← Atlas
Goverlicious
vol. 1
🇪🇺 European Union · 2026
All Power
Official Only
Shadow Only
Collapse All
Tier I
The Leaders' Table
▾
⭐
European Council
27 Heads of Government · President António Costa
The real summit of power: prime ministers and presidents setting the Union's direction, mostly by consensus.
Apex
Tier II
The Commission
▾
🏛️
Ursula von der Leyen
Commission President · Second Term
Runs the EU's executive — and has centralised it in her own office more than any predecessor.
Executive
🌍
Kaja Kallas
High Representative · Vice-President
Europe's foreign-policy chief — with no army and needing 27 votes for most decisions.
Executive
🗂️
The Directorates-General
DG COMP · DG TRADE · DG FISMA · Legal Service
The Commission's permanent machine — where rules on mergers, trade and Big Tech are actually written.
Bureaucracy
Tier III
The Legislators
▾
🧩
Council of the EU
National Ministers · Rotating Presidency (Ireland, H2 2026)
National ministers co-legislate with Parliament, mostly by qualified majority: 55% of states, 65% of population.
Legislative
🏠
European Parliament
720 MEPs · President Roberta Metsola
The only directly elected EU institution. Equal co-legislator on most laws — and it can sack the whole Commission.
Legislative
🤫
COREPER
The Ambassadors' Committee
27 permanent representatives settle most legislation before ministers ever meet.
Diplomatic Engine
Tier IV
Judges & the Euro
▾
⚖️
Court of Justice of the EU
Luxembourg · 27 Judges
Invented EU law's supremacy over national law — and still decides where Brussels' power ends.
Judicial
💶
European Central Bank
Frankfurt · President Christine Lagarde
Sets interest rates for 20 countries. 'Whatever it takes' saved the euro in 2012.
Monetary
Tier V
Influence in the Bubble
Shadow
▾
🏛️
Berlin–Paris (and now Rome & Warsaw)
The Directorate Behind the Table
Little moves without a Franco-German deal. Italy and Poland increasingly decide what follows.
Power Bloc
💼
The Lobby Industry
~12,000 Registered Organisations
Brussels rivals Washington as a lobbying capital — Big Tech now outspends almost everyone.
Lobbying
🚜
Farmers & the CAP
Copa-Cogeca · Tractor Protests
About a third of the EU budget goes to farming. Tractors on the streets have rolled back green rules.
Sector Lobby
📉
Bond Markets & Ratings
Spreads · Rating Agencies
When spreads on Italian or French debt jump, Brussels and Frankfurt listen.
Markets
🦅
Washington
NATO · Tariffs · Tech
US security guarantees, tariffs and Big Tech set the outer limits of European choices.
External