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Who really governs the European Union?

The EU has 3 leadership roles: the European Commission, the Presidency of Europe and the 6-month rotating country leadership. In addition, they have a few other governing bodies, such as the Heads of State Council. For US-EU affairs, who should Obama talk to?

Ok the easy way to understand is to equate the roles to something else.

Look at my country. > Ireland:

We have a president with very little power, only really has ceremonial role, little bit more involved than that but basically no real power. (Kinda like the Queen in the United Kingdom). This is like President of the European Council, Hermann Von Rompuy, he can represent the European Union on the World Stage, but he’s not the main man. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_European_Council

Then in Ireland we have the Taoiseach or what you might call a Prime Minister, basically he/she’s the one with the power. President of the European Commission could be equated to this role and is also able to represent the European Union on the world Stage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_European_Commission

In Ireland we then have our Minister for Foreign Affairs which would equate to United States Secretary of State or High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in the European Union and also has the ability to represent the European Union Internationally. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Representative_of_the_Union_for_Foreign_Affairs_and_Security_Policy

Since the Lisbon Treaty the 6-month rotating leadership has become a internal administrative role.

Bare in mind, that the European Union is not a Country but a Supra National Organisation and although the posts I have outlined are similar to the examples I’ve given above they are not exactly correct. The European Union does not have competency in all areas, in such a case Obama should contact the Government of each Country Directly.

The European Union is still in a state of flux, but has come a long way in the last 50 years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvRznNKYl08

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