European Union Integration

December exam

Schuman Plan

→ Functionalist logic.

made in 1950. It proposed that France and West Germany (and any other willing European states) place their coal and steel production under a common supranational authority.

Led to ECSC

Monnet

→ Pragmatic, step by step inegration

Start with the technical/economic sectors

believed in Spill over effect (very important).

Monnet believed in Schluman plan and pushed for it.

Pleven Plan

Proposal made in 1950 by French Prime minister Rene Pleven.

→ A plan to create a European Defence Community EDC

German soldiers would be integrated into the European force, avoiding a national German army.

In the end failed because the French assembly rejected it.

Dirk Stikker

suggested sectoral integration in economics.

Each sector would liberalize on its own.

→ This would, however, lead to high unemployment and competition.

Pella Plan

Create intra european preferential trade zone.

European countries would give each other special trade advantages

OEEC rejected the plan

Green Pool

French proposal in 1950-52

• Plan to pool agricultural production and markets

• modeled on the ECSC, but for agriculture.

• common prices, production, and trade in agricultural goods.

Plan failed, however, it inspired later on the CAP

White Pool

A 1950s proposal to create a European common market for energy, especially electricity and nuclear power.

The plan failed because member states were unwilling to give up their control over strategic energy sectors.

The plan later on led to the creation of the Euratom treaty in 1957.

Embedded Liberalism

A hybrid form of economy.

Combines free-market international trade with domestic social protections

Countries agreed to open economies (trade liberalization), but could intervene internally to protect citizens and maintain full employment.

Beyen Plan

Creation of a common market through customs unions based on supranational decision-making.

Spaak Report

European Economic Community (EEC)

• Remove tariffs between member states

• Establish a common external tariff

• Promote free movement of goods, services, labor, and capital

Euratom

• Pool nuclear energy resources

• Promote joint development of atomic power

Merger Treaty

Officially called the Treaty establishing a single Commission and Council for the European Communities.

Signed: 1965

Often called the Merger Treaty or Brussels Treaty

European Investement Bank (INB)

After trade liberalization, high competition would cause undeveloped regions to suffer and because of this INB was created.

→ to extend inexpensive loads for furthering development in regions that lag behind.

Mansholt Plan

set out plans to modernize the agriculture sector.

Address overproduction, low productivity, and inefficient farms

• Promote larger, more productive agricultural units.

The plan straked massive demonstration by farmers

Yaounde convention

A series of trade and aid agreements between the European Economic Community (EEC) and former French and Belgian colonies in Africa.

Fouchet Plan

Advisor to Charles de Gaulle.

Wanted to create a Union of states without supranational institutions.

strengthen foreign policy and defence cooperation among EEC members.

failed

Luxembourg Compromise

In 1966, after the empty chair crisis.

disagreement over QMV in the Council, especially on agriculture and financing. France wanted unanimity for important decisions, not QMV.

proposed De Facto Veto Power → if a member state felt its national interests were at stake, discussion would continue until a unanimous agreement was reached.

Protected states from decisions imposed by majority voting

Summit of Hague

In 1969.

Deepening, Enlargement, completion.

Eurosclerosis

economic and political difficulties faced by Western Europe in the 1970s and 1980s.

• Europe experienced slow economic growth, high unemployment, and reduced innovation.

• unable to formulate collective regional response to the crisis.

Tindman → Differentiated integration

Also known as multi-speed Europe.

A principle in the EU where not all member states participate equally in all policies or treaties. Allows the EU to move forward with integration even if some states opt out.

argued for greater legislative power for a directly elected EP.

Neo-mercantilist policies

supporters cherished CAP and encouraged protectionist policies

→ European integration should provide shelter against rising global competition.

Werner Plan

focused on aligning policies such as taxes, then proposed stabilization of exchange rates among currencies, and then planned a central bank system from the 1980s.

Provided 10 year roadmap for EMU

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)

were US–Soviet negotiations in the 1970s that sought to limit strategic nuclear weapons and ease Cold War tensions through arms control agreements.

Troika

Financial assistance to Greece came in through austerity. had to give up its own economic decisions to the Troika, which ensured funds were used as intended.

The European Council established the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), but it was later replaced by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM)

The Commission now monitored states’ debts and budgets and had the authority to impose measures.

Doodge Committee

An intergovernmental body consisting of experts acting on behalf of member states, plus one representative of the EU Commission.

Jacques Delors

Mitterrand’s right hand.

Delors encouraged the Vice Commission to draw up the White paper → document containing a guide for transforming the common market into the Single Market.

Preliminary Ruling

National courts ask ECJ to interpret EU laws or assess the validity of EU acts.

Actions for Damages

compensation for individuals or member states due to the EU’s illegal activity.

Van Gend en Loos 1963

Established direct effect.

• Dutch customs increased tariffs, allegedly violating the EEC Treaty (Treaty of Rome, 1957) Article 12 on customs duties

• Citizens and companies can invoke European law directly in national courts

Costa V ENEL 1964

→ Established the supremacy of EU law.

Cassis de Dijon 1979

Created the mutual recognition principle.

If a product is lawfully produced and sold in one member state, it should be allowed to be in all ther members.

Convergence Criteria

Rules set out in the Maastricht Treaty (1992) require EU member states to adopt the euro

→ A country’s annual deficit can not exceed 3% of GDP.

designed to ensure the stability of the new currency.

Asymmetrical relationship

means that the EU holds more power than the applicant country.

EU’s Cohesion Policy

provides financial aid from the EU budget.

If big economic gaps exist between the members, Cohesion ensures balanced development in the EU.

Acquis Communautaire

set of rules and obligation of the EU

Comitology Committee

To ensure that the Commission does not overstep its delegated powers comitology committee was established.

They are members of state representatives who oversees Commission’s implementation.

Eurogroup

After establishing the euro, finance and economics ministers have increased in number, though their work on economic annd financinal affairs council → they meet in infromal body called Eurobody

General secretaruat of the Council (GSC)

GSC legal service consists of 200 lawyers who know the European treaties.

They review every legal act before adoption.

GSC provides legal assistance to the Council.

During the trilogues, the Council and the EP negotiate compromises, and the legal service advices council negotiating team.

Their job is to protect the council’s legal position during the negotiations.

Conciliation

If the OLP council disagrees with the EP, there is a procedure called conciliation.

Both meet to compromise.

Permissive consensus

When EU citizens trusted EU institutions and did not closely scrutinize EU decision-making.

European Payments Union (EPU)

Acted as a multilateral clearing house, meaning it helped European countries settle payments with each other when they traded goods.

European Free Trade Area EFTA

It was created in 1960. UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria

There was now Europe of 6 and of 7

Council of Ministers in the EEC

The Council of Ministers was the European Economic Community’s main decision-making body.

The President rotated every 6 months.

The Treaty of Rome stipulated that the Council of Ministers was the only body able to make laws and regulations.

COREPER → EEC

In the EEC, national ministers were only able to travel to Brussel’s few times a year, so each member set up a Permanent Representation in Brussels.

→ a team of officials led by an ambassador-level Permanent Representative

→ The ministers then only had to express their approval during the meeting of the Council of Ministers.

European Parliamentary Assembly

The Treaty of Rome still referred to it as the European Parliamentary Assembly.

consisted of 142 members, elected by national parliaments → double mandate

→ EP’s most important task was to monitor the activities of the European Commission.

• produce an advisory opinion regarding new legislation

EP shared its advisory role with the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), which consisted of representatives from all sectors of economic and social life.

Court of Justice EEC

consisted of 9 judges appointed by the state’s government for 6 years.

→ observing laws in interpretation and applocation of EEC Treaty

Bretton Woods System

EU currencies has fixed exchange rate against the dollar, which in turn was tied to gold.

G7

A new group was created in 1976, → G7, which brought together the most economically powerful countries to work on global problems collectively.

→ laid the groundwork for a new intergovernmental form of cooperation and was institutionalized as the European Council in 1974

It was not until the Maastricht treaty in 1992 that its role in the european governnance was formalized.

→ European Council could break deadlocks and push for a compromise when lower-level negotiations in the Council of the minister were stuck.

European Court of Auditors

The Council of Ministers established a new insitutition European Court of Auditors, which was responsible for controlling the budget.

European Political Cooperation (EPC)

Voluntary and intergovernmental ministers of foreign affairs → met twice a year

Still EPC failed to provide a coordinated response to yom kippur war in 1973.

Juste retour

The UK put the accounting principle of Juste retour → every member state should be able to receive directly and proportionally from the money put into the EC.

“the convention” → Charter of Fundamental Rights of EU

1999 new group of 62 people emerged → the convention.

Tasked to draft a document outlining the rights of EU citizens.

Was born in 2000, Nice council meeting.

Letter of Intent

Commission president gives the State of the Union speech in the European Parliament and presents to the President of the EP and Council Presidency a Letter of Intent for the following year, which happens around September.

Later, the CWP (Commission Work Programme) is presented in the EP in late October. 3 institutions then agree on a Joint Declaration of Legislative priorities for the following year.

Infringement process

When a member state fails to fulfill its EU obligations, the Commission acts as a “ guardian of the Treaties.” If the informal dialogue and warnings don’t work, the Commission can bring the case before the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) → Infringement process.

impact assessment (IA)

An impact assessment (IA) is an analysis carried out by the European Commission to evaluate the possible effects of a proposed legislative act before it is adopted

rapporteur

Inside the EP, one of the 20 standing committees is recognized as the “committee responsible for the file. The file is assigned to one of the political groups in the committee. Committees are made up of members from all political groups. That group nominates a rapporteur (MEP responsible for the committee Report) and the other groups nominate shadow rapporteurs.

• Draft the report on the legislative proposal, including suggested amendments.

• Negotiate with other political groups (through shadow rapporteurs) to find compromises.

• Present the committee’s position to the plenary (all MEPs) and sometimes in trilogues with the Council and Commission.

policy coordination

Economic policy on the other hand remains in the hands on national legislative competence → Instead, it creates rules, guidelines, surveillance mechanisms, and targets that member states are expected to follow → This process is called policy coordination.

Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure MIP

a mechanism created to detect and correct risks that may threaten a country’s economy before they turn into a crisis.

strategic autonomy

→ The 2016 EU Global Strategy (EUGS) emphasized, “We need a stronger Europe.” Drafted by Italian High Representative Federica Mogherini, it called for strategic autonomy—the ability to handle security issues independently—along with a unified foreign policy and greater economic and technological independence.