Questions about the voting system in USA

[Moldran]

So, who has the real influence and power?  The Council, appointed by their home governments, or the Parliament?

Any EU afficianados care to answer that?

The Council is the central legislation body. The EU Parliament is involved in legislation, but only in certain areas of legislation. To ultimately stop a Council decision, the Parliament needs an absolute majority of its members. If that majority cannot be achieved, the Council "has the last word". In the important financial questions, the Council *always* has the last word.

The EU parliament used to be a joke. It was awarded some more power with some of the more recent EU treaties.

The Commission (the executive) also holds alot of influence. It is completely independent from the member states.

But the real power is still within the national governments. The powerful member states (France and Germany) can afford to pretty much ignore EU decisions if they really want to. And they can press through "exceptions" (e.g. Germany was not punished for failure to fullfill currency stability criteria, although all relevant treaties demanded such a punishment quite clearly).