Topic: The institutions of the European Union

Author: Anna Rabiega

Addressee:

8th‑grade primary school student.

Core curriculum:

XII. International affairs.

The student:

2) lists the objectives of the European Union's operations (...).

The general aim of education:

The student has some basic knowledge on selected international issues.

Learning outcomes:

The student:

• presents the main institutions of the European Union and explains their competences.

• explains which of the EU institutions are involved in drawing up the budget.

• analyses the revenues and expenditure of the EU budget.

Key competences:

• communicating in a foreign language,

• digital competence,

• learning to learn,

• social and civic competences.

Teaching methods:

• discussion,

• brainstorming (635 method),

• mind map,

• teaching conversation using schemes, movies, interactive exercises.

Forms of work:

• self‑learning,

• group work,

• whole‑class activity.

Material & equipment needed:

• computers with loudspeakers/headphones and internet access,

• multimedia resources from the e‑textbook,

• interactive whiteboard/blackboard, felt‑tip pen/a piece of chalk.

Lesson plan overview (Process):

Introduction:

1. The teacher presents the goal of the lesson: You will analyse the most important institutions of the European Union and the budget of this organisation.

2. The teacher writes „EU institutions” on the board. The teacher informs the class that they will use a mind map and explains what that is, if necessary. The students' task is to write down the institutions of the European Union they are familiar with. In the first part of the exercise, the students don't use any information sources. The teacher appoints a moderator who writes the ideas of his/her colleagues on the board and also sets a time limit to complete the task. Willing/selected students present their ideas. After that, the teacher informs the students that they can go online to verify and supplement their ideas.

The students complete the diagram that is on the board. The teacher then displays the „Institutions of the European Union” diagram and the students can compare it with the results of their work. The teacher asks a willing/selected student to summarise the exercise.

Implementation:

1. The teacher describes the competencies of the European Commission to the students, using the „The Commission's competencies” interactive scheme. The teacher asks willing/selected students what their understanding of each of the competencies of the European Commission is and asks them to provide examples of actions taken by the Commission which fall within each competency. The teacher corrects and completes the students' answers.

2. The teacher informs the students that they will use the modified 635 method when determining the competencies of the other four most important EU institutions. The teacher explains the working method. The students are divided into 4 groups (each group has about 6 persons) and each group is assigned a different institution: The European Council, the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, and the Court of Justice of the European Union. The task of each group is to list the competencies of each institution. Each group writes down, within 5 minutes, 3 competencies of the institution assigned to them, together with examples of concrete actions taken within the scope of these competencies over the last two years. The teacher then passes on the results of the work of one group to the next group, whose task is to expand the list of competencies of a given UE institution by at least one competency and to give an example of a concrete action taken within the scope of this competency in the last two years, within 5 minutes. The teacher repeats this three times until the sheets of paper with the competencies and the examples written on them return to the initial groups. The initial groups have another 5 minutes to discuss, verify and organize the information about the institution assigned to them at the beginning of the exercise. Afterwards, group representatives present the results of the group's work to the other students. If necessary, the teacher corrects and completes the students' answers.

3. The teacher informs the students that in a moment they will watch a short film about the EU budget, while their task will be to answer the following questions:

• What is the EU budget spent on?

• What institutions are involved in drawing up the budget? What is the role of each of them in this process?

• What is the role of the Member States in drawing up the EU budget?

• Which institution is responsible for spending money from the EU budget?

• Who controls this institution and how? (for this question, it is useful for the teacher to ask the students about both the role of the Court of Justice and of the European Parliament, as well as whether EU citizens have an insight into how the EU budget is being managed).

4. The teacher shows the „An overview of the EU budget” video which is available online. Willing/selected students answer the questions. The teacher writes on the board the types of budget expenditures (they will come in handy for the next exercise). At the end of the exercise, the teacher asks a willing/selected student for a summary.

5. The teacher initiates a short discussion on whether the expenditures from particular categories (written on the board) are visible to the students in our country: Can the students give specific examples of the expenditures for each category in Poland (or for Poland)? Or maybe Poland does not benefit from some kinds of the expenditures?

6. The teacher asks the students about the sources of the EU budget. Willing/selected students present their suggestions. The teacher corrects and completes the students' answers. At the end of the teaching conversation, the teacher asks a willing/selected student to summarize the conversation.

7. The teacher asks the students to solve Exercise 1 in order to summarise the discussed topic concerning the EU budget.

Summary:

1. At the end of the class, the teacher asks questions to encourage the students to sum up the class topic, e.g.:

• What are the most important institutions of the European Union?

• Which of them participate in the process of drawing up the budget?

• How is the EU budget financed? How are these funds spent?

• What are the other competencies of each institution (the teacher enumerates these institutions one by one)?

2. Homework proposal:

a. Study the competencies of the European Commission again which are described in the interactive scheme. Search the internet and briefly describe the examples of concrete actions that the Commission has taken in each field of its competency within the last two years.

b. Listen to the abstract recording to review the material and new vocabulary. Then do the vocabulary exercise at the end of the chapter.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

The institutions of the European Union

The European Council

The European Council consists of the heads of state and government of the member states of the European Union. The main competence of the Council is to set priorities and the general direction of the European Union's policy. The European Council has no official seat, but its meetings are held in Brussels.

It is headed by the President of the European Council. Since 2014 the position is held by Donald Tusk. The President represents the European Union externally in matters concerning the common foreign and security policy.

The Council of the European Union

The Council of the European Union, also known simply as the Council, is the main body making political decisions of the European Union. The Council of the European Union includes ministers from all EU member states. The Council's task is to coordinate EU policy and participate in lawmaking. The Council plays an important role in adopting the European Union budget.

The Council meets in various configurations. Depending on the topic discussed, the member state is represented by the minister responsible for the given field (e.g. foreign policy, agricultural policy, finances, etc.). The Council meets in Brussels and in Luxembourg.

The European Commission

The European Commission is a supranational body. This means that its members are independent of national governments. The Commission's headquarters is located in Brussels. It consists of commissioners, one from each of the member states of the European Union.

The European Parliament

The European Parliament represents the interests of EU citizens. Every citizen of an EU member state, irrespective of his place of residence, has the right to elect representatives or be a candidate to the European Parliament. Elections take place every 5 years. For this reason, the Parliament is considered to be an expression of the democratic will of over 500 million citizens of the Union. The number of seats per member state depends on the number of inhabitants and political arrangements between countries. Currently, with 28 member states, there are 751 deputies in the Parliament.

The headquarters of the European Parliament is located in Strasbourg. The deputies also work in Brussels and Luxembourg.

The Court of Justice of the European Union

The Court of Justice is the judicial body of the EU. It consists of three bodies: the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal. The seat of the Court is in Luxembourg.

Its basic task is to ensure that EU law is interpreted and applied uniformly in all member states. The Court of Justice and the General Court settle disputes between member states, EU institutions, businesses and individuals. The Civil Service Tribunal settles disputes between the European Union and its officials.

The budget of the European Union

The Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the European Commission create the law and decide on the budget of the European Union. The EU budget is a revenue and expenditure plan drawn up for the financial year that coincides with the calendar year.

Where does the EU take the money from and what does it spend them on? The funds available to the EU come from various sources, including contributions paid by member states, customs duties, and part of the revenues from value added tax (VAT).

From its budget, the European Union finances common policies, supports less‑developed regions, implements research projects and responds to current problems, such as humanitarian crises. As much as 94% of funds from the EU budget under various funds return to domestic entrepreneurs and citizens. The institution responsible for the implementation of the EU budget is the European Commission. The control over its implementation is exercised by the European Parliament. The European Commission annually reports to the European Parliament on how the EU funds were spent.

The European Union is an international organization with special features. Through its institutions, the EU creates law that is binding for and in the member states and establishes a common budget. The system of the EU institutions was built in such a way as to fulfill the interests of the member states, the European Union as an organization, and EU citizens. Each institution has important functions and is associated with other bodies.