The Locus and Accountability of the Executive in the European Union

Locating executive power and determining the mechanisms by which it is held to account is important within any polity. It is seen that the legal and political reality is that executive power is shared within the European Union (EU). The Commission, the Council, and the European Council all exercise such power to varying degrees, and the manner of the division differs depending upon the particular type of executive power under consideration. The primary focus within the first half of this chapter is on the identification of different facets of executive power within the EU, and an analysis de jure and de facto as to how this power is shared between the primary players. Thereafter, the discussion in the second half of this chapter turns to the different techniques for securing accountability for the exercise of executive power.