THE EUROPEAN UNION has a massive but often unseen impact on our day-to-day life here in Ireland.

But despite that, how exactly it all works can remain a bit of a mystery for a lot of people. Many will zone out at the mere mention of the EU.

With the European Elections coming up in June, we’re running a new series of podcasts as part of our wider EU 2024, Explained project to help you become better informed ahead of the vote.

This week’s episode of The Explainer leaves the Brussels jargon to one side and focuses on what the core institutions are and how they all interact with each other.

John O’Brennan, a professor at the Department of Sociology at Maynooth University and whose work focuses on European Union institutions and politics, takes us through how legislation is proposed and shaped at EU level before it becomes Irish law.

What is the European Commission? How is it different to the European Parliament? And where does an MEP fit into all of this?

https://soundcloud.com/the-explainer-podcast/everything-you-need-to-know-about-how-the-eu-works-but-were-too-afraid-to-ask/s-UnUv5TQMpRh?si=199d2e1b222c49a1bff8d2e51b7dc94b&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

This episode was put together by presenter and executive producer Sinéad O’Carroll and senior producer Nicky Ryan.

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This work is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work are the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.