ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the processes through which decisions on EU policies and legislation are made as well as the instruments of EU action. A large number of actors are involved in the European policy-making process: European institutions, national governments, and a variety of interest groups such as policy experts, lobby groups and non-governmental organisations at the European, national and regional levels (see Chapters 9 and 10). It is crucial for every European citizen to understand the ways in which decisions are made by the EU institutions and the role of the member states in this process, since the media often pejoratively use the word ‘Brussels’ to refer in a loose and imprecise way to the EU institutions as a whole, making no distinction between the European Council, the Parliament and the Commission. In this chapter, the term ‘policy-making’ is used, which has a wider meaning than the production of European legislation (law-making). For example, in the fields of environment, competition or agriculture, besides EU legislation binding on all member states EU policies can take the shape of intergovernmental coordination or cooperation between national policies (e.g. macroeconomic policies, justice and foreign policy), of redistributive policies backed by financial support instruments (the Common Agricultural Policy, EU Cohesion Policy), of infrastructure development programmes (the Trans-European Networks), of support for research, innovation and transfer of know-how through financial and technical support, or of non-binding guidelines and strategies (see Part V).
