Chapter 2 Self-test questions

Presently, there are seven main institutions of the European Union.

True

False

In appointing the Commission, the European Parliament votes on each Commissioner one at a time.

True

False

If the European Parliament chooses to sanction the bad behaviour of a single Commissioner, how can it do so?

By removing the Commissioners one at a time.

By prosecuting them before the European Court of Justice.

By passing a vote of no confidence to require the resignation of the Commissioner.

It cannot. It can only pass a vote of no confidence in the entire Commission, which is then removed after a replacement Commission has been found.

Complete the following sentence: The Council (of Ministers) …

Is a full-time permanent institution of the Union.

Is made up of civil servants from the member States.

consists of representative Ministers of the member States ,depending on the subject matter under discussion.

has a permanent president to provide continuity for its work.

The Council of Ministers is the main legislator in the Union.

True

False

What is the meaning of 'qualified majority voting (QMV)'?

It means that each member State has a block number of votes that is crudely proportionate to the size of its population and a predetermined majority of votes has to be achieved from the sum of the blocks of votes of the member States.

Only certain qualified members of the Council may vote.

That a simple majority vote will succeed.

That all states must vote in favour for a proposal to succeed.

Complete the following sentence: The European Parliament is …

the main Union legislator.

shares lawmaking powers with the Council in areas for which the Treaty so provides.

a true parliament with two legislative chambers.

not involved with lawmaking at all.

The European Parliament is the only directly democratically elected institution in the EU.

True

False

Complete the following sentence: The European Court of Justice is …

a single-body legal institution.

the supreme appeal court for all of the member States.

a self-standing independent Union court that is not in a hierarchical relationship with the courts of the member States.

a court for cases brought by member States and institutions only.

The role of the Advocate General is to assist the Court by giving an _______, in complete independence and impartiality, on the legal issues of a case.

The European Council is a policy steering body that originally lay outside the formal institutional set-up of the Union.

True

False

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