European Politics: European Union

What are the Main ideas behind the origin of the EU.

The European Coal and Steel Community forms in 1951 with France, Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy

Conflict can be prevented through economic integration of states; making the cost of conflict too high.

Which countries are pioneers of the European Union?

Germany

France

Belgium

Italy

Luxembourg

Netherlands

European Parliament?

• MEPs are directly elected by citizens

  throughout the EU in June of every fifth

  year

• There are 720 of them, distributed

  among the member states in

  proportions that favor the smaller states

The European Commission?

- Proposes new laws

• Sets spending priorities (with the Council and

Parliament) and allocates funding

• Enforces EU law (with the European Court of

Justice)

• Represents the EU internationally

• Members: 1 from each EU country

• President: Ursula von der Leyen

What is the difference between a fiscal union and monetary union?

Fiscal Policy: taxation policies aimed at bringing in revenue for the

government and managing government spending

• Set by the national legislature

Monetary Policy: policies aimed at managing the supply of

money in circulation, interest rates, employment and price controls

• Set by a government’s central bank

Why does the EU expand?

• Security

• Economics & trade liberalization

• benefits of the Union as a whole

• Europeanization of Identity (shared norms and values)

What is acquis communautaire?

The accumulated body of EU law.

• Treaties

• Legislation & policies passed

• Court decisions

• Countries must adopt the entire acquis before they can become members

Describe the Three Lenses scholars use to understand the EU.

Interests - economic interests drive the EU

and states’ decision within it

Institutions - the rules that structure

politics, relationships, and the institutions

have considerable influence on the

dynamics of change

Ideas - all the actors of the EU political

system have their own views of what the

system should look like. States’ preferences

also reflect their own national political

culture.

What is the doctrine of direct effect and doctrine of indirect effect?

Doctrine of direct effect (of European legislation)

• Treaty of Rome established individals’ rights that the courts had to protect. Therefore not only governments but also individuals could appeal to the European Court of Justice

Doctrine of indirect effect

• Sttates that the national courts have to interpret domestic law according to European law, and allowed for the liability of the state if a directive is not (properly) implemented

What are the key differences between the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights?

European Court of Justice

• Solves disputes by issuing binding rulings which contribute to the further development of European law

• One judge from each member state, appointed for six-year terms

• Hears cases regarding member states v.s. member states, or European Commission vs member states

• Interprets and adjudicates cases concerning the legality of EU acts and cases of alleging failure to fulfill a treaty obligation

European Court of Human Rights

• Main task is to adjudicate violations of the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundemental Freedoms

• Allows for the convergence and harmonization of human rights across Europe

Challenges to enlargement in the Western Balkans

They’re considered laggards - willing to become members but remain unable to join

How do states exit the EU?

Using Article 50 TEU (treaty on the european union, 1993), which provides for the negotiation of a withdrawal agreement between the EU and the withdrawing state, defining state’s future relationship with the Union.

How does the EU expel states?

There is no formal mechanism to expel a member state from the EU.

Though:

• Article 2 and 49 TEU state that respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law (as well as equality, dignity, and freedom) are basic EU values and conditions for membership

• Article 7 TEU established a censure procedure whereby the voting rights of any member state which is found to have breached one of these values in a serious and persistent way may be suspended

  • (Unanimous)

What is Euroskepticism?

Soft Euroskepticism and Hard Euroskepticism?

opposition to some aspects of European integration (ie., EU enlargement, austerity measures, immigration policy, etc.)

Soft Euroskepticism = in favor European integration, but

opposed to specific policies; perception that ‘national

interest’ is currently at odds with the EU’s interests

Hard Euroskepticism = oppose European integration,

advocate disengagement from or the dismantling of the EU

• European populists today tend to be hard Euroskeptics

What is the democratic deficit?

a perceived lack of accessibility or lack of representation of the ordinary citizen with respect to the EU institutions – a sense of there being a gap between the powers of those institutions and a perceived inability of citizens to influence those institutions’ decisions

Explain or identify the “european citizens’ initiative”

ECI is basically an initiative that citizens can make for change in the EU (requires 1 million signatures and support from several member states)

European Citizens’ Initiative = “This innovation has

been seen as being more of an informal rather than a

formal tool of democratic participation, and “ foreseen

as complementary to the existing formal participatory

mechanisms, pillars of the representative democracy. ”

For many, it represented a change in the EU political

environment because for the first time citizens arrived

in Brussels, “creating a new political bottom-up ‘actor’

and having the power to influence the making of EU

secondary legislation.” (Longo p. 188)