he Treaty on European Union (Maastricht) in
1992; the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997; and the Treaty of Nice in
2003; note - a new draft Constitutional Treaty, signed on 29 October
2004 in Rome, gave member states two years for ratification either
by parliamentary vote or national referendum before it was scheduled
to take effect on 1 November 2006; defeat in French and Dutch
referenda in May-June 2005 dealt a severe setback to the
ratification process; in June 2007, the European Council agreed on a
clear and concise mandate for an Intergovernmental Conference to
form a political agreement and put it into legal form; this
agreement, known as the Reform Treaty, would have served as a
constitution and was presented to the European Council in October
2007 for individual country ratification; it was rejected by Irish
voters in June 2008, again stalling the ratification process

Legal system:

comparable to the legal systems of member states; first
supranational law system

Suffrage:

18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:

chief of union: President of the European Commission Jose Manuel
DURAO BARROSO (since 22 November 2004)
cabinet: European Commission (composed of 27 members, one from each
member country; each commissioner responsible for one or more policy
areas)
elections: the president of the European Commission is designated by
member governments and is confirmed by the European Parliament;
working from member state recommendations, the Commission president
then assembles a "college" of Commission members; the European
Parliament confirms the entire Commission for a five-year term; the
last confirmation process was held 18 November 2004 (next to be held
in 2009)
election results: European Parliament approved the European
Commission by an approval vote of 449 to 149 with 82 abstentions
note: the European Council brings together heads of state and
government and the president of the European Commission and meets at
least four times a year; its aim is to provide the impetus for the
major political issues relating to European integration and to issue
general policy guidelines

Legislative branch:

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; note -
the Council is the main decision-making body of the EU) and the
European Parliament (785 seats, as of 1 Ja