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European Union
Institutions of the EU=
- Intergovermentalism: International organisation in which national governments have primacy in decision making
- Council of Ministers and European Council
- Supranationalism: International organisation which contains institutions which are independent taking decision which are binding on members
- European Commission, European Parliament and European Court of Justice
European Commission
- EXECUTIVE
- 20 commissioners nominated by national governments
- President is nominated in European Council
- Commissioners have no obligation to national government
- Commission also has a civil service – 16,000
Powers
- Initiate and formulate policy
- Executes EU legislation
- Administers expenditure
- Guardian of the treaties
- Represents the EU (international trade negotiations)
- Policy competence: agriculture, competition, environment
Criticisms
- Unelected
- Unaccountable
- Overly bureaucratic
- Interferes unnecessarily in member states
- Corruption (1999 resignations)
Council of Ministers
- President is rotating, meetings are host in presidents country (Italy)
- The draft EU constitution would give a permanent president
- Continuity
- Strategic Direction
- LEGISLATIVE
- Takes key decisions on Common Foreign Policy and Justice and Home Affairs
- Coordinates broad economic policies of member states
- Harmonisation of tax rates
- Increased flexibility of Labour markers
- Unanimity (only for major policies)
- Simple Majority (technical decisions)
- Qualified Majority Voting (proportion to population)
Strengths/Criticism
- Can defend national interests
- Democratic
- Accountable
- Secretive
- Decisions are slow
- Heads of government are merely a ‘rubber stamp’
- National leaders work for personal benefit not EU benefit
European Council
- Heads of government + foreign ministers
- Meets twice a year
- Provide strategic leadership
- Initiated key developments – SEA, Maastricht, EMU
- Summits are little more than media events
European Parliament
- Only directly elected institution
- PR elections
- 626 MEPs
- Legislative Power
- Shares with Council of Ministers
- Influence varies depending on legislative process
- Assent Procedure – simple majority vote
- Consultation Procedure – asked for opinion but not obliged to listen
- Co-decision procedure – It can both amend and block legislation
- Budgetary Powers – parliament must agree
- Democratic Supervision – Checks on Commission – forced to it to resign in 1999 over fraud.
Criticisms
- Not truly representative body
- High absentee rate
- Expensive and Bureaucratic to run
- Not sufficient powers
- British MEPs are in a minority so cannot protect British interests
Reform Proposals
- Second upper chamber created using representatives of national legislatures
- EP should be able to dismiss individual members of Commission
- EP should be given more power to use Co-decision procedure
- MEPs should be limited to 100.
European Court of Justice
- 15 judges appointed by member states for 15years
- Rules on interpretations of the Treaties and EU laws
- Rules on where EU law takes precedence
- Lacks sanitations and relies heavily on Commission for enforcement
Democratic Deficit?
- Unrepresentative / Unaccountable / Secretive / Bureaucratic / Remote / Low participation
- Unelected Powers of the Commission
- Commission acting as both legislature and executive
- Unaccountable Council of Ministers forms legislature
- Impotence of European Parliament
- Only one chamber in EP
- MEPs lack of accountability
- Secrecy in decision making
- Undue influence of pressure groups and special interests
- European Central Bank which controls EMU but not under control of a democratic body
- EP Needs more powers
- Democratic things in EU
- Way EP is chosen
- Powers of EP (co-decision)
- Checks and balances in system (ECJ)
EU TREATIES
Single European Act (1986)
What it did
- Progressive relation of monetary union
- Ever closer union of the European peoples
- Creation by 1992 of a single market
- Extension of QMV within Council of Ministers to economic issues
- Increase in the power of the European Parliament Cooperation Procedure
- EP could propose (not force) amendments to economic laws
- Structural funds doubled to help those adversely affected by Single Market
- Boarding of jurisdiction to matters concerning energy and environment
Why was it important?
- Revived economic project by created the biggest trading unit in the world
- Creates greater social/economic equality through structural funds
- Began to tackle the democratic deficit (EP)
- Implied the EMU and led to European Central bank
- Was seen as creeping federalism
- Factortame Case
- Growth of Europhobia in UK electorate and politics.
Maastricht Treaty (1991)
What it did
- European Community became the European Union
- Creation of the EU, 3 pillars
- European Communities
- Supranational (ever close union)
- Conditions of convergence criteria laid down for path to monetary union
- Widened to new areas such as consumer protection and transport
- QMV extended to environment and competition
- Co-decision procedure
- Social Chapter (UK opt out)
- Foreign Policy and Security Policy
- Intergovernmental
- Unanimity
- Cooperation between possible common objectives and methods
- Asset the Unions identity on the international scene
- Justice and Home Affairs
- Intergovernmental/decentralised
- Issues arising from open borders
- Asylum/Immigration/Terrorism/Drugs
- Policing would be coordinated by Europol
- Common European Citizenship – working/human rights, stand/vote in EU elections
- Subsidiary “in areas which do not fall within the EU’s exclusive competence decisions should be made at the lowest possible level” – Local/Federalism allows to preserve sovereignty and stop EU becoming too powerful.
Why was it important?
- Major step toward a federal super state? Single Currency, loss of identity
- Widening of supranational economic area
- Widening of EU’s jurisdiction but limited in force due to pillars
- Variable Geometry – UK/Denmark opting out of Social Chapter
- Ambiguity of Subsidiary – Federalism? States rights?
- Growth of Europhobia
- Rebels were able to exploit Europhobia due to ERM collapse and nearly prevented the treaty from being ratified
Amsterdam Treaty (1997)
What it did
- Equal opportunities – discrimination on gender/race/sexuality/religion/age outlawed
- Border Controls – all removed except UK and Ireland (Schengen Agreement)
- Social Chapter fully incorporated
- More coordination of intergovernmental pillars via Europol
- Rapid Reaction Force (European Army – undermining of NATO?)
- QMV extended to employment and public health
- Green light for enlargement to former Communist States
- Common Laws on immigration, visas, asylum and divorce (UK opt out)
Why is it important
- Less notable and controversial that either SEA / Maastricht
- Retreat from grand vision of a federalist future
- Widening and deepening continued but slower
- Flexibility – integration at their own pace
- Commitment to enlargement and to another treaty to make arrangements for it
Sovereignty
Supreme and unrestricted power residing in an individual or group or body'
- Parliamentary Sovereignty
- Right to make or re-make any law
- Legislation cannot be overturned by any higher authority
- No parliament can bind its successors
- Legal Sovereignty
- Supreme power to make laws within a state that will be enforced
- External Sovereignty
- Country is not subject to the legal authority of another country
- Internal Sovereignty
- A system of government in which the legislature is legally supreme
- Political Sovereignty
- The power to choose the legislature and the government rests with people.
EU THREAT TO SOVEREIGNTY
- EU law has primacy over national law
- UK has lost right of veto in areas where QMV applies
- EU acts in areas such as monetary policy, immigration and foreign policy
- Inability to throw the European Rascals out
- EC, ECB and ECJ are unaccountable to the electorate
- Inevitability of the ‘ever-closer’ union in the future (federalism)
- 80% of legislation emanating from the EU
- Charter of Fundamental rights
- EU Constitution will extend QMV is it happens.
NO LOSS OF SOVEREIGNTY
- Sovereignty is in terms of effective influence and capacity to act
- UK has not lost sovereignty rather it has ‘pooled’ it with the EU
- Pooling sovereignty has allowed for greater objectives to be achieved
- Single European Market
- Single Currency
- Globalisation has meant that no state can act independently on most issues anyway, so it is a fallacy to claim we still have legal sovereignty
- UK has much more power/influence on the world stage as a strong member of EU
- Parliament could still revoke membership (2years…)
- Still unanimity on certain things (taxation, defence)
- Key functions of a state;
- Own Currency (STILL HAVE)
- Raise/Lower Taxes (STILL CAN)
- Declare War (STILL CAN)
Economics and Monetary Union (EMU)
For
- Single market requires single currency
- Transaction costs eliminated (1/2% of GDP)
- Price Transparency
- Business Stability / Certainty increase
- Interest rates lower if we joined
- Possible loss of FDI if we don’t join
- Britain needs to pull its weight in Europe – can’t do so without being part of EMU
Against
- Erosion of sovereignty
- Changeover costs (£3.5billion)
- Can’t have one interest rate for such diverse economies
- Loss of ability to cope with external shocks
- Britain may become uncompetitive due to Europe’s high social costs and inflexible labour markets
Federalism
What
- Two levels of government regional/general
- Formal distribution of powers
- Written constitution
- An umpire
For
- Wider political structure needed for things nation states can’t do on its own
- Pooling of sovereignty not a loss
- Enhance security both politically/economically
- Inevitability of the single market/single currency
- Social benefits
Against
- Threat to national sovereignty
- Diversity is too great between EU members
- Democratic deficit, lack of elected commission etc.
- Nationalism is a virtue
- Will of smaller nations may be greater than larger nations
- Idealistic dream not reality – USA can do it, but EU is too diverse (no association as European, language barrier etc.)
Enlargement
What
- 10 new countries joined the EU on May 1st 2004 (Poland, Malta, Cyprus etc.)
- 2 more in 2007 (Bulgaria and Romania)
- Are the latest wave of enlargement that has been seen
- Croatia - 2010? Macedonia? Turkey?
- Requirements
- Stability of political institutions
- Market economy
- Meet EU membership obligation
- Adoption of ‘acquis communautaire’ law of the EU (competition/labour market etc)
For
- United and stable and influential Europe
- Preserve democracy in ex-Soviet States
- Slowing down of deepening (harder for federalism)
- Two speed Europe
- Increase Single Market Size, increased trading + jobs
- Greater range of goods + lower prices
- Catalysts for further economic reform in EU such as the CAP
- Lower cost skilled labour into labour shortages (doctors etc.)
Against
- Harder to make decisions
- QMV extension (loss of sovereignty)
- Strains on EU budget (CAP)
- Reduction of structural funds for Portugal etc.
- Drain resources from major EU contributors
- Higher unemployment in EU(15) – cheaper labour
- Economic migration to the west
Comments
These notes are aimed at people studying for OCR A Level Politics, Unit 3 - European Union.
Originally written by cor on TSR Forums.
