The Council of the European Union ( sometimes just called the Council and sometimes still referred to as the Council of Ministers ) is the institution in the essentially bicameral legislature of the European Union ( EU ) representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament.

It also holds, jointly with the Parliament, the budgetary power of the Union and has greater control than the Parliament over the more intergovernmental areas of the EU, such as foreign policy and macroeconnomic coordination.

It monitors and co-ordinates work and deals with the Parliament on co-decision legislation ( along with leading the non – EU defence organisation, the Western European Union ).

The European Parliament ( abbreviated as Europarl or the EP ) is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union ( EU ).

Parliament is the " first institution " of the EU ( mentioned first in the treaties, having ceremonial precedence over all authority at European level ), and shares equal legislative and budgetary powers with the Council ( except in a few areas where the special legislative procedures apply ).

Finally, the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, is accountable to Parliament.

A proposal, soon to be discussed in the European Parliament, stipulate that all national sports teams, including football, rugby, cricket and the European Olympic teams, should have the EU emblem appear on their jerseys.

About 48 % of EU citizens tend to trust the European Parliament, and about 36 percent do not tend to trust it.

The Green Party of England and Wales, which has one seat in Parliament in the House of Commons, also rejects the term " eurosceptic "; however it opposes the Euro and is critical of the current direction and structure of the EU.

* 2004: The Europe-Democracy-Esperanto party ( E ° D ° E °) contests the European Parliament elections in France, on a platform of making Esperanto the second language of all EU member states, taking 0. 15 % of the vote.

In November 2010, the EU Parliament passed the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, which seeks to provide greater monitoring and control of alternative investment fund managers operating in the EU.

The EU's Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers ( AIFMD ) was passed by the EU Parliament on November 11, 2010 and is the first EU directive focused on " alternative investment fund managers ", including hedge fund managers.

On 26 March 2004, following the decision of the Speaker of the Parliament, Marek Borowski, to found a new dissenting party, the Social Democracy of Poland, Leszek Miller decided to resign from the position of Prime Minister on 2 May 2004, a day after Poland ’ s accession to the EU.

In the UK, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers put forward a slate of candidates in the 2009 European Parliament elections under the banner of No to EU – Yes to Democracy, a broad left-wing alter-globalisation coalition involving socialist groups such as the Socialist Party, aiming to offer an alternative to the " anti-foreigner " and pro-business policies of the UK Independence Party.

Turkey's current administration has identified EU membership as its top priority, and has taken many – and sometimes controversial – reform packages through the Parliament aimed at gradually harmonizing Turkey with EU standards.

The European Parliament has requested that EU members refrain from using the powerful sonar system until an environmental impact study has been carried out.

In 2008, the European Parliament overwhelmingly voted for an initiative to introduce an EU organ donor card in order to foster organ donation in Europe.

The next important step in lobbying development was the Single European Act of 1986, which both created the qualified majority vote for taking decisions in the Council and enhanced the role of the Parliament, again making EU legislation more complex and lobbying further more important and attractive for stakeholders.

Andorra has reached an agreement with the EU to mint its own coin design, probably from 2013, but subject to ratification by the Andorran Parliament.

The primary significance of the EC Act 1972 is that ( apart from being the instrument whereby the UK was able to accede to the European Union ( or ' European Communities ' as then termed ) it enables under section 2 ( 2 ) for Government ministers to lay regulations before Parliament to implement required changes to UK law ( for example, Decisions of the European Court of Justice and EU Directives ).

The Belgians have been strong advocates of European integration, and most aspects of their foreign, economic, and trade policies are coordinated through the European Union ( EU ), which has its main headquarters ( the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and sessions of the European Parliament ) in Brussels.

In 2010, EU countries accounted for 32. 1 percent of Armenia ’ s foreign trade.

Germany is Armenia ’ s largest trading partner among EU member states, accounting for 7. 2 percent of trade ; this is due largely to mining exports.

The EU is Egypt ’ s biggest trading partner currently accounting for 42 % of Egyptian exports and 37 % of imports, with the balance of trade still in the EU's favour.

Egypt ’ s main exports to the EU in 2004 were energy ( 39 %), textiles and clothing ( 15 %), agricultural products ( 9 %), and chemicals ( 5 %).

The aid package falls under the EU ’ s € 1 billion Food Facility, set up with the UN Secretary-General ’ s High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis and FAO to focus on programmes that will have a quick but lasting impact on food security.

About half of Hungary ’ s total land area is agricultural area under cultivation ; this ratio is prominent among other EU members.

In the same year, 79 % of Hungary ’ s export and 70 % of the imports were transacted inside the EU.

It does, however, have a relationship with the EU governed by Protocol 3 to the UK ’ s Treaty of Accession in 1972.

In fact, the EU ’ s four most populated states all have modest levels of unionisation, with Italy at 30 %, the UK 29 %, Germany 27 % and France at only 9 %.

Macedonia ’ s external trade struggled in 2010 due to the slow recovery from the economic crisis of its main trading partners, particularly EU members.

Exports to the EU accounted for " 46. 13 percent of the country ’ s total garment exports ".

Swaziland ’ s other key trading partners are the United States and the EU, from whom the country has received trade preferences for apparel exports ( under the African Growth and Opportunity Act – AGOA – to the US ) and for sugar ( to the EU ).

" This provision prevents the existence of two ‘ grades ’ of whisky originating from Scotland, one “ Scotch whisky ” and the other, a “ whisky – product of Scotland ” that complies with the generic EU standard for whisky.

A series of large privatizations, the stability fostered by the start of Turkey ’ s EU accession negotiations, strong and stable growth, and structural changes in the banking, retail, and telecommunications sectors have all contributed to the rise in foreign investment.

A key factor in the CTEA ’ s passage was a 1993 European Union ( EU ) directive instructing EU members to establish a baseline copyright term of life plus 70 years and to deny this longer term to the works of any non-EU country whose laws did not secure the same extended term.

This atrocious war crime was heavily criticised by the whole world and caused Macedonia to lose much of its foreign support especially from the west, the EU and Pakistan governments strongly insisted that the people responsible for this war crime be brought to justice but the four men allegedly responsible for this were cleared of all charges and received a hero ’ s sheared after they left court.

) seek to influence the EU ’ s legislative process.

A policy-driven bank, the EIB supports the EU ’ s priority objectives,

As the ‘ Bank of the European Union ’, the EIB ’ s mission is to make a difference to the future of Europe and its partners by supporting sound investments which further EU policy goals.

PASSIA ’ s educational and training seminars are divided into two categories: In ­ ternational Affairs – including seminars on Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution, Strategic Studies and Security, the EU, Education on Democ ­ racy, The Foreign Policies of Arab States, Japan and the Middle East, and The United States and Canada: Political Systems, Policy-Making and the Middle East – and Civil Society Empowerment, with seminars held to date including those on Policy-Making, Strategic Planning & Media & Com ­ munication Skills.

There are 2 main standards of tablet tooling used in pharmaceutical industry: American standard ‘ TSM ’ and European standard ‘ EU ’.