European Union Institutions Trivia Quiz

Answer: European Council

The European Council is not a permanent institution but rather a meeting convening at least four times per year. It consists of one top level representative from each member state (usually the head of state or head of government) plus the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission.

Its formal roles are mostly advisory and in arbitration of conflicts. At the same time, it is also extremely influential in deciding the general political directions.

Answer: Three

Like many countries, the European Union has a bicameral legislature. The European Parliament takes the role of lower house with representation being roughly proportional to each member state's population while the Council of the European Union is equivalent to the upper house or senate; each country is represented by one delegate.

However, neither of these institutions have the power to actually initiate legislation; that privilege rests with the European Commission.

Answer: Allocation of European Union budgets

European law does not directly affect citizens in the European Union due to the sovereignty of the member states. Instead the European treaties require national governments and legislatures to enact the European laws into national law and thus ratify them. So the tax option does not apply. All monetary decisions are made by the European Central Bank together with the national central banks.

The nominally most important power of the European Parliament is to grant final approval to the budget proposed by the European Commission. In reality, even this power is limited, however, as the proposed budget must pass an unanimous decision in the Council of the European Union first, so a parliamentary majority is highly likely at that point.

Answer: Council of the European Union

Due to the ripple effect of any international treaty entered by the European Union - any such a treaty requires all member states to ratify and adhere to it - the final decision about a treaty rests with the Council of the European Union directly representing the member states' governments. Most of its decisions require unanimity.

The European Commission is also active in treaty negotiations, but it does not have the final say.

Answer: Impose a criminal penalty on an individual

Unlike most of the other European Union institutions, the Court of Justice of the European Union can be called upon by individuals or companies, especially in cases related to competition and trademark law. It is however a purely civil court and does not have any criminal jurisdiction.

It consists of two chambers, the General Court to which individuals and corporations can bring cases, and the Court of Justice which can be called upon only by national courts or for appeals against a General Court ruling.

Answer: European Central Bank

The European Central Bank issues the Euro common currency and is the final deciding authority in all monetary policy, consulting with the national central banks of the Euro member states. However as not all EU member states have transitioned to the Euro - the two most notable exceptions (beyond the United Kingdom) are Sweden and Denmark - the European Central Bank's actions do not directly apply to these countries.

Answer: European Commission

While you are not entirely wrong if you picked the European Central Bank - it fulfils executive tasks - the main executive organ of the European Union is the European Commission. In the narrow sense of the word, this term refers to the cabinet - one representative of each of the 27 member countries plus the Commission President - but the term can also be used to refer to the entire government organization made up of the various Directorates-General (each equivalent to a national government department or ministry).

Answer: European Parliament

The European Parliament is directly elected by all European Union citizens for a term of five years. Elections first took place in 1979 and thus far always happened in years ending in 4 or 9. As each national election uses that nation's parties, these parties have formed larger alliances at the European level, uniting parties with similar programmatic focus into a single group; since 2004, there have been seven such groups or factions, the largest of which are the social democrats and Christian democrats.

Debates in the European Parliament are allowed to use all 24 of the Union's official languages, requiring a large number of simultaneous interpreters to ensure mutual understanding at all times.

Answer: It is not actually a judicial court

The European Court of Auditors is the supervisory agency ensuring proper administration of the Union's budget. It is the European Union's first line of defence against corruption or misappropriation of funds and involved with all financial decisions and transactions on a daily basis.

It is required to pro-actively review every significant use of funds and give a detailed report to the European Parliament at least once per year. In 1984 and 1999, this report concluded that there had been significant discrepancies and in both years, the Parliament refused to sign off the past year's budgetary use by the Commission.

Answer: Italy

The vast majority of European Union government work is done in Brussels, Belgium. Both parliamentary chambers hold sessions there and the European Commission is also located in Brussels. Plenary meetings of the European Parliament take place in Strasbourg, France and the European Central Bank is based in Frankfurt, Germany. Finally, the judiciary courts and the European Court of Auditors are based in Luxembourg.