ABSTRACT
The last chapter dealt with the organisation and powers of the Community institutions. In two major spheres of Community activity the inter-relationships of these institutions can be seen most clearly: the Community legislative process, and the Community Budget. In the first process the principal actors are the Commission, as initiator of policy, and the Council, as the decision-making body. In the second the Council and the EP make up the Budgetary Authority. The reality, however, is not so clear cut. Since direct elections were held in 1979, the EP has been anxious to increase its influence in the legislative process. It has discovered afresh that, although it has constitutional powers over the Commission, it has no formal control over the Council, which at present dominates the whole process. It is therefore intent upon devising methods of exercising indirect influence, primarily through the Commission, on the Council. The introduction of the cooperation procedure by the Single European Act into the legislative procedure will, as indicated in Chapter 3, enhance the degree of influence which the EP may exercise over the Council, but it is not yet clear how potent this influence will be. National parliaments, too, have an interest in the decisions reached by the Council. National MPs are often uneasy at the legislative power which the Treaty of Rome has conferred on the Council, and fully appreciate the limited control which they can exercise over their respective ministers meeting in secret session in the Council. Yet Council meetings commonly result in the passing of regulations, directly applicable in national law, or directives that will require implementation by the national legislature.
