List of bodies of the European Union
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The main bodies of the European Union and the Euratom are: * the seven principal
institutions of the European Union The institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision-making bodies of the European Union and the Euratom. They are, as listed in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union: * the European Parliament, * the European Counci ...
, including the one which is an international entity (the European Central Bank) * other bodies of the EU established through primary (treaty) legislation, either as international law bodies (the
European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions ...
Group entities, the European University Institute, the European Stability Mechanism and the
Unified Patent Court The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is a common patent court open for participation of member states of the European Union, and created by the "Agreement on a Unified Patent Court" (UPC Agreement or UPCA), which is provisionally applicable since 19 ...
) or as bodies without juridical personality (the European Ombudsman, the advisory bodies to the European Union) * the agencies, decentralised independent bodies and joint undertakings of the European Union and the Euratom, which are bodies of the EU established as juridical persons through secondary legislation, * other bodies of the EU established through secondary legislation, which lack juridical personality (e.g. European Data Protection Supervisor) * the inter-institutional services Apart from them, some several other bodies exist.


Institutions of the EU

The Treaty on European Union in Article 13 lists seven
institutions of the European Union The institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision-making bodies of the European Union and the Euratom. They are, as listed in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union: * the European Parliament, * the European Counci ...
, including one which is an international entity (the European Central Bank).


International law entities of the EU (other than EBC)


European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions ...
Group bodies

In addition, the
European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions ...
is the European Union's long-term lending institution. The EIB supports the EU's priority objectives, especially boosting sustainable growth and job creation. The Group also includes the
European Investment Fund The European Investment Fund (EIF), established in 1994, is a financial institution for the provision of finance to SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), headquartered in Luxembourg. It is part of the European Investment Bank Group. It ...
and the EIB Institute.


European University Institute


European Stability Mechanism


Unified Patent Court


Other treaty-established bodies


Advisory bodies

There are a number of other bodies and agencies of note that are not formal institutions. There are two consultative committees to the EU institutions: the Economic and Social Committee (EESC) advises on economic and social policy (principally relations between workers and employers) being made up of representatives of various industries and work sectors. Its 344 members (with an additional nine members joining following the accession of Croatia to the EU), appointed by the Council for four-year terms, are organised into three fairly equal groups representing employers, employees and other various interests; while the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is composed of representative of regional and local authorities who hold an electoral mandate. It advises on regional issues. It has 344 members, organised in political groups, appointed every four years by the Council.


European Ombudsman

The European Ombudsman deals with citizens grievances against the Union's institutions and is elected for five-year terms by the Parliament.


Agencies, decentralised independent bodies, corporate bodies and joint undertakings

A number of decentralised, executive and Eurarom agencies, decentralised independent bodies and joint undertakings exist, which are bodies of the EU or Euratom established as juridical persons through secondary EU legislation. These include the
European Environment Agency The European Environment Agency (EEA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) which provides independent information on the environment. Definition The European Environment Agency (EEA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) which provides i ...
and Europol.


Other bodies and inter-institutional services

There are also three inter-institutional bodies lacking juridical personality: the Publications Office, the oldest one, which publishes and distributes official publications from the European Union bodies; and the two relatively new: the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), a recruitment body which organises competitions for posts within Union institutions; and the
European Administrative School The European Administrative School (EAS), also known as the European School of Administration, is an EU body founded in 2005 to provide specialist training to staff from all institutions of the European Union. It is part of the European Personnel ...
, which provides specific training for the staff of Union institutions. Another body is the anti-fraud office
OLAF Olaf or Olav (, , or British ; Old Norse: ''Áleifr'', ''Ólafr'', ''Óleifr'', ''Anleifr'') is a Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ancestor, grand-father" a ...
whose mission is to protect the financial interests of the European Union. The European Data Protection Supervisor ensures the institutions respect citizens' privacy rights in relation to data processing.


References


See also

* Glossary of European Union concepts, acronyms, & jargon * List of the names of bodies of the European Union in its official languages {{eu-stub