The Importance Of The Various Levels Of Government And Elected Bodies By Providing Information Of Local, National And European Government

The central government is normally located in the capital city; which in our case it’s London. The central government runs the whole country by taking up the most important responsibilities that any other government levels in the UK has. These responsibilities are making new laws, signing agreements with the other nations and also defending the nation. The central government has these responsibilities as it’s the main government within the UK and it contains the 3 political institutions which make up parliament which are: the House of Commons, and the House of Lords and the monarch. These institutions work together. The house of commons creates new laws which they feel will work well for the British community. The house of lords has a

The European Parliament handles decisions, which would affect the countries, which are members of the EU; these issues include the environment, equal opportunities, transport, consumer rights, movement of the workers and goods, etc. Currently there are 72 members of the UK that get directly elected to become part of

In the UK, Parliament consists of the Monarchy, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. This has existed for centuries and has stood the test of time, in that it still exists. However a number of concerns have been raised about some of the functions and whether they function adequately enough (to a satisfactory or acceptable extent). Parliament currently carries out several functions and is the prime legislative body in the UK. It has many functions such as being representative, legitimising legislation, calling government to account as well as scrutinising and amending legislation. It is made up of representatives who are voted in order to represent

Three bodies run the European Union. The EU Council represents national governments. The European Parliament is elected by the people. The European Commission ensures that all members act consistently in regional, agricultural, and social procedures. The three bodies maintain the laws governing the Union in these three ways: The European Union Council sets the policies and proposes new legislation. The political leadership, is held by a different head every six months.The European Parliament debates and approves the laws proposed by the Council. Its members are elected every five years. The European Commission staffs and enacts the laws. The European Union has an area called the Schengen Area which covers 26 out of 28 countries of the Union. This warranted movement to those living within its borders. Citizens and visitors can go across borders without showing passports or getting visas. The only time you would get stopped is random checks for drugs or crime. In addition, they won't tax any products manufactured in specific countries that would be sold to another member country. Practitioners can operate in any country of the Union that they

The European Union (EU) is economic and political union which is located in Europe in Brussels. It consists of 785 members representing the 492 million citizens of the 27 Member States of The European Union. Countries which join EU are Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg, Denmark, Finland, Slovakia, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden. EU is elected every 5 years throughout all the Members States.

Parliament is designed to hold the executive accountable; therefore it goes about this by various means of government scrutiny, such as Prime Minister’s Question Time. In addition, Parliament is expected to perform a legislative function, creating the process of a bill becoming a law after undergoing many stages between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Finally, Parliament is also required to be representative of the nation, with constituencies creating a strong local link between the electorate and their MP.

Government in the UK is a representative body elected for and by the people. The UK uses the parliamentary system as its model of representation; this means the different areas of government which are the legislative, judiciary and executive branches work in and through each other as opposed to the Presidential model which separates the powers. Westminster Parliament is the acting microcosm for the UK society; it is a small group of 365 MPs who are chosen to represent their constituencies. Each MP is given power through trusteeship when voted in, this meaning that they will try to carry out what is best for their constituency. They are also once voted in known as a mandate, the authority granted by a constituency to an MP to act as its

The European parliament – the EU citizens elect a Member of Parliament, which Leads to subsequent legislation.

In this assignment I will be assessing the democratic accountability of the European Union. I will begin by briefly describing the institutions, their functions, compositions and discuss how they work as check and balance system to ensure democratic accountability further to look on to how laws are made and what they are In order to establish whether or not the EU is in fact answerable to its citizens.

Governmental policies and politics play a critical role in the realization of change in a public agency since the policies are developed and implemented at various levels (Dukeshire & Thurlow, 2002). Since these policies may range from formal regulations and legislation to informal guidelines in an agency, understanding them is important in the achievement of change in a public agency. A Public agency basically functions based on the established policies and politics in the government. Therefore, the accomplishment of the change in a public agency requires an increased understanding of the politics and policies of government.

Parliament - Parliament is pretty much the identical to the legislative branch here in the US. The prime minister is accountable in his actions to the parliament. The parliament consists of the house of lords, house of commons and monarch.

The Council of the EU (the Council of Ministers) is responsible for deciding those legislative measures to be taken at EU level, rather than domestic level, and also for deciding the government ministers of member states. The Council of Ministers consists of ministers from the governments of the member states, each (supposedly*) representing the interests of their own country. The Presidency of the Council is held by each country for six months. July 2005 marked the beginning of the UK’s most recent Presidency.

Luxembourg is a small country located in between France, Germany, and Belgium. This small country also is one of the founding countries of the European Union. Despite not being vocal as some of the more significant countries, Luxembourg still impacts the European Union. The Council of the European Union, the co-legislative body, has each of the twenty-eight member states rotating as the president of the European Union. The president is not a person, but rather one of the member states. Every 6 months a new member state sets the agenda and leads the Council. Member states try to push agendas in favor of their country. Luxembourg has last held the presidency from July to December 2015. During this presidency, Luxembourg pushed focus on the single market’s digital dimension and the migrant crisis facing the European Union. These major concerns do not only concern the European Union but also Luxembourg. A major concern of the European Union not too long ago was the Euro crisis. Luxembourg was thankfully not as impacted by the Euro crisis, but it did impact the EU in its entirety. The European Union and member states like Luxembourg experience a dynamic relationship; the choices and events impacting the EU also impact that member state and the interests of member states like Luxembourg impact the European Union. Despite its stature in the EU, Luxembourg has a principal role as any other country in the European Union.

The European Commission is the Executive (governmental) body of the EU, initiating legislative proposals and also managing the EU’s budget (Europa, 2007). Each commission operates for a five-year period, with meetings taking place in Brussels every Wednesday. The Commission consists of a President of the Commission and twenty-eight commissioners (some vice presidents). Employees of the Commission are organised according to department (Directorates-General) and answer to a Commissioner. The Commission exists in order to represent the interests of the whole of the EU (thus arguably the whole of Europe), as opposed to individual Member States. The Commission represents the EU on a global basis and is the main participant in negotiations in areas such as trade. The appointment of Commissioners is the responsibility of the Parliament, with all having previously assumed senior positions in politics in their own country, usually within its national government. Proposals are drafted by the senior civil servant (Director-General. A proposal may be adopted if more than half of the Commissioners decide to adopt it. Once agreed, all Commissioners must give their unconditional support – similar to the collective responsibility held by the Scottish executives and the UK. The Commission works closely with both

What is the influence of the President of the European Council Herman von Rompuy and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton? The answer to this question is very debatable. Catherine Ashton obtains many functions, the most known is that she is the High representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security policy. But she is also the First Vice President of the European Commission and has many other duties such as chairing the Foreign Affairs council and representing the European Union in international fora. Only her titles alone take up three lines to write, just imagine how can she manage to fulfill all these duties properly. That’s right, she can't do all those duties at 100 percent. And on the other hand we have Herman Van Rompuy who is the President of the European Council and his duties include chairing the European Council meeting and occasional representation of the EU in the international meetings. Although this may seem as a tough job to do, in comparison with Catherine Ashton we could even say that he isn’t really doing anything. His chairing duty calls only twice per six months. This is utterly shocking. We do not consider this optimal distribution of work. This also leads to creation of job positions, which don’t serve any real purpose. This is maybe one of the problems of EU, lack of common sense and unreasonable complicating of things that could be solved much easier and in