European Union
http://europa.eu
The European Union today represents a group of 27 democratic countries in Europe which have freely joined together, first into an economic and later into a political group, to achieve common objectives in a variety of areas.
The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009 amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community. The Treaty of Lisbon creates a single legal subject European Union and canceled the European Community.
Institutions of the European Union
The EU institutional structure is based on triangle the European Parliament, the Council of the EU, the European Commission. In addition institutions of the Union shall be in accordance with the Article 13 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union the European Council, the Court of Justice of the EU, the European Central Bank, the European Court of Auditors.
One of the EU's financial institutions is the European Investment Bank, whose role is to contribute to the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of member states through the financing of investment projects. The European Parliament, the Commission and the EU Council shall be assisted by an Economic and Social Committee and a Committee of the Regions.
In terms of cooperation with EU institutions, Národná banka Slovenska (NBS) closely cooperates with the European Central Bank. The Treaty of Lisbon has strengthened the position of the European Central Bank.
The decision-making process of the EU
The decision-making process in the EU takes place in three stages: a proposal, a negotiation and a decision. The European Commission (the executive body) is the initiating body. The Commission submits a draft legal act (regulation, directive, decision, recommendation and opinion) to the European Parliament (joint decision making body) and the EU Council (decision making body) in accordance with the Article 294 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union.
The submitted draft of a legal act is then amended and discussed in the working groups of the Council of the EU and later in the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States (COREPER).
The Treaty of Lisbon canceled the procedure of cooperation, which was based on common by adopted legal acts by the European Parliament and the EU Council.
The Council of the EU meets at the level of the ministers of member states who are responsible for the issue being discussed. The meetings are prepared by the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER), which was established in accordance with the Art. 240 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union. This committee consists of permanent representatives of the EU member states and is responsible for the preparation of activities of the Council of the EU and for tasks that have been assigned to it by the Council of the EU. It resolves issues on which no agreement has been reached in the working groups of the Council of the EU. The COREPER has two parts: the COREPER I and COREPER II. COREPER I is responsible for the preparation of issues related to employment, social policy, health care and issues regarding the consumers, competitiveness (internal market, industry and research), transport, telecommunications and energy, agriculture and fishing industry, environment, education, youth and culture. The COREPER II is responsible for general affairs, external affairs, economic and financial affairs, justice and internal affairs.Position of the NBS in the EU decision-making process
The NBS indirectly enters the decision-making process of EU institutions through its representatives in selected committees and in working groups of the Council of the EU, the European Commission and the Commission for EU affairs.
Position of the NBS in the EU decision-making process
The NBS indirectly enters the decision-making process of the EU institutions through its representatives in selected committees and in working groups of the Council of the EU, the European Commission and the Commission for EU affairs.
Ministers of finance from the EU member states meet at the Council of Ministers for Economic and Financial Affairs of the EU (ECOFIN) once a month. For Národná banka Slovenska, the informal meetings of the ECOFIN, which take place once every six months or during each Presidency in the Council of the EU, are important. Ministers of finance as well as Governors of national central banks are invited to participate in these informal meetings. Currently, Jozef Makúch, Governor of the NBS takes part in the informal ECOFIN meetings.
The committees and working groups of the Council of the EU and the European Commission handle the preparation of analyses and proposals for the Council of the EU and the European Commission. They consist of independent experts as well as representatives from various interest groups from the EU member states. The NBS has representatives in selected committees and working groups only.
One of these is the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), a committee of the Council of the EU. Representatives of national central banks, together with representatives of the ministries of finance of the member states, the Commission and the ECB participate fully in the EFC meetings. The NBS experts are involved in the activities of the EFC sub-committees.
Representatives of NBS also participate in meetings of the European Commission committees following: the Committee for European Banking Supervisors (www.c-ebs.org), the Committee of European Securities Regulators (www.cesr-eu.org), the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (www.ceiops.org) etc.
The Commission for EU affairs, established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, is responsible for the coordination of the decision-making process of EU affairs within Slovakia. Its main task is to coordinate Slovakia's European policy in relation to issues discussed in the COREPER. The Commission prepares and approves an instruction based on the proposal of the ministry in charge or another institution and then sends it to the Permanent Representation of the Slovak Republic to the European Union in Brussels. The NBS also regularly participates in the meetings of the interministerial Commission for EU affairs 2, which is responsible for the coordination of Slovak policy in areas of the COREPER II.
European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
The European Commission's decision no. 1999/352/EC of 28 April 1999 established the European Anti-Fraud -OLAF.The mission of the OLAF is to protect the financial interests of the European Union by combating fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, including serious misconduct within the European Institutions.
To ensure compliance with its functional role of OLAF receives and processes the data, leading external or internal administrative investigations conducted on the same principles, and helps coordinate the authorized institutions in member countries and monitors all information and results of investigations.
In order to fulfill obligations under Article 280 of the Treaty on European Union Slovak Government authorized theCentral Contact Point of OLAF and the Fight Against Corruption (OLAF BK), which is a division of the Section of Control and Fight against Corruption of the Government Office. with the coordination function. The role of BK OLAF is to coordinate legislative, administrative and operational activities to ensure protection of EU financial interests and to this end, work closely with authorities and institutions involved in the system of protection. One of the partners in the protection system is the National Bank of Slovakia.
OLAF BK press releases :
Updated: January 2012