The activities of the European Union are taken forward by a number of bodies - the EU institutions - whose tasks and responsibilities are set out in the Treaties.

The European Council defines the general political direction and priorities of the European Union. With the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, it became an institution. Its President is Herman Van Rompuy. It does not exercise legislative functions. The European Council consists of the Heads of State or Government of the Member States (so Ireland’s representative is Taoiseach Brian Cowen) together with its President and the President of the Commission.  The European Council meets in what are known as Summits, usually up to four times a year.

The EU's decision-making process in particular involve three main institutions:

• the European Parliament (EP) represents the EU’s citizens. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected every five years by voters right across the 27 Member States of the European Union. The main job of Parliament is to pass European laws on the basis of proposals presented by the European Commission. Parliament shares this responsibility with the Council of the European Union. Parliament and Council also share joint authority for approving the EU’s €130 billion annual budget. Ireland has 12 MEPs out of a total 736, representing the Dublin, East, South, and North-West constituencies;

• the Council of the European Union represents the individual member states. It is the EU’s principal decision-taking body. The Council consists of ministers from the national governments of all the EU countries. Depending on the issue on the agenda, each country will be represented by the minister responsible for that subject (foreign affairs, finance, social affairs, transport, agriculture, etc.).;

• the European Commission seeks to uphold the interests of the Union as a whole. It drafts proposals for new European laws, which it presents to the European Parliament and the Council. It manages the day-to-day business of implementing EU policies and spending EU funds. The Commission also makes sure that everyone abides by the European Treaties and laws. It can act against rule-breakers, taking them to the European Court of Justice if necessary. The Commission consists of 27 men and women — one from each EU country. Its President is José Manuel Barroso.  Máire Geoghegan-Quinn is the current Irish Commissioner. She has responsibility for Research, Innovation and Science.

This ‘institutional triangle’ produces the policies and laws that apply throughout the EU. In principle, it is the Commission that proposes new laws, but it is the Parliament and Council that adopt them. The Commission and the Member States then implement them, and the Commission ensures that the laws are properly taken on board.

The main forms of EU law are directives and regulations:

• Directives are legislative instruments which reconcile the dual objective of both securing the necessary uniformity of Community law and respecting the diversity of national traditions and structures. Directives are binding on Member States as to the result to be achieved but leave it to the respective national authorities to decide how the Community objective set out in the directive is to be incorporated into their domestic legal systems before a specified date. A directive does not acquire legal force and effect until the date for implementation of the directive has expired.

• Regulations are legislative instruments of general application. They apply to abstract rather than individual situations. For example, many regulations apply to operators in the agricultural sector. Regulations are binding in their entirety. This means that a Member State has no power to apply regulations incompletely or to apply only those provisions of which it approves. A regulation is directly applicable, which means that it creates law which takes immediate effect in all the Member States in the same way as a national instrument, without any further action on the part of the national authorities.

The rules and procedures for EU decision-making are laid down in the Treaties. Every proposal for a new European law is based on a specific Treaty article, referred to as the ‘legal basis’ of the proposal. The main procedure is the ordinary legislative procedure involving co-decision between the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament in the adoption of legislation. See here for more information.

Following the entry into force of The Treaty of Lisbon, the European Council appointed Catherine Ashton High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. She chairs the Foreign Affairs Council and conducts the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The High Representative will be assisted by the European External Action Service (EEAS).

In addition to its institutions, the EU has a number of other bodies that play specialised roles:

• the European Economic and Social Committee represents civil society, employers and employees;

• the Committee of the Regions represents regional and local authorities;

• the European Investment Bank finances EU investment projects, and helps small businesses via the European Investment Fund;

• the European Central Bank is responsible for European monetary policy;

• the European Ombudsman investigates complaints about maladministration by EU institutions and bodies;

• the European Data Protection Supervisor safeguards the privacy of people’s personal data;

• the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities publishes information about the EU;

• the European Personnel Selection Office recruits staff for the EU institutions and other bodies;

• the European Administrative School task is to provide training in specific areas for members of EU staff.

In addition, specialised agencies have been set up to handle certain technical, scientific or management tasks. One of these agencies, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, is located in Dublin. See here for further information.