Transcript Treaty on European Union
Part 1
Evolution of European integration and legal character of the European Union
Integration: a process by which a certain whole is created from parts, or certain elements are linked together into single whole
Concepts of integration: • Confederative • federative – creation of supernational organisation of states ▫ constitutional – assuming that the process gives rise to state organism of a federal character (United States of Europe); ▫ functionalist – assuming that the cooperation between states will be first and foremost economic in character with a view to any arising problems being resolvable in practice
Evolution of the EC/EU
• • • 9th of May 1950 – Schuman Plan 18th of April 1951 Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (Paris Treaty) 1954 – European Defence Community ; European Political Community
Schuman Declaration 9 May 1950
• "World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it." • • "Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity." "The pooling of coal and steel production... will change the destinies of those regions which have long been devoted to the manufacture of munitions of war, of which they have been the most constant victims."
Institutional Structure of the ESCC
▫ High Authority ▫ Council of Ministers ▫ Parliamentary Assembly ▫ Court of Justice
• 25th of March 1957 – Treaty establishing European Economic Community (EEC); Treaty establishing European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom)
European Economic Community
Art. 2 EEC Treaty "The Community shall have as its task,
by establishing a common market and progressively approximating the economic policies of member states, to promote throughout the community a harmonious development of economic activities, a continuous and balanced expansion, an increase in stability, an accelerated raising of the standard of living and closer relations between the states belonging to it".
European Economic Community
Common market
1. customs union
Custom Union since 1 July 1968 = tariffs and quantities restrictions between MS abolished + common external customs tariff
2. „four freedoms” + approximation of laws
Free movement of goods, persons, services and capital
3. rules on competition 4. state aid 5. tax provisions
European Economic Community
• • • Common policies • common commercial policy • common policy in the sphere of agriculture and fisheries common policy in the sphere of transport social policy association of the overseas countries and territories
Institutional Structure of the Communities
• ESCC ▫ High Authority ▫ Council of Ministers ▫ Parliamentary Assembly ▫ Court of Justice • EEC/Euratom ▫ Commission ▫ Council of Ministers ▫ Parliamentary Assembly ▫ Court of Justice
Institutional Structure of the Communities
• 1957 Convention on certain institutions common to
the European Communities
1965 Merger Treaty Treaty Establishing a Single Council and Single Commission
repealed by the EU Treaty
Parliamentary Assembly /European Parliament Council Commission
Court of Justice /ECJ
• •
Community acts
• regulations directives decisions
Single European Act of 1986
1/ internal market art. 8a: an area without internal frontiers in
which the free movement of goods, persons,
services, and capital is ensured (till 31.12.1992)
With a population of 457 million, the European Union is the largest internal market in the world today.
Single European Act of 1986
objectives : • "to improve the economic and social situation by extending common policies and pursuing new objectives" • "to ensure a smoother functioning of the Communities".
Single European Act of 1986
institutional reform: • extension of QMV – internal market • • cooperation procedure (interinstitutional dialog)
extension of executive powers of the
Commission (in creation of internal market) new Community fields of action •
Economic and Social Cohesion (European Regional Development Found),
• •
Research and Technological Development Environment
reference to a Treaty on Economic and Monetary Union and cooperation in the sphere of Foreign Policy (European Political Cooperation, European Council)
Treaty on the European Union of 1992
• • • • Objectives: • strengthen the democratic legitimacy of the institutions; improve the effectiveness of the institutions; establish economic and monetary union; develop the Community social dimension; establish a common foreign and security policy.
European Union as a ‘pillar structure’
Pediment
single institutional framework, common objectives and values II Common Foregin and Security Policy I Community Pillar EC ECSC (till 2002) Euratom III Cooperation in the field of justice and home affairs
Fundament
amendment [art. 48 TEU] membership [art. 49]
• • • • Objectives of the EU i.a. • establishment of an economic and monetary union including a single currency • a common foreign and security policy including the eventual framing of a common defence policy the introduction of a citizenship of the Union cooperation on justice and home affairs the maintenance of the acquis communautaire the respect of the principle of subsidiarity
Community method
• • • • •
legislative initiative of the Commission QMV co-decision - EP involved in decision making process direct effect ECJ review
• •
II & III pillar - intergovernmental method
•
legislative initiative - MSs &Commission
• •
unanimity, exceptionally QMV EP - consultation no direct effect for framework decisions and decisions ECJ review only in III pillar – Art. 35 EU
• • Changes to EC Treaty:
new Community fields of action
• visas, education, culture, public health, consumer protection, Trans-European Networks in transport, energy, telecommunication, industrial policy, cooperation for development ; institutional changes: co-decision procedure expansion of QMV Economic and Monetary Union •
European citizenship
„
principle of subsidiarity
Every national of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union
”
4/ ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNION - the Member States must • ensure coordination of their economic policies, • provide for multilateral surveillance of this coordination • are subject to financial and budgetary discipline. The objective of monetary policy is to economy .
create a single currency and to ensure this currency's stability thanks to price stability and respect for the market
establishment of a single currency - stages: • Liberalisation of the movement of capital (since 1 January 1990); • • convergence of the Member States' economic policies (since 1 January 1994); the creation of a single currency and the establishment of a European Central Bank (ECB) (since 1 January 1999)
Treaty of Amsterdam of 1997
Objectives: • to create the political and institutional conditions to enable the European Union to meet the challenges of the future such as the rapid evolution of the international situation, the globalisation of the economy and its impact on jobs, the fight against terrorism, international crime and drug trafficking, ecological problems and threats to public health; •
to reform the EU institutions in preparation
for the arrival of future member countries.
Treaty of Amsterdam of 1997
Main changes: • Fundamental Rights – sanctions for the breach of fundamental rights by a Member State (lose certain rights, particularly voting rights) (Article 7).
• • • Free movement of persons, asylum and immigration - new title (Title IV in the Treaty establishing the European Community+ Protocol on incorporating the Schengen acquis into the Treaty Non-discrimination - the Council, acting unanimously, will adopt measures to act against discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age or sexual orientation (Article 13, Title II).
Subsidiarity and Proportionality - Protocol defining the criteria for the application of these principles, including the strict observance and consistent implementation, by all the Community institutions
Treaty of Amsterdam of 1997
• • • • new fields of EC activity ▫ employment policy ▫ acquis Schengen extension of QMV voting procedure in the Council (codecision) Closer Co-operation/flexibility/ - Member States are able to use the institutional framework of the Community to develop closer links between them in specific areas without involving all of the Member States under authorisation of the Council (multi-speed Europe) renumbering and consolidation of EU and EC treaties
Treaty of Nice of 2000
OBJECTIVES OF THE TREATY OF NICE
- preparing the European Union for enlargement by revising the Treaties in four key areas: ▫ size and composition of the Commission; ▫ weighting of votes in the Council; ▫ extension of QMV; ▫ enhanced cooperation.
Treaty of Nice of 1992
Institutional changes:
• Council -new weighting of votes in the Council: adjustment in the weighting of votes in favour of the more populated Member States and redistribution of votes among the 25 then 27 Member States. • Commission - future change in the composition, increase in the powers of the President , change in the way he or she is nominated. • • Reform of judicial system - new division of tasks between the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance and the possible creation of specialist judicial Chambers. Other Institutions : Parliament: extension of the codecision procedure and adjustment of the number of seats allocated to each current and future Member State. The Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: composition and nomination of members.
Constitutional Treaty
• • Declaration on the future of the EU • a more precise demarcation of responsibilities between the European Union and the Member States; • the status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; a simplification of the Treaties; the role of national parliaments in the European architecture.
• • • • • • • • •
Treaty establishing the Constitution for Europe
• abolition of Pillar’s structure no EC – only EU state-like symbols EU – legal personality ordinary legislative procedure Co-decision and QMV Institutional changes principle of primacy of EU law in the main text Charter of Fundamental Rights included into Treaty European Laws/European Framework Laws Minister for Foreign Affairs
Treaty of Lisbon of 2007
• • • • • • • • • • abolition of Pillar’s structure No state-like symbols EU – legal personality Ordinary legislative procedure Co-decision and QMV Institutional changes No principle of primacy of EU law in the main text Charter of Fundamental Rights is not a part, however binding No European Laws/European Framework Laws No Minister for Foreign Affairs/ High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy European External Action Service
Founder Countries of EEC
1958
enlargement of 1972 (in force in 1973) • • • • • • •
Great Britain
1960 – EFTA – GB, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal
Denmark Ireland
acquis communautaire
French veto of 1963 new application of 1967 – + Norway – De Gaulle veto
1
st
enlargement: 1973
1973 1958
1981: The first Mediterranean enlargement • Greece – 1979/1981/ after dictatorship democracy (negative opinion of the Commission) - to help
2
nd
Enlargement: 1981
1973 1958 1981
Portugal and Spain – 1985/1986 secession of Greenland of 1985
3
rd
Enlargement: 1986
1973 1958 1986 1981
1995 : The EU expands to 15 members Accession of Sweden, Finland, Austria
4
th
Enlargement: 1995
1973 1958 1995 1986 1981
2004 - the biggest round of enlargement : Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia
5
th
Enlargement: 2004
1973 1958 1995 2004 1986 1981
2007 – Bulgaria and Romania
6th Enlargement: 2007
1995 1986 1973 1958 1981 2004 2007
Legal character of the EU
Article 1 TEU
By this Treaty, the HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES establish among themselves a EUROPEAN UNION, hereinafter called "the Union", on which the Member States confer competences to attain objectives they have in common.
Article I-1 (TCE) 1. Reflecting the will of the citizens and States of Europe to build a common future, this Constitution establishes the European Union, on which the Member States confer competences to attain objectives they have in common. The Union shall coordinate the policies by which the Member States aim to achieve these objectives, and shall exercise in the Community way the competences they confer on it.
EU is the (single) international organisation
▫ ▫ ▫ ▫ created under the Treaty by Members States; legal personality; principle of conferred powers Member States are still ‘Masters of the Treaties” Article 48 - an amendment of the Treaties ‘may, inter
alia, serve either to
subject to approval
increase or to reduce
subject to ratification by all Member States their respective constitutional requirements
the
competences conferred on the Union in the Treaties’; Simplified revision procedure (may not increase the competences conferred on the Union in the Treaties ): by the Member States in accordance with Article 50 withdrawal from the EU;
Constitutional nature of the UE
Article 1 TEU This Treaty marks a new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe , in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen .
The Union shall be founded on the present Treaty and on the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (hereinafter referred to as "the Treaties").
Those two Treaties shall have the same legal value.
(…)
Constitutional nature of the EU
• • The EU is something more than „classic” international organization: • aim of the Treaties – integration, • • not only cooperation between Member States but also integration of peoples, „transfer” of powers from Member States to the EU, Treaties as „constitutional charter”, ECJ as constitutional Court
Constitutional nature of the UE
6/64 Flamino Costa v ENEL ‘By contrast with ordinary international treaties, the EEC
Treaty has created its own legal system which ... became an integral part of the legal systems of the Member States and which their courts are bound to apply. By creating a Community of unlimited duration, having its own institutions, its own personality, its own legal capacity and capacity of representation on the international plane and, more particularly, real powers stemming from a limitation of sovereignty or a transfer of powers from the States to the Community, the Member States have limited their sovereign rights ... and have thus created a body of law which binds both their nationals and themselves.’
• • • institutions are not free to choose their objectives in the same way as a sovereign state; the EU has not the comprehensive jurisdiction enjoyed by sovereign states; the EU has not powers to establish new areas of responsibility (‘jurisdiction over jurisdiction’).
Article 1 TEU The Union shall be founded on the present Treaty and on the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (hereinafter referred to as "the Treaties").
Those two Treaties shall have the same legal value
. (…)
Treaty on European Union
• • • • • • Common provisions (I) Provisions on democratic principles (II), Provisions on institutions (III), Provisions on enhanced cooperation (IV), General provisions on the Union’s external action and specific provisions on the common foreign and security policy (V) Final provisions (VI).
Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union (‘TFEU’) - developed from the Treaty establishing the European Community.
The Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC Treaty — ‘Euratom Treaty’) The TEU and the TFEU have the same legal standing.