The European Union Committee System is an informal category of committees involved in the processing of

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

(EU) legislation. The committees, which are active in different phases of the EU legislative process, include Commission expert groups (which help generate policy ideas and formulate draft proposals), Council working parties (which help in deciding legislation), and comitology committees (which oversee the implementation of laws). The different committees are chaired by different institutions usually the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

and include different kind of members, ranging from public to private actors. Also involved in the European Union Committee System are

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

committees (which process proposals from the Commission) and committees associated with the

European External Action Service The European External Action Service (EEAS) is the diplomatic service and combined foreign and defence ministry of the European Union (EU). The EEAS is led by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP), who is a ...

(although committees associated with this relatively new organisation are not yet well understood). Issues surrounding the European Union Committee System include their transparency, since some of the committees described above are informal yet quite powerful in shaping and deciding legislation. Since the late 1990s, an increasing amount of attention has been placed on the committee system (mainly from the European Parliament) in order to shine light on their operation, mandate, and impact on European legislative outcomes.Christiansen, T., Oettel, J.M. and Vaccari, B. (2009) ''21st Century Comitology: Implementing Committees in the Enlarged European Union''. Maastricht: European Institute of Public Administration

References

Bodies of the European Union {{EU-stub

See also

References