The European Union works thanks to different institutions:

The European Council

It's at the head of the European Union and is composed by one representative for each member state and the president of Commission. Every member state has a leadership role for a period of six months and during this period that particular state defines the policy agenda.

It is important not to confuse it with the Council of Europe, a 47 member international organisation that is independent from the European Union!

The European Parliament

It's composed by 785 members, who are directly elected by European Union citizens every five year and each country has a number of seats. Germany has the highest number of members, 99, while Malta has the lowest, with just 5.

Together the Council of Ministers it decides European Laws and budget and has the power to reject or to censure the Commission and the budget.
The President and the vice president are elected by Members of European Parliament every two and a half years.

Scotland, as a member of the European Parliament, currently elects 6 members with a proportional representation electoral system.

The Council of the European Union

It is often called Council of Ministers and is the principal decision making institution in the EU because it is here that the national ministers responsible for a specific area of policy meet each other.

It is composed by 27 members and the presidency rotates every six months.
It decides about laws and budget with the Parliament. It also exercises executive functions related to the Common Foreign and Security Policy.

The highest number of vote per country is held by Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, with 29 votes, while the lowest by Malta (3).

The Presidency

The Presidency of the Council of the European Union is often, informally, called the European Union Presidency because of its important responsibility for the function of the institution and for its promotion of the interests of EU member states.

Its role is to call and chair all of the meetings of the Council and to represent the Council of the European Union with the other European and international institutions and member states.

The role rotates every six months between member states