comparing the united states and the european union

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Moti Lebovich


History and Culture of Europe


Professor Smith


Some might think that a new “super-country” is forming in the place Europe once used to be. According to these voices, this new entity will be the new master of the globe, putting an end to the American era. The debates on such a subject may be relevant or not, but should encourage us to look inside these two entities, and analyze their differences. While analyzing and trying to understand these two structures, this paper will look at the two as macros, ignoring the small details in order to understand the big picture. The analysis will include both the intent and the main organizational structure of the two.





The understanding of any structure, being it physical, political, economical etc. must start even before it is formed. There must be an idea, or intended use for the future structure. One can comprehend the issue of intent in either an historical angle or perceiving the constitution as the legal evidence of the intent.


Historically speaking, the difference between the United States of America and the European Union is evident. During the early years of the United States of America, the main concern of the local militia, formed mostly by villagers and farmers without a military background or experience, was to drive out the English. This negative emotion of uniting together with thy neighbor, in order to drive out a mutual enemy, is a basic difference from the European Union, which was formed as a “preventive pill” for ensuring or reducing the chances for the recurrence of Europe burning, as it did in World War II.


But then again, words on the one hand, and actions on the other. These thoughts and ideals are very nice, but when a constitution is drafted, and signed, then the real intentions of the authors are revealed. These papers are drafted according to the political interests, culture, and the interests of the authors themselves and of course, they are a product of their time. It would be only natural, that a legal paper from more then two hundred years ago would have different goals then one designed and signed in the last fifteen years.


The American constitution was written for the people! A nation of immigrants that was searching for a new home, a place to live without the prosecution in their old countries. The constitution talks about the relationship between the government power and the freedom of the individual. One can gather from this that the powers of government are limited by being separated and enumerated (this will be reiterated in the analysis of the organizations)..


In contrast to this, the European Union constitution is a document defining Europe as a socialistic-welfare-state. Instead of making its citizens closer to power, they created a monstrous bureaucratic system which makes the people even more remote to the government (as will be shown further in the analysis).


After comprehending these basic differences between the two, it is much simpler to perceive the differences in the organizational structure of the two. Before doing so, we must remind ourselves of one major difference that will make it easier for understanding; while the United States is an independent Country, the European Union is a coalition of states, independent for centuries, with cultures, armies and history of their own, trying to Unite under one big super-entity.


One of the first variations between the two is the Pillar System implemented in the European Union vs. the American government system. In the latter one, as said before, the power is distributed into three different branches; legislative, executive and judicial. The pillar system, on the other hand, is built in a way that the members cooperate in three different areas (pillars). The heart of the pillar system is the “center” pillar, the European Community. This central pillar is flanked by two others; the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and the Justice and Home Affaires (JHA). Both the CFSP and the JHA are results of the Maastricht Treaty, in an effort to maximize the cooperation between the member countries on these issues. For the purpose of this paper, the focus will be on the European Community pillar.


The United States and the European Union also differ in their delegation and distribution of power.


As mentioned above, the constitution of the United States was drafted in order to secure the basic rights and freedom’s of the individual, and in that spirit so is the dividing of power. The executive, legislative and judicial branches are placed to implement and oversee each other. Good examples for this are the powers of congress to impeach any executive officer (including the president), the president’s right to veto a resolution of congress and the oversight of all the legal implementation by the judicial branch (Supreme Court), which is appointed by the president and approved by the senate. In examining this “maze” of powers, one can see that not one of these branches is left unsupervised or untouchable. They balance each other and keep one another in line.


A different picture is revealed when looking at the structure of the European Union. The power and responsibility is divided between five major bodies. The delegation is somewhat odd and confusing, creating more institutions and bureaucracy. When trying to break these institutions into the molds of the American branches, then one can see the differences.


The president of the United States is the head of the executive branch. He is voted by the people and thus (by theory) represents the ideas for which he was voted for. This persona has the power, which is usually practiced, to appoint personnel of his choosing as White House staff, Ambassador’s and Supreme Court Justices (the latter two require approval of the Senate). The armed forces are headed by this official and only congress has the power to impeach him.


The closest European equivalent to the person in the oval office is the European Commission. But here a major mismatch in power can be noticed. This institution initiates, implements and supervises policies, and is responsible for general financial management in the EU which is about the same as in the United States. But here stop the similarities, and start the differences. The European Commission does not have control over any armed forces, and maybe the most important difference is the appointing of the members of the European Commission by the member governments and not by the citizens. The European Commission writes proposals to the “legislative branch”, which is comprised of two bodies; the Council of Ministers (also known as the Council of the European Union), and the European Parliament. Now, this may sound as if there is a resemblance to the American Congress which is comprised of the Senate, and the House of Representatives, but all similarities end here. While in the American congress the power is equally divided between the two bodies mentioned before, its European counterpart is comprised of two unequal bodies.


The Council of Ministers is the most powerful institute in the EU. It oversees cooperation all three pillars of the EU. Its partner in the “legislative house” is the European parliament, an institute that has no power over the Council of Ministers. The Parliament cannot enforce its opinions. Although this institute has basic powers such as, blocking legislature (not initiating it), removing the European Commission as a whole by a vote of no confidence, it is still negative in nature, because of its complexity (meetings are held in eleven official languages and the meeting place is not constant). Even though the Parliament is portrayed here as a miserable little establishment, one must not forget that it holds one major power in the European Union; the necessity of the other institutes to consult with the parliament when ever a matter relating to the budget of the EU. The Parliament holds the exclusive right to reject budgets. In short, it controls the money!


The issuing and circulation of money is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Reserve System in America, and its European equal, the European Central Bank. Both of these institutions operate similarly except for a few minuet differences that have no significance to this discussion. One difference in Europe is the existence of one more institution, by the name of the Court of Auditors, which has one representative from each member of the union (fifteen), and oversees all financial transactions, making sure they are according to the EU budget and laws. A yearly report is made from this observing and then handed to the Council of Ministers. This creates a loop of control.


These institutions and systems discussed here are not necessarily better or worse then one another. The institutions are a means to an end by the governments or ruling body. The United States was formed in order to survive both politically and economically (escape the British laws). Europe on the other hand, had a whole different agenda. Europe was, and still is, a continent divided by nationalities, languages, cultures, religion and history. Creating, or trying to create a unified entity from all that human mish mash is almost impossible, and the founders of the European Union know this. That is why it is obvious and quiet expectable that the European Union institutions defer from those of the United States, the European Union is striving toward social and economical homogenization. Freedom and slavery is not a subject in existence (now, when the actual Union is forming). These problems were a major problem in the United States at the time of its founding.





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