Lecture 2: The European Union

Dr Roberto EspíndolaDepartment of Development and Economic Studies

Room 1.32 Pemberton ext 3823R.Espindola@Bradford.ac.uk

• Political and economic community of 27 member states

• Located mainly in Europe

• With 23 official languages

• Population: 501.3 million people (2010 est)

• GDP: US$19,195 billion (IMF 2008 est.)

• GDP per capita: US$38,732 (same)  

Origins

Created as European Economic Community

in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome with Belgium,

France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands

and West Germany

Why?

• Geopolitical considerations, e.g. to prevent a future conflict with Germany

• US aid and pressure, supporting the re-building of Germany

• Cold War considerations

 

Development and enlargement

• 1957 Treaty of Rome: Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg

• 1973 (First Enlargement) Denmark, Ireland and the UK• 1981 (Second Enlargement) Greece • 1986 (Third Enlargement) Portugal and Spain• 1995 (Fourth Enlargement) Austria, Finland and Sweden • 2004 (Fifth Enlargement, part I) Cyprus, Czech Republic,

Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia

• 2007 (Fifth Enlargement, part II) Bulgaria and Rumania

Treaties

• European Coal and Steel Community 1951• EEC 1957• European Atomic Energy Community 1957• Maastricht Treaty: Treaty on European Union (TEU) and

European Community (EC) Treaty 1992• Treaty of Amsterdam – 1997• Treaty of Nice - 2000• European convention - 2003• Lisbon Treaty or Reform Treaty (2007)

Institutions of the European Union

How does the EU take decisions?

The European Union

A hybrid between an intergovernmental organisation and a federal state

An intergovernmental organisation because

•Decisions are taken by a Council or Committee of Ministers•All member states have one vote regardless of their seize•All decisions are taken unanimously•If one state vetoes a decision, there is no decision

Intergovernmental

• There is a Council of Ministers, which takes decisions

• some decisions are still taken unanimously

• if one state vetoes that type of decision, there is no decision

Supranational

• but there is also an executive body - the Commission - and a parliament

• some decisions are taken by majority voting, where large states have more votes than small ones

• Parliament participates in some decisions.

Parliament is supranational because• Representation from member countries is

related to size of population

• Countries are represented not by their governments, but by members from the political parties in each country

• Members sit and work in transnational political groups – not in national groups

In the EU 3 institutions share decision-making

• The European Commission

• The European Parliament

• The Council of Ministers

and two purely consultative bodies:

• The Economic and Social Committee

• The Committee of the Regions

The European Commission

• is both the civil service, which implements decisions

and

• The embryo government / cabinet of Europe

The European Commission as Civil Service• has 25,000 employees, including 3 500 civil

servants at executive officer level and above = the EU civil service

• They are divided between 41 Directorates General

• Each led by a Director General

• This civil service implements decisions, carries out or commissions research and drafts legislation, proposes and administers funds

Policy DGs

• Agriculture and rural development• Competition• Economic and Financial Affairs• Education and Culture• Employment, social affairs and equal opportunities• Enterprise and Industry• Environment• Executive agencies• Fisheries and maritime affairs

Policy DGs – cont.

• Health and consumer

• Information society and media

• Internal market and services

• Joint Research Centre

• Justice, freedom and security

• Regional policy

• Research

• Taxation and Customs Union

• Transport and energy

External Relations DGs

• Development

• Enlargement

• EuropeAid Co-operation Office

• External relations

• Humanitarian aid

• Trade

General Services DGs

• Communication

• European Anti-fraud Office

• Eurostat

• Publications office

• Secretariat General

Internal Services DGs • Budget• Bureau of European Policy Advisers• European Commission Data Protection Officer• Informatics• Infrastructure and logistics• Internal Audit Service• Office for administration and payment of individual

entitlements• Personnel and administration• Translation

The European Commission as Executive-The Government or Cabinet of Europe-Before 2004 consisted of 20 Commissioners – 2from each of the large countries (UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain) 1 from each of the small countries-Now 1 from each of the 27 member states-When they meet in their cabinet role(every Wednesday) they are called “le collège”-“Le Cabinet” in the EU is each Commissioner’s private office

The Commission

• Appointment: 27 Commissioners nominated by their national governments

• President: one of them is proposed as President by the Council of Ministers acting by qualified majority, subject to EP’s approval

• Role: independent, shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government or from any other body

• Term: 5 years, renewable• Decisions by majority vote: The Commission shall act

by a majority of the number of members

The European Commission has three main tasks:

It is the only institution which has the power to propose legislation

It implements decisions It keeps track of how member states implement

legislation and it enforces compliance

The Council of the EU or Council of Ministers (Consilium)

• Consists of one minister from each Member Stateauthorized to commit their government

• Presidency: each Member State in turn for 6 months; arranges Council meetings, sets agenda for them

• Secretary General: represents EU’s foreign policy

• Membership changes according to subject area discussed, e.g. when it meets to discuss agriculture, the members are the national ministers of agriculture

• Nowadays Members States have special ministers for EU affairs, who represent their countries on a number of different issues

The Council of Ministers

oMain decision making institution in the EU

oTakes the final decision on a large number of issues (taxation, workers’ rights, new members, pay and many more)

oWhen the Council takes decisions on this type of issues, the Council has to be unanimous, i.e. one single member state can veto any decision

The Council of Ministers

oThe most powerful of the two legislative chambers

oShares power with the Parliament on a large number of other issues (customs duties, internal market issues, equal opps, health & safety, environment and most funds)

oOn these issues there is majority voting in the Council.

The Council of Ministers

oA qualified majority of 70 per cent of the votes is required for a positive decision

oEach country has several votes but only one representative

oLarge countries have more votes than small ones

oAt the moment the larger countries have 29 votes each and the smallest three votes.

Votes in the Council of Ministers

Germany, France, Italy, UK 29Spain, Poland 27Rumania 14Netherlands 13Belgium, Czech Rep, Greece, Hungary,Portugal 12Austria, Bulgaria, Sweden 10Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Finland 7Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovenia 4Malta 3

In the Council of Ministers

oissues are prepared for Council decisions by committees which consist of national civil servants

oThose committees negotiate and often reach decisions before issues are placed on the Council table

COREPER = Comité des Répresentants Pérmanents

oThe final preparation of the Council agenda is done by a body called COREPER

oCOREPER consists of each country’s ambassador to the EU

oThe ambassador is the country’s Permanent Representative

oCOREPER meets every Wednesday

The European Parliament• Has 736 members directly elected by an electorate

of 375 million

• All major national parties are represented in the Parliament

• MEPs sit and work in transnational party groups: European People’s Party, Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats, Liberals, the Greens, European Conservatives & Reformists (incl British Conservatives), United Left, a EU sceptical group (incl UKIP) and a group of independents.

The European Parliament• The largest number of MEPs come from

Germany (99 members)

• The smallest from Malta (5 members)

• The largest political group is that of the European People’s Parties (Christian Democrats and centre-right): 265 MEPs

• The second largest is the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (184 MEPs)

The European Parliament• Has a purely consultative role on many issues:

taxation, trade union rights, pay, social security, new members, etc

• Has co-decision powers over some issues: EU funds, Single Market, the environment, equal opportunities, etc.

• Has co-decision powers over half of the EU budget (not CAP)

• Similar role as that of the US Senate to give advice and consent on appointment of Commissioners

The EP monthly cycle

• Weeks 1 and 2 committee meetings in Brussels

• Week 3 political group meetings – usually but not always in Brussels

• Week 4 Plenary session in Strasbourg and 3 times per year in Brussels

Economic and Social Committee - ECOSOC

• Consist of trade union and employer organisation representatives from the member states plus “third interests” (e.g. consumers)

• ECOSOC has the right to be consulted on all proposals and issues of relevance to trade unions & employers

The Committee of the Regions

• Was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992

• Consists of elected members of regional and local councils

• Who are nominated by national local government associations and appointed by the national governments

COR is consulted

• On all issues relevant for local and regional councils

• Because COR consists of people who have been elected by the citizens in their local area, COR has greater influence than ECOSOC

COR and ECOSOC work in a similar way to EP and national parliaments

• A series of standing committees, which discuss issues in depth

• A plenary session which debates the draft opinions on issues produced by the Committees and adopts these

Both ECOSOC and COREPER

• Operate on a six week cycle

• COREPER members sit in political groups

• ECOSOC members divide into trade unionists, employers and third interest

Council of Europe

• Composition: heads of State or Government of the Member States plus President of the Commission

• Role: central role in setting the pace and shape of Community policy, e.g. catalyst to call Intergovernmental Conferences; conflict resolution

• Secretary:

European Court of Justice

• Composition: 1 judge per Member State, appointed by governments of Member States; staggered terms of 6 years; “independence beyond doubt” with “qualifications required for appointment to the highest judicial offices in their respective countries”.

• Assisted by 8 Advocates General• Jurisdiction: enforcement actions, preliminary

rulings, review of Court of First Instance decisions

EU Court of First Instance

• Established in 1988 by the Single European Act to relieve burden on ECJ

• Currently 27 judges• Jurisdiction has widened gradually to

cover most direct actions against Community institutions and preliminary rulings in specified areas.

Theories of European integration

• Neo-functionalism • Liberal inter-governmentalism• Multi-level governance• New approaches:

• Historical institutionalism • The EU as ‘regulatory state’• Policy approach?• Europeanisation?

Why theories? Or ontological analysis: which is the nature of the beastThree classic puzzles in search of theories?

• Question 1 : why do member states pool sovereignty?

• Question 2: who is in the driver’s seat in the process of European integration?

• Question 3: what is the degree of autonomy of EU institutions?

The puzzle: sui generis polity or ‘politics as usual’? What kind of theoretical lenses for European integration?

• It is neither a State nor an international organisation (Sbragia 1992)

• It is less than a federation, more than a regime (Wallace 1983)• The EU is not, and cannot be, a unitary nation state; it can at

best be a multi-level political system (Scharpf 1994). • Whatever the arguments about the true nature of the EC, it

certainly exhibits at least this state-like characteristic [to make authoritative allocations for society] (Mazey and Richardson 1995)

Comparing the theories

• They have contrasting visions of European integration.

• They differ in what they explain. • They differ in how they explain European

integration.