Transcript European - Africa

4th Conference of African Ministers
of Integration, 4-8 May 2009
The European integration experience
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Overview
• A definition of integration
• Historical highlights
• Integration in Europe
– Institutions
– Competences
– Compliance
– Predictable and sustainable financing
– Involvement of citizens
• EU integration over time – general observations
A definition of integration
• The process whereby sovereign states
relinquish (surrender or pool) national
sovereignty to maximize their collective power
and interest
Historical highlights
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1951: European Coal and Steal Community (6)
1957: European Economic Community, Free Trade Area (6)
1968: Customs Union (6)
1985: Schengen Agreement (5), now 15, including non-EU
1992: Internal Market (12)
1993: European Union enters into force
1997: CFSP/ESDP: European Common Foreign and Security
Policy, European Security and Defense Policy (15)
1998: European Central Bank launched
1999: Economic and Monetary Union (11)
2002: Single currency (16)
2007: 27 members states
European Institutions and actors
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EU Member States
European Commission
European Parliament
European Court of Justice
European Central Bank
Court of Auditors
Economic and Social Council
Committee of the Regions and Local Authorities
(Committee of RECs for Africa?)
Competences
• EU exclusive competences: external trade in goods and
some services, monetary policy (in Eurozone) customs,
and fisheries. Commission right of initiative. Not the
member states
• EU shared competences (in majority of policy
competences of the EU): environmental policy,
consumer protection, development aid, transport
policy, visa, assylum, and migration, etc.
• Member states competences: most foreign and
security policies, education, culture, employment,
public health, social and urban policy, etc. (principle of
subsidiarity)
The European Pillars (1), Nice 2001
• Pillar 1: European Community
– Policy responsibilities: internal market (incl
competition and external trade), agriculture,
economic and monetary Union, immigration,
assylum, visas.
– Decision-making: supranational: the EU’s
common institutions (Commission, Council, Court,
and Parliament) can act largely (never entirely)
independently of national governments
European Pillars (2)
• Pillar 2: Common Foreign and Security Policy
– Policy responsibilities: common action to
strengthen security of EU: preserve peace;
promote international cooperation.
– Decision-making: primarily intergovernmental
(that is, between governments); neither the
European Parliament nor the Court of Justice have
much direct influence
European Pillars (3)
• Pillar 3: Justics and Home Affairs: police and
judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
– Policy responsibilities: Cross-border crime;
criminal law; police cooperation
– Decision-making style: common action is loose
and the unanimity of all 27 member states is
required for virtually all important decisions.
Compliance - Legal
• European Commission. Act as a guardian of
treates, ensures correct application of the law)
• European Court of Justice (27 judges + court of
first instance). Final arbiter in disputes
between EU institutions, and between EU
institutions and member states, citizens can
seek preliminary ruling)
• European Court of Auditors (27 auditors).
Financial conscience of the EU
Compliance - Political
• Monthly Council meetings. Not only ministers
of foreign affairs, but all ministers (agriculture,
health, education, finance, environment, etc.).
Creates ownership
• Regular scorecards: peer pressure
Compliance - Financial
• European Central Bank
– Formulating the EU’s monetary policy, including
ensuring monetary stability, setting interest rates, and
issueing and managing the euro (only for euro zone
countries)
– Executive board (primarily national central bank
governors) appointed by member states, reports to
the European Parliament
– Strongly independent. President is chosen by member
states but can not be formally removed by them
Financing the Union
• EU budget revenu (customs duties, value
added tax, and national contributions)
• EU budget allocation
– Yearly budget
– Financial perspectives (covering seven-year
patterns of spending: sustainability and
predictability)
Involvement of Citizens
• European Parliament (795 members, directly
elected since 1979)
• European integration process has mostly been an
elitist process.
– Direct involvement of citizens hardly realized
– Information and communication to citizens: mixed
results
– Need for visible results: cohesion funds
– Citizens take Europe often for granted (welfare, no
more war) but question national politicians’ ability to
ensure their interests in ‘Brussels’
European integration over time, some
general observations
• Strong regional integration requires solid, functioning,
and accountable national structures
• The political interests of member states define how it
engages within the EU.
• Change is a constant: an ‘experiment in motion’, an
ongoing process without a clear end state
• A system of shared power characterized by growing
complexity and an increasing number of players
• An organization with an expanded scope, but limited
capacity (tension between widening and deepening,
between ambitions and institutional and political
capacity)