ICEU - Revisions (Nadgos)

EUR6

1950s, France, Italy, West Germany, Luxemburg, Belgium, the Netherlands

EUR9

1973, EUR6, Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom

EUR10

1981, EUR9, Greece

EUR12

1982, EUR10, Portugal, Spain

EUR15

1995, EUR12, Austria, Finland, Sweden

EUR25

2004, EUR15, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Malta, Cyprus

EUR27

2007, EUR25, Bulgaria, Romania

EUR28

2013, EUR27, Croatia

EUR27

2016, Brexit

Schuman Declaration (date)

9 May 1950

Treaty of Paris (date)

1951

Treaty of Rome (date)

1957

Single Act (date)

1986

Treaty of Maastricht (date)

1992

Treaty of Amsterdam (date)

1997

Treaty of Nice (date)

2001

Treaty of Lisbon (date)

2007

Inward narrative

* 2nd half of the 20th cy.
* Peace in the EU, Single market, Free circulation, problems solved together, within the EU

Outward narrative

* 21st cy.
* Because of exernal shocks
* Strategic economy, Eu sovereignty, foreign policies, EU as a geopolitical actor

Qualified majority

55% of member states (16 out of 27), representing at least 65% of the EU population

Veto

4 member states, representing at least 35% of the EU population

European Commission

Proposes legislation and supports its implementation

European Commission (History)

1951 : ECSC
1957 : 3 commissions (ECSC, EEC, Euratom)
1967 : Commission (3 in one)

European Commission (Location)

Berlaymont, Brussels

European Commission (President - who)

Ursula Von Der Leyen
German
Conservative

European Commission (President - how)

Election. The European Council proposes a candidate to the Parliament, in accordance to the EU elections. Majority of MEPs

European Commission (Organisation)

* 27 commissioners (1 by country)
* Appointed by the EU Council ('common agreement' with the Commission's president : heard and voted)
* Principle of collegiality
* Bureaucracy : 33k civil servants, 30 general directors, 11 services

European Commission (Functions)

* Monopoly on legislative initiative/proposals (BUT : largely influenced by other actors)
* Implementation of EU policies (with the member states) '
* Guardian of the Treaties'
* Supranational institution

European Commission (Decision-making)

* Collegial (i.e with consensus)
* Dossiers A : consensus without debate
* Dossier B : consensus after debate

European Council

Sets the main political priorities

European Council (History)

1961 : 1st European 'summit'
1974 : institutionalisation
2009 : EU institution

European Council (Location)

Europa, Brussels

European Council (President -who)

* Charles Michel
* Belgium
* Liberal

European Council (President - how)

* Elected by the members of the European Council
* 2.5 years mandate

Josep Borrell

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HRUFASP + VP of the European Commission)

European Council (Organisation)

- 27 heads of state + president of the EU Council + president of the European Commission + High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
- 4 meetings per year
- Bureaucracy : same General Secretariat as the Council (3k seniors, Secretary General)

European Council (Secretary General)

Thérèse Blanchet

European Council (Functions)

- Define and set the EU's political priorities
- Defend national interests
- Adopt Treaty reforms and EU enlargements
- Elect its president (Qualified Majority)
- Propose the candidate for the presidency of the Commission
- Appoint the HRUFASP
- Appoint the commissioners
- Appoint the MB of the ECB executive board
Intergovernmental institution

European Council (Decision-making)

Unanimity, sometimes QM

Council of ministers
Council of the EU

Adopts and amends draft laws emanatign from the Commission and votes on the budget

Council (History)

1951 : Special Council of ministers in the ECSC
1957 : Councils of min in EEC, ECSC and Euratom
1967 : Council of Min (3 in 1), several formats
2009 : Council of min (10 formats)

Council (Location)

Europa, Brussels

Council (President - who)

Czech Republic (Miloš Zeman)

Council (President - how)

Rotating presidency of 6 months
Czech Republic,
Starting Jan 2023, Sweden (Ulf Kristersson)

Council (Organisation)

- 10 formats (AGRI, ECOFIN...)
- Bureaucracy : same General Secretariat as the Council (3k seniors, Secretary General)

Council (Functions)

- Legislative power with the Parliament
- 'Ordinary Legislative Procedure' (art 294 of the TFUE -ToR)
- Coordination of national policies
- Define the CFSP

Council (Decision-Making)

- Ministerial meetings prepared by COREPER
- QM and Veto, BUT consensus in practice (no vote if disagreement)
- Unanimity for CSDP/CFSP/tax issues
- SM for procedural and admin matters

COREPER I

Deputy Permanent Representatives
Address technical issues

COREPER II

Permanent Representative
Politically sensitive issues

European Parliament

Adopts and amends draft laws emanating from the Commission

Parliament (History)

1951 : Common Assembly in ECSC
1957 : Parliamentary Assembly
1962 : European Parliament (name)
1979 : Direct Universal Suffrage
1986 : European Parliament in the law (Single Act)

Parliament (Location)

Strasbourg (Louise Weiss), Brussels (Léopold Space), Luxemburg

Louise Weiss

Strasburg, France

Léopold Space

Brussels, Belgium

Parliament (President - who)

Roberta Metsola
Malta
Conservative

Parliament (President - how)

Elected by the MEPs (single majority) for 2.5 years

Parliament (Organisation)

- 705 MEPs elected for 5 years
- Proportional voting
- Seats proportional to the population of each countries
- Work inside 20 parliamentary committees and 2 subcommittees
- Plenary session, once a month (red week)
- Committee work, once or twice a month (pink week)
- Constituency work, min four times a year (green)
- Bureaucracy : 6k civil servants

Parliament (Functions)

- Colegislate with the Council
- 'Ordinary Legislative Procedure', art 294, TFEU
- Approve the appointment of Commissioners
- Motion of censure against the Commission (allegations of fraud, mismanagement, nepotism...)

Parliament (Decision-making)

Simple majority

Court of Justice of the European Union

Ensures the applicatio of the EU law and the uniformity of its interpretation on its territory

Court of Justice (History)

1951 : ECSC Court of Justice
1957 : Court of Justice of the ECSC, EEc and Euratom
2009 : Court of Justice of the European Union (art 19, TEU)

Court of Justice (Location)

Luxemburg

Court of Justice (Organisation)

3 bodies :
- Court of Justice : 27 judges (named by agreement of all member states) + 11 advocate general
- General Court (tribunal) : 2 judges per MS
- Specialised courts

Court of Justice (Function)

- Review the legality of the EU institutions acts
- Interpret the EU law at the request of national judges
- Ensure the compliance with EU law thorugh its equal application in all MS

Court of Justice (Decision-making)

3 procedures : actions for
- Failure to fulfil obligations
- Failure to act
- Annulment

European Central Bank (History)

1999 : creation
2002 : launching of the euro currency
2009 : legal personality (Lisbon Treeaty)
2020 : 19 MS partake in

European Central Bank (Location)

Skytower, Frankfurt

European Central Bank (President -who)

Christine Lagarde
French
Conservative

European Central Bank (President - how)

- Recommanded by the Council of the EU
- Consultation of the Parliament
- Appointed by a qualified majority vote of the European Council

European Central Bank (Organisation)

2 main bodies :
- Executive board : president, vice-p, 4 other mb appointed by the European Council
- Governing Council : 10 governors of national central banks + mb of the executive board
Meetings every 2 months
3.5k civil servants

European Central Bank (Functions)

Executive board :
- Prepares the meetings of the Governing Council
- Implements monetary policy
- Ensures day-to-day management
Governing Council :
- Adopt guidelines
- Take decisions
- Define the monetary policy
- Set interest rates (objective 2% inflation rate)

European Central Bank (Decision-making)

- Economic and monetary analysis of informations
- Decision taken by the Governing Council according to the assessment of the risks to price stability

Decision-making (S. Novak) - 3 principles

Art 5 TFEU
- Attribution
- Proportionality
- Subsidiarity

Principle of attribution (S. Noval)

The EU must act only within the limits of the competences confered upon it by the treaties

Principle of subsidiarity (S. Novak)

In areas without exclusive competences, the EU can act only if and in so far as the objective of the purpose action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the MS and better achieved at the EU level.

Principle of Proportionality (S. Novak)

The content and form of the EU action may not exceed that which is necessary to achieve the objective of the treaties

Decision-making (S. Novak) - 3 types of competences

- Exclusive (art 3, TFEU : 6 areas)
- Shared (art 4, TFEU : 13 areas)
- Supporting (art 6, TFEU : 7 areas)

Community method (S. Novak)

1- The European Commission prepares the decision
2- The Council and European Parliament codecide on taking the decision (QM)
3- The European Commission (thus the MS) implement the decision
--> all areas

Intergovernmental method (S. Novak)

- The Commission and the European Council share the right of initiatives.
- The Parliament and Commission have a limited role (consultative).
- The Council adopts the decisions by unanimity
--> CSDP, CFSP, economic governance

Primary Law

Treaties (Lisbon = TEU/ToM + TFEU/ToR)

Secondary Law

Binding legal acts
- Directive
- Regulations
- Decision
Non-binding legal acts :
- Recommendation
- Advice

Directives

Legislative acts that set objective for all MS BUT each country is free to develop its own measures to achieve them.

Regulation

Legislative acts that set objective for all MS BUT must be fully implemented throughout the EU without delay.

Decision

Binding on the addresses to whom they are addressed and directly applicable.

Pillars (3)

1- Common provision principles, goals and institutions (community method)
2- Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) - intergov. method
3- Judicial and internal affairs : intergov. method

Interest group (Saurugger)

"Entity that seeks to represent the interests of a specific section of society in the public space"

Lobbying (Saurugger)

"Activites aimed at influencing the policy developement and decision-making processes of the EU."

Lobbies

- Seen as : groups that pursue narrow interests + undermine the legitimacy/accountabilityof the EU institutions // an opportunity for the civil scty to participate in the EU policy-making
- Commission consults lobbies to improve the qlty of policies + enhance the involvment of interestedparties
- Council is a relevant contact for lobbies
- Parliament is for a stricter lobbying regulation (should be the basis of a democratic system)

Schengen Principle (V. Giraudon)

- 1985, free internal movement + control at external borders.
- Integrated through the Amsterdam Treaty (1997). Intergovernmental governance.
- Since 2009, community method

Schengen mb

26 : MS except :
- Ireland
- Romania
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
BUT plus :
- Island
- Lichtenstein
- Norway
- Switzerland

Schengen / Outsourcing of controls

States bordering the Schengen area have the responsability to control, arrest and return unwanted migrants BEFORE they enter Europe.

Defence (History, S. Faure)

- 1950s-1990s : NATO
- 1998-2001 : bilateralism (FR/UK : Saint-Malo agreement), outside the EU
- 2001-2009 : multilaterism (ESDP, Nice Treaty - CSDP, Lisbon Treaty), inside the EU
- 2009-2022 : intergov. tools and hybrid and supranational tools

N. Jabko

L'Europe par le marché (2009)
- How can the historical dynamics of the
- Not globalisation, the idea of federalism or convergence of national interests
- Crafting of a political strategy by the Commission (J. Delors) --> constructivism (ambiguous def of the market)

A. Moravcisk

The Choice for Europe (1998)
- Liberal argument for the European integration --> impulsed by national institutions to favour their economical interests

F. Mérand & J. Weisbein

Introduction à l'Union européenne (2001)
- EU more legitimate by out-puts than in-puts (decision is good bc its works/was taken after a collective work of different actors)
- Integration (supranational institutions)
- Tension (national interests prevail)
- Institutional triangle (Commission, Council, Parliament) --> interdependent

G. Courty and H. Michel

- How are relations between lobbyists and EU political and administrative actors structures in the Eurocracy field ?
- Institutional theory : political institutions have an effect on interest groups
- Distinction in lobbies : permanent v. intermittent

C. Fontan

- How has the financial crisis affected EU institutions (in particular the ECB)
- 2012 : M. Draghi -> Sovereign Debt Crisis, "whatever it taked"
- The ECV was reinforced during the crisis, gained competecens, became a political actor
3 reasons :
1- Monopoly on liquidity
2- Expertise in financial markets
3- Moral authority over MS

D. Georgakakis

- CSQ of the Covid crisis
- Health was a supporting competence
- EU council manages emergencies
- Commission and the Parliament handle routine and forecasts

V. Guiraudon

- How does europeanisation affect national immigration and asylum policies ?
- Europeanisation : vertical (bottom-up/top-down), horizontal (institutional isomorphism, w/o the EU)

V. A. Schmidt / La démocratie en Europe (2010)

- Typology of legitimacies to explain the democray deficit