The European UnionEvents from The Treaty of Nice until and including

The Berlin Declaration

Nishanth P P

EE10B068

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The Treaty of Nice – what

it could have included European Union institutions complicated, wide-ranging

institutional reform required

Pillar structure overly complicated

No European Public Prosecutor

European Community and the EU to be merged and EU

to be given legal personality

German regions demanded clearer separation of the

powers of the Union from the Member States

Charter of Fundamental Rights not included in the

Treaty, opposition by the UK

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After The Treaty of Nice Prodi Commission ended in Oct 2004

José Manuel Barroso (EPP candidate) voted

President of the European Commission by the

Parliament on 22nd July 2004, assumed office on

22nd Nov 2004, incumbent! (Again in 2009)

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission. Image courtesy euobserver.com

EPP - European People's Party, the victorious Europarty in the 6th and the

7th European Parliament Elections, 2004 and 2009 resp.

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Barroso Commission 28 members

REACH - 1st June 2007

Eurotariff - 30th June 2007

Bolkestein directive - a single internal market for services, on 28th

December 2006 (implemented in 2009) - Polish Plumber

The first meeting of the Barroso Commission in 2004. The poster featuring the so-called "Polish Plumber".

I am staying in Poland, do come over en masse. Image courtesies Wikipedia.org

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The European Convention Laken European Council

meet in 2001 proposed a

Convention to form a draft

Constitution of the EU

Philadelphia Convention -

Constitution of the United

States (1787!)

105 members, presided by

Valéry Giscard

“Convention on the Future

of Europe”

What was the need?Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, President of the

European Convention. Image courtesy

wikipedia.org

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The Need for a Constitution Greater democracy, transparency and efficiency

One Constitution to simplify and replace all the

other treaties

Decide how power should be divided between the

EU and the member states

Determine the role of national parliaments within

the EU

Pave way for more enlargement

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The European Constitution Convention called for an IGC in 2004 after preparing

the draft

Integrated all previous treaties into one, excluding the Euratom

Why was it not included?

IGC – Inter-Governmental Conference

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The European Constitution Convention called for an IGC in 2004 after preparing

the draft

Integrated all previous treaties into one, excluding

the Euratom

Anti-nuclear sentiment

Provisions can be divided into four parts

Part I – Defines the European Union, its values, objectives,

powers, decision-making procedures and institutions

Part II - Charter of Fundamental Rights

Part III - policies and functioning of the EU

Part IV - Final provisions, including the procedures for

adopting and revising the Constitution 8

The Founding Principles of

the Union Legally binding status to the Charter of Fundamental

Rights of the EU

Single legal personality to EU under international law

(merger of the European Community with the European

Union)

Competences (exclusive, shared and supporting) and their

distribution between the Member States and the Union

Withdrawal clause (Greenland 1985)

Solidarity clause (Madrid 2004 train attacks)

Simplified jargon and number of legal instruments

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The Institutions European Parliament seats: Degressively proportional

Rotating Presidency of European Council discarded,

President elected for 2.5 years (0.5 years earlier)

Size of Commission reduced from 2014 onwards, number of

Commissioners equal to 2/3 the number of Member States

(equal earlier)

President of Commission elected by the Parliament based

on a proposal from the European Council

Minister for Foreign Affairs (replacing External Relations

Commissioner and the High Representative for the

Common Foreign and Security Policy attached to the

Council)

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Decision-making More day-to-day decisions in the Council of Ministers by

qualified majority voting, double majority (55% majority

of members representing a 65% majority of citizens) and

unanimous only for sensitive areas like tax, social

security, foreign policy and defence.

Blocking minority requires a minimum of 4 member

states.

Why wouldn’t the 65% rule suffice?

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Decision-making More day-to-day decisions in the Council of Ministers by

qualified majority voting, double majority (55% majority

of members representing a 65% majority of citizens) and

unanimous only for sensitive areas like tax, social

security, foreign policy and defence.

Blocking minority requires a minimum of 4 member

states.

Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom

Both the European Parliament and the Council of

Ministers were obliged to meet in public for legislative

proposals (transparency of proceedings)

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Union policies Eurogroup

Pillar structure abolished.

Common defence policy - Creation of a European Defence

Agency and authorisation of enhanced cooperation in this

field

Freedom, security and justice through

Implementation of common policies on asylum, immigration

and external border control

Europol and Eurojust

European Public Prosecutor's Office

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Ratification 25 EU governments signed the Treaty in Rome

20th Feb 2005 – Spanish referendum approved of it by

76% with 43% participation

13 countries approved of the constitution by

parliamentary voting, 2 by accession

29th May 2005 – The French rejected the Constitution

by a margin of 55% to 45% on a turnout of 69%

1st June 2005 – The Dutch rejected the Constitution

just 3 days later by a margin of 61% to 39% on a turnout

of 62%

Double whammy for the EU – Highly unexpected

Luxembourg nevertheless held a referendum on 10th

July 2005 and 57% approved of it with a turnout of 88%

Remaining members cancelled their referendums14

Ratification

Ratification of the Constitutional treaty. Image courtesy Wikipedia.org

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What happened? Why did the French reject it?

Extensive campaigning to reject the Constitution. Image courtesy dw.de16

What happened? Why did the French reject it?

Fear of negative effect on employment – it would enable low-

wage workers from Eastern Europe to migrate to France and

compete for scarce jobs

Economic situation in France was bad and the Constitution was

too economically liberal

Not easily comprehensible (480 main + 400 pages of appendices)

Turkish membership

62% of “no” voters thought a it would mean the Constitution

would be renegotiated

Many on the left thought it would enforce a neoliberal economic

model, claiming it would make the French economy worse

Many on the right opposed it saying France should not be part of

any institution whose decisions can take precedence over what is

decided in France at a national level

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Political scene in France French PM, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, (UMP), resigned after France's

rejection of the European Constitution (31st May 2005)

Francois Hollande (current French President) led the Yes side of the

Socialist party, the main opposition

Laurent Fabius, former PM, (centre right of the Socialist Party) led

the No side, switching to the left of the party, to gain the upper

hand within it before the next presidential elections, in case of

success of the No vote. He argued that the Constitution will be

renegotiated.

Even though they won, Laurent Fabius lost the race to the

presidential primaries for the 2007 elections due to his divisive role.

The proponents of the Yes eventually got the upper hand in the

party.

Renegotiation extremely difficult - diverse reasons for the rejection

of the treaty, ranging from the far left who saw the Constitution as

a "capitalists' charter", to the far right who opposed it on

nationalistic grounds

UMP - Union for a Popular Movement, the French ruling party (2002 – 2012)

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What happened? Why did the Dutch reject it?

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What happened? Why did the Dutch reject it?

Means to show their dissatisfaction with the government

Turkish membership

Declining influence of the Netherlands in the EU

Euro was implemented without the people’s opinion

Increase in immigration, or an outsourcing of jobs to new

eastern European members (though the Constitution didn’t

explicitly mention it)

Aggressive and ruthless campaigning for “Yes” also put off

many, where a “No” was portrayed to imply holocausts,

genocides and terrorist attacks

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Possible options Continue with the ratification and deal with

France and The Netherlands later

Revise the constitution (delicate product of many

compromises, hence difficult to tweak)

Hold a revote

Salvage parts of the constitution

Which one should they choose?

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“Period of Reflection” “Group of Wise Men”, 16 members, first met in Rome

on 30th Sep 2006 to recommend course of action

The Amato Group - Action Committee for European

Democracy (ACED), backed by the Barroso Commission

Presented its report on 4th June 2007, proposing an IGC

for a new treaty which would

rewrite the Treaty on EU

amend the Treaty establishing the European Community

give the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU a legally

binding status.

The new treaty would be based on the Parts I and IV of

the Constitution, the rest of the Constitution’s changes

being achieved through amendments to the Treaty of

Rome.22

The Amato Group The new Treaty on EU

Defines framework of the European Union

Part I and Part IV of the European Constitution

The amended Treaty establishing the European Community explains

policy areas of the Union

law and decision making procedures

Which law or decision making procedure to be followed in a certain policy area

Charter of Fundamental Rights would have the same legal value as the new TEU and the amended TEEC

Former Italian prime minister Giuliano Amato

Image courtesy giornalettismo.com

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2007 Enlargement Treaty of accession signed on 25th April 2005

Romania and Bulgaria became members of the EU

on 1st Jan 2007

At the European Council meet in 2007, Member

States agreed to abandon the Constitution and to

amend the existing treaties, which would remain

in force, as recommended by the Amato Group

A new IGC to negotiate the new treaty was formed

This new treaty, referred to as the Reform Treaty,

become the Lisbon Treaty on its signing in Lisbon

on 13th December 2007.

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Berlin Declaration Signed on 25th March 2007 in Berlin, celebrating the

50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome

which founded the European Economic Community.

Reflect over the EU's history and aims, and provide

impetus to its reform process

Ended the “Period of Reflection”

The German presidency followed up on the issue by

brokering a consensus for what later became known

as the Treaty of Lisbon

This declaration outlined the intention of all Member

States to agree on a new treaty in time for the 2009

Parliamentary elections, that is to have a ratified

treaty before mid-2009

Signed only by Angela Merkel, Hans Pottering and

Barroso25

Debate Is a referendum really necessary?

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Debate Referendums are a

demagogue’s dream

Decisions affecting 502 million

EU citizens can be scrapped

even if everyone agrees except

for a few hundreds in a country.

Too complex for mechanics,

hairstylists, or dentists to easily

understand all effects

Positive developments get

blocked for no good reason

when people vent their anger

over their Governments via

referendums

Referendums give the people

a voice, democracy!

Impose truly democratic

checks and balances on

politicians’ and bureaucrats’

decisions and produce policies

that better reflect the needs

of ordinary people

Referendum campaigns can

energize public opinion and

make sure citizens are fully

informed about EU policies

Gives polices the stamp of

popular approval

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