from Rome, 1957 to Nice, 2000

The Treaties of the European Union - is it time for a single

constitution?

A single Constitution?The Convention on Europe

• The Convention on Europe• A preliminary draft Treaty has just been published, October

26 2002 (http://european-convention.eu.int/docs/sessPlen/00369.en2.PDF)

• its purpose: to propose a new framework and structures for the European Union which are geared to changes in the world situation, the needs of the citizens of Europe and the future development of the European Union.

• an innovation as it has not been done before• created following the Laeken European Council in

December 2001• it brings together representatives of governments, national

parliaments, the European Parliament and the European Commission.

• http://european-convention.eu.int/organisation.asp?lang=EN

A Constitution?

The purpose of a constitutions:• it is a selection of legal rules, governing the

government of that country. It is the basic law of the state.

• it defines the functions and powers of public authorities

• it governs the more formal political procedures and relationships

• it enunciates the basic rights and duties of the citizens

A constitution is regarded as the fundamental law of the state and ‘a kind of higher law’ but it is only a part of the whole system of government.

The Rome Treaty: was it a Constitution

• Community treaties were not written as a constitution. Several things were omitted which a constitution would have stated:

• taken for granted that only democracies could be Member States

• fundamental human rights were not mentioned• defence is not in the Treaty• powers between the Community and its member states are

not explicitly allocated; rather, the Community was given powers to achieve certain objectives.

Rome Treaty - open-ended!

• As John Temple Lang points out - ‘the Statesmen who founded the European Community… wrote a treaty which in due course was intended to convert itself into a constitution’ (Lang P. 124)

• The Court of Justice - has described the treaties as the “constitutional charter” of the Community

• The Rome Treaty has been described as a ‘framework treaty’

Developments since 1957

• over the period of time certain principles have been developed in the Court of Justice’s case law and subsequently embodied in new treaty provisions when the opportunity arises:

• e.g. fundamental rights: (Article f(2) Maastricht Treaty)• ECJ decided that fundamental principles of human

rights were part of Community law which it was the Court’s duty to apply… these being derived from the European Convention of Human Rights and from national constitutional laws

Developments since 1957

• ‘Subsidiarity’ : Article 3B Maastricht Treaty

• the question of who does what - this principle was stated in the Maastricht Treaty for the first time and was a response to the unease that the EU was taking on tasks which could be done more efficiently at the national level

• this is still a contested area, the balance between Brussels and the member states still gives rise to debate; note the debate in the National Forum on Europe, Dublin October 2001

An EU Constitution?

• any new basic text described as a constitution may cause tensions between the member states and probably lead to further fracturing of relationships between national politicians and their respective electorates on the issue of the EU

• a shorter, more readable, political document could only come if it contributed to improved popular understanding and acceptance of the Community

The ‘unwieldy process of the various treaties’ (Laffan p.19)

• Rome Treaty (1957)

• Single European Act ( 1987)

• Maastricht Treaty (1993)

• Amsterdam Treaty (1997)

• Nice Treaty (signed December 2000) – (2002)

The Rome Treaty, 1957

• ‘a framework treaty’

• this committed the 6 to• the creation of a common market, • the harmonization of their economic policies, e.g.

the establishment of CAP, and • it set out the administrative structure - A

Commission, A Council of Ministers, A European Parliament, A Court of Justice …

Changes common to all treaty revisions since 1986

• institutional changes• policy changes• deepening the integration process• new goals being identified and given

treaty status• attempt to clarify ‘who does what’ , i.e.

subsidiarity

SEA 1987

The Single Market

The Single European Act, 1987

• its most important goal: to complete all preparations for the single market by Dec. 1992• it gave the EC responsibility over new policy areas that had

not been covered in the Rome Treaty, e.g. environment, research and development, regional policy

• it gave new powers to the ECJ, created a Court of First Instance

• it gave legal status to meetings of European Council, new powers to the Council of Ministers and the EP

• it gave legal status to EPC, foreign policy co-ordination so Member States could work towards a European foreign policy and work more on defence and security

• it made economic and monetary union an EC objective and promoted ‘cohesion’

Maastricht, 1992

EMU

The Maastricht Treaty, 1993• the creation of the European Union - a new label to symbolize

a new stage in the process of European integration• time-table for the euro• extension of EU responsibility to new areas: consumer

protection, public health policy, transport, education and social policy

• greater intergovernmental cooperation on immigration and asylum, creation of Europol, Committee of the Regions and more regional funds for poorer EU states

• Common Foreign and Security Policy also introduced under intergovernmental arrangements

• new rights for European citizens, the creation of EU citizenship, I.e. the right of citizens of Member states to live where they like in the EU, to stand or vote in local and European elections

• European Parliament gets increased powers - co-decision is introduced

Amsterdam, 1997

JHA - now part of supranational pillar

Schengen - Treaty statusminimal institutional change

The Amsterdam Treaty, 1997• matters relating to asylum, visas, immigration and external

border controls were made subject to EU rules and procedures (opt-outs for Ireland, UK and Denmark), the Schengen Agreement was incorporated into the EU framework, cooperation between national policy forces was strengthened

• policies on employment, sustainable development, human health protection and consumer protection were made formal objectives of the EU and ‘subsidiarity’ was given a new definition

• CFSP - to pursue coherent foreign policy, a policy planning unit was established, decision-making procedures were simplified and provision made for a single commisioner to be EU representative on external relations (Javier Solana)

• changes were made to institutional practices, changing the co-decision procedure to put EP and Council of Ministers on more equal footing, increased number of policy areas to be subject to qualified majority voting and additional powers to the Court of Auditors and the Committee of the Regions

The Nice Treaty, December 2000

The fourth European treaty in 13 years.

‘institutional reform’ ‘enlargement’

The Nice Treaty, 2000 (‘enlargement’)

l Majority votingl Rebalancing votesl The European Commissionl Flexibilityl Charter of Rights

• This Treaty has been now ratified by all states, October 2002, as Ireland has now had its second referendum and it has been passed

Proposed changes from Nice negotiations

Vote Weighting in EU and potential EU members

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

current new population

Germany

Britain

France

Italy

Spain

Netherlands

Greece

Belgium

Portugal

Sw eden

Austria

Denmark

Finland

Ireland

Luxembourg

Poland

Romania

CzechRepublicHungary

Bulgaria

Slovakia

Lithuania

Latvia

Slovenia

Estonia

Cyprus

Malta

The Reality!

• The European Union -• it exercises a wide range of governance functions• it has a constitutional court with impressive

powers of judicial review• is pursuing a common foreign and security policy• an embryonic police force

•OR

• a “Europe of bits and pieces” (Curtin, 1993)