The European Council is the body that provides guidelines for EU states. It is made up of state heads or prime ministers of the EU states. The council meets twice every six months and is currently headed by Belgian Prime Minister, Herman Van Rompu.
The 754 member European Parliament is elected by EU voters every 5 years and elects President of the European Commission. Their roles are to pass European laws with the council, evaluated the effectiveness of EU institutions and adopting the EU budget with the Council.
The European Central Bank is the bank for the Euro. The Central Bank and national banks of other countries make up the Eurosystem.
The European Court of Justice contains one judge from every EU state who is elected every 6 years, resolves conflicts between national legal systems, and checks to make sure EU law is practiced equally among the states. The five most common cases involve interpretation of EU law, failing to apply EU law in the individual state, not fulfilling an EU obligation, violating EU human rights treaties, and lawsuits against EU decisions and actions.
The European Monetary System was created in 1991 to integrate the European markets into one big market. It coordinates economic policies amongst state members, and advises and assists with individual fiscal policies, especially in regards to debts and deficits. The Euro is the second largest currency in use as of now and one euro is equal to $1.27. It has surpassed the US dollar in value since 2002 and is used by 330 million