Home > Institutions of the European Union

• The European Parliament
• The European Council
• The Council of the European Union (or 'Council of Ministers')
• The European Commission
• The European Court of Justice (incorporating the Court of First Instance)
• The European Court of Auditors

There are several financial bodies:

• European Central Bank (which alongside the national Central Banks, composes the European System of Central Banks)
• European Investment Bank (including the European Investment Fund)

The treaties have also established several advisory committees to the institutions:

• Committee of the Regions, advising on regional issues.
• Economic and Social CommitteeThe European Union's Economic and Social Committee is the consultative assembly of European social and economic partners. It was established by the Treaty of Rome of 1957 in order to unite different economic interest groups to establish the Common Market., advising on economic and social (principally relations between workers and employers)
• Political and Security Committee , established in the context of the Common Foreign and Security PolicyThe Common Foreign and Security Policy or CFSP was established as the second of the three pillars of the European Union in the Maastricht treaty of 1992, and further defined and broadened in the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997. Objectives According to the treati, monitoring and advising on international issues of global security.

There is also a great number of bodies which were established by secondary legislation (i.e. not by the treaties) in order to implement particular policies. These are the agencies of the European UnionThe agencies of the European Union are bodies which are distinct from the European Union's institutions, in that they have not been created by the treaties but rather by acts of secondary legislation, in order to accomplish a very specific task. Unlike mo. Some of these are the European Environment AgencyEuropean Environment Agency (EEA), agency of the European Union devoted to establishing a monitoring network for the monitoring of the European environment. It is governed by a Management Board composed of representatives of the governments of member stat, the European Aviation Safety AgencyEuropean Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union which has been given specific regulatory and executive tasks in the field of aviation safety. It was formed in 2002, and is taking over much of the responsibilities of the Joint Avi and the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal MarketThe Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), or OHIM is the trademark and industrial designs registry for the European Union. It administers all Community Trade Marks and Community Designs and is generally involved in any. In the context of the third pillar ( Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal MattersPolice and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters is the third of the three pillars of the European Union, focusing on co-operation in law enforcement and combating racism. It was created as the Justice and Home Affairs pillar in the Treaty of Maastric), Europol and Eurojust have been created.

Lastly, the European Ombudsman watches for abuses of power by EU institutions.