How the European Union works: become easily an EU expert

Let's see what we're about to learn in this section, as well as what institutions are...

Let's go and see the European Council at work! In this lecture, we'll take a close look at the meetings the European Council holds.

The European Council is more than just the meetings. We'll learn about how these meetings are prepared, what the rules of the meetings are, and what impact the meetings have on the European Union.

Some interesting links about the European Council, and some other background figures.

An overview of what we're all going to see in this section about the European Commission.

What does the European Commission do? We'll learn it in this lecture.

What we are going to see about the Council of the European Union in this section.

Who sits in the Council? How does it vote? Does it have an own administration? Let's take a closer look.

What does the Council do? We'll look for an answer here.

Links for those that don't have enough of the Council.

Let's introduce the European Parliament: it represents the EU's citizens.

What does the elections change to the Parliament? Well, it changes the composition of the Parliament. If all EU citizens voted for right-wing Parliamentarians, the EU would have more right-wing decisions.

What does the Parliament do? And how does it organise itself, so that it does not descend into chaos?

Who's the strongest: the Commission, the Parliament or the Councils?

Some interesting links for finding more information about the European Parliament.

Let's see what we're going to learn in this section: treaties and the other laws.

Treaties are the 'foundations' of the European Union. Let's see why and how they can be changed.

For smaller decisions, treaties are not used. Instead, directives, regulations and decisions are made.

Let's follow one concrete example of a law that has been made.

Let's conclude the lectures on EU laws with the most important points.

Links about the lawmaking process.

This lecture introduces us to the section, and we'll try to compare the EU's budget to other things which are worth the same.

Where does all the money of the EU's budget go? We'll find out in this lecture.

So who's exactly paying for the EU budget? We'll also see which member states contribute to the budget, and which ones receive.

We'll conclude the EU's budget with some important remarks.

Interested in more? Find out with these links.

What is Euroscepticism, and what kind of politicians are Euroscepticists? Let's find out, and see an example.

The reasons why Euroscepticists are against (a part of) what the European Union does.

How can we see Euroscepticism is rising? There are many ways to check how widespread the EU's criticism is.

Conclusion of this section about Euroscepticism.

Interesting links for those that wish to learn more about Euroscepticism.

Introducing this rather short section of the remaining EU institutions and organisations, let's start with the European Central Bank or ECB, located in Frankfurt.

The Court of Justice of the European Union is there to clarify the legal problems of the European Union, and give solutions to these problems. It is located in Luxembourg.

The Court of Auditors is - not so surprising - the institution that does the audits. We'll also see the other 'bodies' of the European Union.

Some links if you don't have enough of the EU organisations...

So which organisations are also involved in the EU, but are not official EU organisations?

Do the parliaments of member states have an influence on the European Union? Let's find out.

Citizens can have an impact on EU policy - let's see how.

Ngo's, just like think tanks and lobbies, have an interesting product for EU institutions: information.

How persons can inform themselves about the European Union without participating, is via the media. Let's find out more about their role.

What role do non-EU countries have? Let's take a look.

More links for all the topics discussed in this section.