The Banking Executive Magazine - August Issue 2022

Where is The EU Standing Today? • the Court of Justice of the European Union, • the European Central Bank and • the European Court of Auditors EU TREATIES Every action taken by the EU is founded on treaties that have been approved voluntarily and democrat- ically by all EU countries. The treaties lay down the objectives of the European Union, and set out the rules for how the EU institutions op- erate, how decisions are made and the relationship between the EU and its Member States. HOW THE EUROPEAN UNION WORKS The European Parliament Fact Sheet on the European Union describes how the European Union works. This covers European legislation, Euro- pean integration, the European Union’s legal system and decision- making procedures, and the EU Fi- nancing as follows: EUROPEAN LEGISLATION The European Union has its own leg- islature and executive, as well as an independent judiciary and a central bank. These are supported and com- plemented by a set of institutions and bodies, the powers conferred on which derive from the founding Treaties. The Union’s powers have evolved considerably over the years through the successive Treaties, as have its decision-making procedures, which Parliament and the Council now follow when legislating on most EU policies. The Union also has its own budget with which to achieve its objectives. The Lisbon Treaty gave Parliament an equal say with the Council to decide on the entire EU budget and the multiannual financial framework. EUROPEAN INTEGRATION The Historical development of Euro- pean integration can be traced as fol- lows: • The First Treaties • Developments up to the Single Eu- ropean Act • The Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties • The Treaty of Nice and the Con- vention on the Future of Europe • The Treaty of Lisbon EUROPEAN UNION LEGAL SYSTEM AND DECISION-MAKING The European Union’s legal system and decision-making procedures in- clude: • Sources and scope of European Union law • The principle of subsidiarity • Supranational decision-making procedures • Intergovernmental decision-mak- ing procedures • The budgetary procedure EU FINANCING The EU budget is financed in large part (over 90%) from own resources. Annual revenue must completely cover annual expenditure. The sys- tem of own resources is decided by the Council on the basis of unanim- ity, having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament, and needs to be ratified by the Member States. EU VALUATION FRAMEWORK We hereby propose an EU evaluation framework. The framework is four di- mensional and assesses the EU based on: • EU economy and growth sectors • EU technology capability • EU Social Model • EU in the world the BANKING EXECUTIVE 10 ISSUE 164 AUGUST 2022 EU ECONOMY AND GROWTH SECTORS EU SOCIAL MODEL EU TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITY EU VALUATION FRAMEWORK EU IN THE WORLD