EPSO EU Knowledge & Field-Related Test cheat sheet

Ordinary legislative procedure (Art. 294 TFEU): Commission proposal → Parliament first reading → Council position → Parliament second reading (absolute majority of component members to reject/amend) → conciliation committee if no agreement → third reading; failure at conciliation or third reading kills the act.

Council voting: simple majority (default for procedural votes), qualified majority, unanimity. Since 1 November 2014 QMV = at least 55% of member states (16 of 27) representing at least 65% of EU population; a blocking minority needs at least 4 member states.

European Council: heads of state or government plus its President and the Commission President; decides by consensus unless the Treaties say otherwise; elects its President by qualified majority for 2.5 years, renewable once.

Commission: one Commissioner per member state (Art. 17(5) TEU as amended by European Council Decision 2013/272); the College is approved by Parliament and appointed by the European Council; the Commission President is elected by Parliament on a European Council proposal.

Parliament: 720 members (2024-2029 term), degressively proportional representation, minimum 6 and maximum 96 seats per state; elects the Commission President (Art. 17(7) TEU) and can censure the College by two-thirds of votes cast representing a majority of members.

Court of Justice of the EU: one judge per member state in the Court of Justice and in the General Court (General Court has two judges per state since 2019); Advocates General: 11. Judges and AGs appointed by common accord of member states for 6 years, renewable.

European Central Bank, Court of Auditors (one member per state, 6-year renewable terms), Economic and Social Committee and Committee of the Regions (350 members max) are the remaining Treaty bodies; the ECA is the EU's external auditor, not a court.

Comitology: implementing acts under Art. 291 TFEU are scrutinised by examination committees (advisory, examination, appeal); delegated acts under Art. 290 TFEU are controlled by Parliament and Council, each able to revoke the delegation or object within the scrutiny period.

Hierarchy: primary law (TEU, TFEU, Charter, accession treaties, general principles) > international agreements concluded by the EU > secondary law (regulations, directives, decisions) > implementing/delegated acts > administrative acts.

Direct effect: Van Gend en Loos (1963) for Treaty provisions; regulations are directly applicable (Art. 288 TFEU); directives can have vertical direct effect when clear, precise and unconditional and the transposition deadline has passed (Van Duyn), but no horizontal direct effect (Marshall).

Supremacy: Costa v ENEL (1964) and Internationale Handelsgesellschaft - EU law prevails over national law including constitutional provisions; national courts must disapply conflicting national law (Simmenthal).

State liability: Francovich/Brasserie du Pêcheur - three conditions: the rule infringed intends to confer rights on individuals, the breach is sufficiently serious, and there is a causal link between breach and damage.

Preliminary reference (Art. 267 TFEU): any national court may refer; courts of last instance must refer (CILFIT exceptions: acte clair, acte éclairé, irrelevance). The reference suspends national proceedings.

Charter of Fundamental Rights: same legal value as the Treaties (Art. 6(1) TEU); applies to EU institutions and to member states only when implementing EU law (Art. 51); Protocol 30 limits its application to Poland and the UK (UK no longer bound).

Directives bind member states as to the result (Art. 288 TFEU) and must be transposed; failure to notify transposition can trigger infringement under Art. 258/260 TFEU with lump-sum and penalty payments.

Infringement procedure: Commission letter of formal notice → reasoned opinion → referral to the Court (Art. 258); Art. 259 allows member-state-to-member-state actions; Art. 260 financial sanctions for non-compliance with a judgment.

Internal market: Art. 26 and 114 TFEU (approximation of laws for the functioning of the internal market); four freedoms: goods (Arts. 28-37), persons (Arts. 45, 49), services (Art. 56), capital (Art. 63).

Mutual recognition and Cassis de Dijon: a product lawfully marketed in one member state must in principle be accepted in another; mandatory requirements (public health, consumer protection, fiscal supervision, fairness of transactions) can justify restrictions.

Competition: Art. 101 TFEU (anticompetitive agreements, cartels), Art. 102 TFEU (abuse of dominance), Art. 106 (public undertakings), Art. 107 TFEU (state aid - prohibited unless justified by Art. 107(2)-(3) or block-exempted).

Merger control: EU Merger Regulation 139/2004 - Commission jurisdiction if combined worldwide turnover > €5 billion and EU-wide turnover of at least two parties > €250 million (or the alternative thresholds), subject to the two-thirds national turnover exception.

Environment: Arts. 11 and 191-193 TFEU; environmental action based on precaution, prevention, rectification at source and polluter pays; QMV in Council, with unanimity for fiscal measures, town and country planning, land use and water resource management.

Digital: Digital Services Act (Regulation 2022/2065), Digital Markets Act (Regulation 2022/1925), AI Act (Regulation 2024/1689, risk-based approach), Data Act and GDPR (Regulation 2016/679); legal basis usually Art. 114 TFEU.

Social policy: Arts. 151-161 TFEU; directives adopted by QMV except social security and protection of workers (unanimity, Art. 153(2)); minimum standards on working time, posted workers, equal pay (Art. 157 TFEU).

Energy and climate: Art. 194 TFEU; European Climate Law (Regulation 2021/1119) sets a binding 55% net reduction by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050; Emissions Trading System is the EU's main carbon-pricing instrument.

Multiannual Financial Framework (Art. 312 TFEU): adopted by Council by unanimity after Parliament's consent; currently the 2021-2027 MFF (Regulation 2021/1119), with mid-term revision agreed in 2024; annual budget must respect the MFF ceilings.

Own resources (Art. 311 TFEU): customs duties, VAT-based contribution, national contributions based on GNI, and the plastic-based contribution; the Own Resources Decision requires unanimity in Council and ratification by all member states.

Annual budget procedure (Art. 314 TFEU): Commission draft → Council position → Parliament amendments → conciliation committee (21 days) → adoption; if not adopted, the 'provisional twelfths' rule applies (Art. 315 TFEU).

Budget principles: unity, annuality, equilibrium, unit of account, universality, specification, sound financial management and transparency (Financial Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046); no deficit - the EU budget cannot borrow to finance expenditure.

Discharge procedure (Art. 319 TFEU): Parliament, on a Council recommendation, grants discharge to the Commission for implementation of the budget; the Court of Auditors issues an annual statement of assurance (DAS).

Financial actors: authorising officers (commitments and payments), accounting officer, internal auditor; the Commission's budget is implemented under direct, shared, indirect or shared management with member states.

Fraud protection: OLAF (Regulation 883/2013) conducts administrative investigations; the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) was established by Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 under enhanced cooperation.

Recovery and conditionality: Regulation 2020/2092 makes EU funds conditional on respect for the rule of law; the Recovery and Resilience Facility (Regulation 2021/241) disburses against milestones and targets.

Common Foreign and Security Policy (Arts. 23-46 TEU): decided by the European Council and Council by unanimity in principle, with abstentions allowed (constructive abstention, Art. 31(1) TEU); the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy conducts CFSP and chairs the Foreign Affairs Council.

Common commercial policy: Art. 207 TFEU, exclusive EU competence; trade agreements are negotiated by the Commission under a Council mandate and concluded by the Council after Parliament's consent (Art. 218 TFEU).

Mixed agreements require both EU and member-state ratification; the CJEU can give an opinion on compatibility of an envisaged agreement with the Treaties (Art. 218(11) TFEU).

Enlargement: Art. 49 TEU - any European state respecting the values of Art. 2 may apply; the Copenhagen criteria (1993) cover political, economic and acquis conditions; accession requires unanimity in Council and ratification by all member states.

Candidate status: as of 2024, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Türkiye hold candidate status; accession negotiations are structured in 35 chapters grouped in six clusters.

Neighbourhood: European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine); the Union for the Mediterranean covers the southern neighbourhood.

Development and humanitarian aid: Art. 208 TFEU (policy coherence for development), NDICI-Global Europe (Regulation 2021/947) is the main financing instrument; the EU and its member states are the world's largest donor of development aid.

External action financing: the European Peace Facility (off-budget, Council decision) and the Ukraine Facility (Regulation 2024/792) illustrate the mix of CFSP and budgetary instruments.

Economics: EU competition economics uses the relevant market (product and geographic) and SSNIP test; the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index is used in merger screening; state-aid assessment applies the market economy operator principle.

EU economic governance: Stability and Growth Pact - reference values of 3% of GDP for government deficit and 60% of GDP for government debt (Protocol 12); the 2024 reform introduced net expenditure paths and country-specific fiscal plans.

Audit: ISA standards (International Standards on Auditing) apply to statutory audits; the Court of Auditors applies ISSAI standards; materiality, sampling (statistical and non-statistical) and professional scepticism are core concepts.

EU audit rules: Regulation (EU) 537/2014 on public-interest entities and Directive 2014/56/EU; mandatory firm rotation after 10 years (extendable to 20 or 24 years with tendering or joint audit); audit committees are required for PIEs.

IT: NIS2 Directive (EU) 2022/2555 sets cybersecurity risk-management and incident-reporting obligations; the Cyber Resilience Act and the AI Act add product-security and AI-governance duties; GDPR principles: lawfulness, fairness, transparency, purpose limitation, data minimisation, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity and confidentiality, accountability.

Scientific profiles: Horizon Europe (Regulation 2021/695) funds research with a budget of about €95.5 billion; the ERC funds frontier research; the EU's precautionary principle and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) inform risk assessment.

Law: the EU legal order recognises general principles - legal certainty, legitimate expectations, proportionality, non-discrimination, right to be heard and access to the file; proportionality is codified in Art. 5(4) TEU for EU action.

Statistics and evaluation: Eurostat produces EU statistics under Regulation (EC) 223/2009; Commission better regulation requires impact assessments and ex-post evaluations of major legislative proposals.