Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Tomassi, and I'm gonna be working through with you on your citizenship lesson today.

Hopefully, if you are all settled, you're all good to go, and you've got everything you need, then we are ready to make a start.

Today's lesson title is What is the Difference Between the European Union and the European Council? This lesson forms part of the unit titled How has the UK Responded With its Change in Relationship with the EU? So hopefully, by the end of the lesson today, you'll be able to outline the difference between the European Union and the European Council.

There are three keywords that you will see in this lesson today.

So you've got member of European Parliament, MEP, and that is elected members of the Parliament of Europe.

They're elected from Member States.

Summit, which is a meeting between heads of government.

And bloc, a group of countries or political parties with common interests who formed an alliance.

If you ever see them once and you can't remember what they mean, then you can just refer back to them here and you will have definitions.

So with that, we have three learning cycles today and we'll make a start on the first, which is what do the EU and the EC do? When you see EC, it means the European Council.

So we'll start with the European Union.

Do you already know much about it? Have you got any ideas what it's about? If you do, then you might know that it's a political and economic union, and there are 27 Member States in Europe.

It's a collaboration, so it's a group, it's the countries working together between these states, and it's aimed at promoting prosperity, security, and cooperation.

These are things like improving trade, law, and foreign policy for the Member States.

Each Member State elects representatives called members of the European Parliament, which is MEPs.

Now, they vote on legislation as well as shaping and amending proposed laws.

Next, we're gonna have a look at the European Council.

Now, the European Council is a body that do not have the authority to make laws.

So they instead focus on setting the EU strategics direction and addressing major issues that the EU faces.

Some of these examples might include like when Brexit was happening, the European Council will be involved in the discussion.

Things like climate change as well, they'll be dealing with those issues.

Now, the European Council is made up of heads of states or government from each Member State.

So it's typically the prime minister or president of each country who's involved in that.

And it is led by a president who is elected directly by Member States at the Council.

Check for understanding now.

Which body has representatives made up of directly elected MEPs? A, European Council, B, European Union, or C, both? Did you remember? It was the European Union.

So now you can kind of see both of them side by side so you can get an idea of the differences between them.

So you've got the EU, which has 27 Member States who elect representatives to parliament.

It has a parliament, and they create the legislature.

So they are creating the laws which all Member States must follow.

So example would be banning single use plastics such as straws.

Whereas the European Council, again still has 27 members made up of representatives to the Council, normally head of state.

And these councils meet in a special chamber, and they're there to discuss strategic important issues.

They don't make legislation.

That's just the European Union.

Some examples of what they might do.

So how best to support Ukraine after the Russia invasion in 2022.

Here, you've got an image to show you what the European Council looks like, and that's the photo from 2021 meeting.

And the European Council is led by the president of the Council.

They're not the leader of Europe, but considered to be first among equals.

And that means what it's saying there.

So actually, they're seen as an important figure and have an important position that they hold.

So the Council is made up of elected leaders of Member States.

That's what we were discussing a minute ago.

And they also hold summits.

So if you remember back, can you remember that key term means? So this idea of everyone meeting together, and they meet in European cities and they often take the lead on issues of foreign policies.

So there you go.

You've got an example there when we were talking about the picture, it's in Brussels and it shows you what they are doing.

So true or false, the president of the Council of Europe is the first-most-important because only they are elected? That's false.

Can you think why that's false? Its the Council of Europe is made up of elective representatives from Member States.

The president is considered to be the first-among-equals.

So they're not more important, but they're upon equal and they have important position.

So this leads us onto the first task.

Can you sort the roles into the correct columns? So you've got the European Union there and the European Council, and then you've got six different roles.

After you've done that, see if you can explain the function of the European Council.

So take some time, and when you are finished, if you unpause and then we can go through the feedback together.

How did you get on? Hopefully, you managed to work out that the European Union is made up of MEPs and members of European parliament, makes laws and directives that Member States should follow.

And the European Council is led by a president made up of representatives from Member States who are elected, has no legislative powers, and responsible for foreign policy.

Did you manage to get that? If you did, great job.

And then we can have a look at the second part.

So for the function of the European Council, you could have included the European Council sets the strategic direction of the EU.

It's made up of the Heads of State or government from each Member State, typically the Prime Minister or President The European Council does not make laws but addresses major issues facing the EU and discusses key policies.

It also plays a key role in shaping the EU's foreign policy and holds summits and various European cities.

The Council is led by the president who is considered first among equals and is elected by the members.

Did you get something similar? Well done if you did.

Hopefully now, you have a better understanding of the European Council and the European Union.

So that means that we're gonna move on to the next learning cycle, which is how does the EU and EC members express their intentions? So Andeep says here, Government exists to represent people.

How does our government in Westminster hear our voices? So Sam says, actually lots of ways.

You can vote to elect an MP who represents the views of constituents.

You can write to your MP to explain your views.

If you want change, you can vote for someone different next time.

So what we are gonna look at is how this works in terms of the European Union.

So the parliament of the European Union is made up of members of European Parliament.

They're elected from Member States.

When they are elected, they're elected by proportional representation.

So what that means is that the percentage of their votes represents the share of the seats they have in parliament.

So there are 705 seats in the European Parliament for 27 Member States.

Now, countries elect their political parties who then sit in a bloc.

Remember the key term bloc? Can you remember what that is? So these are the groups of countries that share them goals together.

Now, Andeep says a bloc is a group of countries or political parties with common interests who have formed an alliance.

So an alliance is a bit like, you know, when you've got maybe friends in common and people that you share values with, you might group together and that's an alliance.

Now, when the UK was in the EU, the Labour Party could be elected to the European Parliament.

So they sat with other left-wing parties in a bloc called Socialist & Democratic parties.

So this is this idea that the similar groups get put together and then they are set together in European parliament, and you might have different countries in each bloc.

Now, Andeep says, so how do Member States influence the European Union? So people from Member States can elect their MEPs based on what they believe.

Since they are elected based on proportional representation, they often get a very different result to their own parliamentary vote.

That's because, so to give you an example, in the UK, we use first-past-the-post.

It's a different system of electing to proportional representation.

So this makes sure that if 20% of people voted for parties in the Socialist & Democratic Party, they would get 20% of the seats.

So Andeep says, how do Member States influence the European Union? MEPs work in Brussels where the parliament is.

Strasbourg in France, where the parliament holds its plenary session monthly, and in their home country.

Now, citizens from the Member States can meet with their MEP and write to them too.

So exactly the same, like in the UK, when you have a member of parliament, it's the same thing.

You can write to your MEP and you can get in contact with them and they can express your concerns on their behalf so they can also show approval or disapproval for European laws.

Check for understanding.

What form of voting is used for European parliamentary elections? A, first-past-the-post, B, proportional representation, C, supplementary vote.

It was proportional representation.

So that shows you a bit about the European Union and how citizens can express their intentions through speaking to the MEPs.

Now, the European Council is a little bit harder because it's not directly elected.

If citizens want to try and change their representative, they need to change the leader of their country.

Do you remember why? So if we think back to the European Council, the European Council has 27 members, but they tend to be the Prime Minister or the leader of that country.

So to give you an example, in 2025, Emmanuel Macron is President of France, and he represents the Council, he represents France at the Council.

But citizens cannot directly change this unless they vote him out of the next French election.

So although that's the case, citizens can still engage with their leaders in the normal ways so that you can write letters, arrange protests, ask your MP to meet with them, petitions, raise awareness of key issues.

It is still a democratic union, so there's still opportunities for citizens to get involved.

Quick check here, can you correct Andeep's description? Andeep says the European Council is mostly made up of members of a Member State's Parliament.

Take some time.

Think why Andeep is not correct and how you could correct it.

Did you manage to work out that the European Council was mostly made up of leaders of members states? So not the people in the parliament, but it's the leaders that make up the European Council.

Great job if you've managed to keep up with that, because the difference, they do have very similar European Union in European Council.

So it's trying to remember the differences between the two.

Now that moves us onto the second task for this lesson.

So can you discuss this statement? Come up with at least two arguments for and at least two arguments against the statement.

Sam says, it is impossible for citizens to influence the European Union.

So two arguments for, two arguments against.

You're probably gonna need some time to have a discussion about it, or if you're on your own, you can have a bit of a reflection about it and then come up with your arguments to it.

So take some time now if you pause it and then when you are ready, unpause and then we can go through the feedback together.

How did you get on? Did you manage to have a good debate about it? Was there an area that maybe you struggled with a bit more? Was it hard to get both sides to this? Hopefully you did manage to, and if you did, well done.

And then you could have come up with something like this.

So if you agreed, you could have said, well, there are 27 Member States electing MEPs.

That's 720 MEPs.

It would be impossible to influence enough of them to make a difference.

And then a disagree point could be, well, citizens can engage with their MEPs the same way they do MPs.

This means they can write letters and even do petitions.

Another agree point could have been, MEPs work in a foreign country.

This can restrict to citizens' access to them because they're so far away.

However, you could have disagreed and said elections are the way to influence all politicians.

MEPs will want support at the next election and therefore are likely to listen to their voters.

It'll be interesting if you came up with some different responses as well.

How did you find it? Hopefully, you have a better understanding and you are clearer now on the difference between the European Union and the European Council and how citizens can get involved with them.

If that's the case, we're gonna move on to the third line in circle for the lesson, and it's the final one.

So how have the EU and the EC roles evolved over time? Like anything to do with politics or democracy, parliaments, they change over time.

So this is the same for the European Union and the European Council.

And the reason is because the issues they face become more complex, so they need to adapt to these changes.

Example, so when the European countries first began working together in 1947, the issues they're dealing with then were very different kind of post-war to what they're dealing with today.

There were also only seven members compared to the 27 members in the EU today.

So a timeline here to show you.

The Treaty of Rome allowed for a European assembly, which meets in this 1958.

Now, they had limited powers to make laws because some countries were nervous about the impact it might have on the sovereignty.

Now, if you haven't heard of sovereignty before, this is what we're talking about when we say that countries can make their own decisions without the interference of others.

So some, especially if we're thinking back to 1958, some might be a bit, hmm, well, if if other countries had more of a say in what was going in their country, they might feel a bit anxious about what that was gonna look like.

And what that meant is they were worried that European laws would override their own national laws, and then they would have less power as a result.

So this is what we're talking about when we said sovereignty.

And to give you some examples of what it looks like, the things that they can do is make their own laws, control borders, manage own affairs, both domestically and internationally.

So in the UK, the UK is a sovereign country and it has full control over its political, legal, and economic systems. It collaborates with other countries.

So example, being part of the EU in the past.

However, it would maintain its own decisions and policies.

So that was 1958.

And then you move forward to 1979, and the first European parliamentary elections take place.

This is the first elected parliament meet.

So this is the first time that they've met.

Now, the first job of this new parliament was to write and agree the rules for the new European parliament.

And the laws have been in place ever since and they've been adapted by special treaties.

True or false.

The European Parliament was established in 1948 and has been the same ever since.

That's false.

Can you think why that's false? So the first election took place in 1979.

I mean credit to you if you even, if you managed to remember the date as well.

And this was where the new MEPs had to agree how parliament should function.

Special treaties are created to change how the European Parliament functions.

Move forward again.

So 2007, the European Council, which is the newest edition, is created by the Treaty of Lisbon.

Before this, leaders met at informal summits where they would form agreements that could influence the European policy.

So to give you an example, before 1969, summits were heavily influenced by the French.

So Charles de Gaulle was the president of France, and he believed strongly that Europe would be better if countries worked together.

As such, he often brought leaders together to discuss issues that mattered to everyone.

So again, if you think back to that whole idea of collaboration, this is part of the collaboration process is about getting the countries to work together in agreement and make sure everybody is on track.

Now, the European Council later agreed that it required a president to lead the Council.

So two years later, in 2009, the group agreed that they would elect a president from the group and their term of office would be until they resigned.

The group would then elect a new president.

So it is informally agreed that the president cannot also be the leader of their own country.

So it's customary to resign from the role in your country.

True or false.

The European Council is the oldest functioning institution in Europe.

That's false.

Can you remember why? Can you think when the European Council was founded? It's fairly new.

It was only created in 2007.

However, if you think leaders had been meeting previously, but informally.

And that moves us on the final task for this lesson.

So the European Union and the European Council have been through lots of change.

Give one argument for and one argument against this statement.

You'll probably need some time to recap and think of these ideas.

Again, it is really tricky when they both sound so similar, trying to remember the difference.

So remember that European Union is the whole union, and the European Council is part of it.

And remember, it's part of it where the leaders of the Member States meet.

Yeah, and the European Union is responsible for the legislation, the European Council isn't.

So that's just to help you in case you couldn't remember the difference.

Now you've got that.

Can you think about an argument for this and an argument against? Take some time, pause it, and then when you are ready, unpause, and we can go through some feedback.

Good luck, and I hope you managed to get on with this task.

So how did you find that? Hopefully again, you've managed to remember the difference between the two, and then you've managed to work out why they have or haven't been through lots of change.

So your answer could look like this.

All political institutions change over time.

The European Union was originally much smaller and now has 27 members.

As such, the European parliament has changed lots from its original function in 1979.

That's because the EU is now dealing with more complex issues than it was in 1979.

The European Council has not changed very much because it's fairly new.

The European Council is not a legislative body, so the pace of change has been much slower because leaders are not directly changing policy of the EU.

Did you manage to get something similar to that? I mean, if you've got some different ideas, that's great as well.

So well done for that task.

Now this brings us to a close of the lesson, and we're gonna move on to the summary now.

So to summarise, the European Union is a union of 27 Member States.

They are elected MEPs who vote on and shape laws.

Remember, so the EU is the overarching union where legislation is created.

Now, the European Council set the European Union strategy with leaders of the 27 Member States meeting to discuss key issues.

Citizens can engage with members of both the European Union and the European Council in various ways.

Political institutions like the European Union and the European Council evolve and change over time.

And also with that, it's important to note that it will continue to evolve and change over time.

So even as it is now in 2025, not to say that in two, three, four, five years time, it might change and adapt again to deal with any other current issues or the climate that we are in then.

So with that, hopefully you've managed to know now the difference between the European Union and the European Council.

Don't worry if you're still a little bit confused because it can take some time because it, I think it doesn't help when the words are so similar as well.

So if you are still a little bit like, ooh, I'm not too sure, always go over it again.

But if you remember the Union, that's the overall, and the Council is the leaders of the 27 Member States.

If you can start with that, then hopefully it will start to go in and you'll be able to remember the differences between the two.

But well done today because it is difficult to keep up with these kind of topics.

So thanks for working with me and hopefully you enjoy the rest of your day.