two legislative bodies consisting of the Council of the European Union (27 member-state ministers having 345 votes; the number of votes is roughly proportional to member-states' population) and the European Parliament (736 seats; seats allocated among member states in proportion to population; members elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term); note - the Council is the main decision-making body of the EU; leaders of the EU member states appointed UK Baroness Catherine Ashton to be the first High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; Ashton took office on 1 December 2009; her concurrent appointment as Vice President of the European Commission - both of which are subject to confirmation by the European Parliament - endows her position with the policymaking influence of the Council of the EU and the budgetary influence of the European Commission
elections: last held on 4-7 June 2009 (next to be held in June 2014)
election results: percent of vote - EPP 36%, S&D 25%, ALDE 11.4%, Greens/EFA 7.5%, ECR 7.3%, GUE/NGL 4.8%, EFD 4.3%, independents 3.7%; seats by party - EPP 265, S&D 184, ALDE 84, Greens/EFA 55, ECR 54, GUE/NGL 35, EFD 32, independents 27
Judicial branch:
Court of Justice of the European Communities (ensures that the treaties are interpreted and applied uniformly throughout the EU; resolve constitutional issues among the EU institutions) - 27 justices (one from each member state) appointed for a six-year term; note - for the sake of efficiency, the court can sit with 13 justices known as the "Grand Chamber"; Court of First Instance - 27 justices appointed for a six-year term
Political parties and leaders:
Confederal Group of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left or
GUE/NGL [Lothar BISKY]; Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group or EFD
[Nigel FARAGE and Francesco SPERONI]; European Conservatives and
Reformists Group or ECR [Michael KAMINSKI]; Group of Greens/European
Free Alliance or Greens/EFA [Rebecca HARMS and Daniel COHN-BENDIT];
Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe or ALDE
[Guy VERHOFSTADT]; Group of the European People's Party or EPP
[Joseph DAUL]; Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and
Democrats in the European Parliament or S&D [Martin SCHULZ]
International organization participation:
European Union: ARF (dialogue member), ASEAN (dialogue member), FAO, G-8, G-20, IDA, OAS (observer), PIF (partner), SAARC (observer), UN (observer), WTO
European Commission: Australian Group, CBSS, CERN, EBRD, FATF, G-10,
IEA, LAIA WTO, ZC (observer)