Civil servants
The EU institutions employ more than 30,000 civil servants who co-operate with many more civil servants from the Member States.Civil servants have a very strong role both in the national preparation process and in the EU. They effectively decide most laws behind closed doors without the presence of elected members of parliaments.
Today, about 70% of all legislation is drawn up by working groups in the Council,15% by the ambassadors in COREPER, and only 15% depends on the Council of Ministers proper.
In the EU Commission, only 2 percent of the decisions are taken by the Commission proper whereas 25 percent of decisions are taken by written procedure between the commissioners. The rest is resolved by single commissioners or by civil servants of the cabinets.
The future
The EU Constitution proposes to open all formal negotiations in Council meetings to the public.
It is decided that an EU diplomatic corps that will strengthen the EU's representation abroad shall be set up. The existing 126 EU delegations will be turned into embassies.
