Glossary of English EU Terminology

199EU Terminology

Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) = The term ‘Intergo -vernmental Conference’ refers to the formal procedure fornegotiating amendments to the founding treaties. It iscomposed of the representatives of the governments of theMember States. It is convened when Member States in-

tend to amend the founding treaties, either to enhance co-operation between them or to receive new Member States inthe EU. Accession negotiations, for instance, are carriedout within the framework of an Intergovernmental Confe -rence. The amending Treaties, such as the Treaty of Ams-terdam or the Treaty of Lisbon are also results of Inter-governmental Conferences.

Syn. Conference of the Representatives of the Govern-ments of the Member States

internal market single market

joint actions second pillar

Joint Research Centre (JRC) = The Joint Research Centre is aDirectorate-General of the European Commission. As theEU’s scientific and research service, it provides independenttechnical and scientific advice both for the European Com-mission and the Member States of the EU, in support of de-veloping and implementing EU policies. It has several sci-entific institutes across Europe.

Justice and Home Affairs third pillar

Language Passport Europass

legal acts

legal tender euro

legislative acts comitology;

Lisbon strategy

Lisbon targets Lisbon strategy

Lisbon Treaty Treaty of Lisbon

Maastricht criteria convergence criteria

Maastricht Treaty Treaty of Maastricht

maladministration European Ombudsman

Member of the European Commission commissioner

Member of the European Parliament (MEP) = A Member ofthe European Parliament is a person who has been electedto the European Parliament for a term of five years. Since, MEPs have been elected by direct universal suffrage,which means that they are elected directly by EU citizens.

! The abbreviation ‘MEP’ also serves to distinguishMembers of the European Parliament from their equi-valents in national parliaments, who are usually re-ferred to as ‘MPs’. The Treaty of Lisbon limited the number of MEPsto , reduced their maximum number per Member

BOX 7

BOX 5

BOX 9

BOX 9

BOX 9

BOX 7

Intergovernmental or supranational?

intergovernmental = . (cooperation) Intergovernmental cooperation is a tra-ditional form of international cooperation between statesin which participating states do not confer powers uponsupranational institutions. The Council of Europe, forinstance, works on an entirely intergovernmental basis.It is important to point out that the EU combines ele-ments of both intergovernmental and supranational co-operation. . (EU-pillar) Prior to the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU’ssecond pillar and third pillar were characterised byintergovernmental cooperation. The European Com-mission, the European Parliament and the Court ofJustice had only limited powers in these pillars.

Although the Treaty of Lisbon abolished thepillar structure of the EU, the Common Foreignand Security Policy (CFSP) (the former secondpillar) remains mainly intergovernmental, withunanimity as the main decision-making proce-dure.

. (EU-institution) The European Council and theCouncil can be considered as the EU’s intergovernmen-tal institutions, allowing Member States’ interests to berepresented.

supranational =. (cooperation) Supranational cooperation means thatparticipating states confer some of their decision-makingpowers upon supranational institutions they have cre-ated. The EU combines elements of intergovernmentaland supranational cooperation. . (EU-pillar) Prior to the Treaty of Lisbon, suprana-tional cooperation was strongest in the first pillar, cha -racterised by the so-called Community method, withqualified majority voting as the main decision-makingprocedure.

The Treaty of Lisbon abolished the pillar struc-ture of the EU by merging areas of supranationaland intergovernmental cooperation into a singleframework. However, the Common Foreign andSecurity Policy (CFSP) retains its exceptional posi-tion, and remains an area of intergovernmental co-operation.

. (EU-institution) The European Commission, theEuropean Parliament and the Court of Justice of theEuropean Union can be considered as the EU’s suprana-tional institutions, which represent mainly EU interests.

BOX 6