The European UnionUnidentified Political Object?

Lecture Plan

• Why integration?• Milestones• The political system• Institutions• Policy-making• Problems and issues• The future• What is the EU?

Why integration?

• Post WWII - physical destruction and nationalism discredited - desire for new start

• Churchill: “United States of Europe”• Need to overcome French/German hostility• Cold War and American support• Domestic considerations• Different ideals• Federalism• Jean Monnet

Milestones1951 - ECSC1957 - Treaty of Rome1973 1st enlargement (UK, Dk,

Ire) - Oil crisis1979 - direct elections EP1981 - 2nd enlargement (Gr)1985 - Single European Act1986 - 3rd enlargement (E, P)1989-91 - E&C Europe: collapse of communism

1992 - Maastricht - TEU1995 - 4th enlargement (Au, Fi,

Sw)1997 - Treaty of Amsterdam1999 - launch of Euro and

resignation of Commission2001 - Treaty of Nice2002 - Convention opens2004 - 5th enlargement and new

treaty?

The EU 2003

The Pillar Structure

EUEU

1st1stPillarPillar

ECEC

2nd2ndPillarPillar

CFSPCFSP

3rd3rdPillarPillar

JHAJHA

supranational intergovernmental

Institutions• The European Commission• The Council of Ministers• The European Parliament• The European Council• The European Court of Justice and Court of First Instance• Other institutions, agencies and bodies• And … the Presidency• Don’t get confused (!)• Council of the EU, European Council, Council of Europe

Where are the institutions?

The Commission2 aspects of the Commission:• The political executive - the College of Commissioners• The bureaucracy - the Commission Services

The College of Commissioners• The President• The 19 other Commissioners

The Services• The Directorates-General• Other services• Size

The Council of Ministers• Powerful and central institution• represents interests of member states• primary decision-making body, though increasingly sharing

this with EP• consists of a representative of each member state at

ministerial level• Many different councils, depending on policy area (eg GAC

& Ecofin & Agriculture)• Voting increasingly by QMV• Coreper and Secretariat

The European Parliament

• The only directly elected EU institution (1979)• Voice of the people, or expensive talking shop?• Weak compared to member state parliaments• But with each treaty its powers have increased• 625 MEPs sit in party groups - ideologies divided

along left/right and pro/anti-integration axes• Situated in Brussels and Strasbourg, with

secretariat in Luxembourg

The European Council

• Summit meetings of heads of state and government• 3 or 4 times a year - major media events• normally hosted by country holding the Presidency• top of decision-making hierarchy, and an important

agenda-setter• Major treaty reforms agreed here after IGCs• Problems resolved here that cannot be resolved in

Council of Ministers

The Courts of Justice

• ECJ has pushed the integration process forward, especially in early 1960s

• direct effect (1963) and supremacy of EC law (1965)• Two courts - ECJ and Court of 1st Instance• 15 judges in both• Cumulative decisions of ECJ along with the treaties

have created a Constitution for Europe?• (Not to be confused with ECHR)

Other bodiesOther bodies

• European Central Bank• The Court of Auditors• The EU Ombudsman• The Committee of the Regions (CoR)• The Economic and Social Committee• Various European agencies

Policy-makingPolicy-making

The ‘Community Method’• Commission formulates and proposes policy• Complex decision-making process between Council and

EP (with opinions from other bodies)• Final decision by Council of Ministers• Commission oversees implementation by Member

States• The Court of Justice adjudicates on conflictsOther policy-making styles developing

Problems and Issues

• The ‘democratic deficit’• The complexity of governance• Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)• Common Foreign and Security Policy• Enlargement - where does it stop?• What should the EU be?

The Future

• Enlargement• The Convention on the Future of Europe• The 2004 Intergovernmental Conference

(IGC)• A new ‘Constitutional Treaty’

What is the EU?

• A political system but not a state• An intergovernmental organisation controlled by

nation states?• A federal super-state in the making?• A complex system of multi-level governance?• A hybrid - a unique experiment?• The tools of comparative government may be

used to analyse the EU

Resumé

• Why integration?• Historical development• Complex and evolving political system• Policy-making• Future• Nature of the EU• http://europa.eu.int