers among key institutions of the EU (the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers/ Council, the European Commission)2.There are however major debates concerning the extent to which this treaty created tangible changes to the legislative and constitutional powers of these institutions. This paper seeks to give a critical discussion on the constitutional and legislative power balance between various institutions of the European Union in the Post Lisbon period through a comparative analysis of such a power balance during the pre-Lisbon and post-Lisbon periods. Despite the seemingly major powers given to the parliament, the Council still remains partly more powerful than the parliament and the European Commission.
An Overview of the Pre-Lisbon Functionality of EU Institutions
The pre-Lisbon European Union’s institutional Framework was born out of a political process pitting member states hence the seemingly complex decision making and governance system characterising this framework3. At the centre stage of these revisions are two contradicting views; the federal state perspective and the “sovereignst” perspective-which strives to create an intergovernmental governance and decision making framework4. These conflicting ideologies have at times created wide power
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