On Friday,  one of our groups had the pleasure of visiting the European Commission’ Bonn representation. The presentation focused on providing the basic information needed by E.U. nationals and international visitors to understand how the institutions function.

The press representative explained that the European Union had been created to prevent another European War at the end of The Second World War.

Mentioning that there are currently 28 Member States, she highlighted that there are three key institutions: the Commission, which proposes legislative measures, and the Parliament and Council of Europe, which discuss and adopt or reject its proposals.

She further explained that there are two types of legislative measures that can be adopted: directives and regulations. While the directives must be transposed in national legislation by each state, the regulations have to be respected as such.

If states do not respect these laws, they could face infringement procedures, which could be started by individuals or other states.

The press representative also explained the role of European institutions versus individual member states’ bodies and representatives, when prompted by the two Israeli delegates.

She subsequently explained that the Bonn representation’s role is to liaison with the Commission in Brussels, providing them information about the issues facing this German region, while informing local citizens about the Commission, other European institutions and the Community as a whole.

She finally took the participants to the Europa Point, where they could get official documents about the Union.

Text: Raluca Besliu
Photo: Sarah Mall