European Union Treaties
Treaty of Rome 1957
The Treaty of Rome has 2 parallel integrations → EEC Treaty, Euratom Treaty
Introduced CAP:
Politically necessary to bring France on board
Massive budgetary implications
price support
market intervention
Commission → monopoly of initiative, Guardian of the Treaties, technocratic engine of integration
Council → Only legislative actor
The Parliamentary Assembly → Consultative only, no legislative veto
ECJ → exclusive authority over the interpretation, infringement proceedings, and preliminary ruling mechanism
Without the Treaty change, the Court construes:
→ Direct Effect (Van Gend en Loos), Supremacy (Costa v ENEL)
Treaty of Maastricht 1992
From an economic community → to a political union with monetary sovereignty, citizenship, and foreign policy ambitions, but without full democratic or fiscal backing.
→ European Economic Community becomes the European Community
The European Community becomes the only pillar with supranational legal force.
Pillar I: European Community - economic integration, single market, competition law, economic and monetary union (EMU).
Pillar II: Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) - intergovernmental, unanimity.
Pillar III: Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) - immigration, intergovernmental.
Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)
Capital liberalization and convergence
Introduction of the euro and the ECB
Independent European Central Bank
EU Citizenship
free movement and residence
voting in municipal and EP elections
European Parliament
→ introduction of co-decision (limited scope initially)
stronger budgetary role
still not a full legislature
Principle of subsidiarity: The EU should act only if its objectives cannot be sufficiently achieved by Member States.
Treaty of Amsterdam 1997
A post-Maastricht repair treaty, designed to make a politically expanded Union work, not to redefine its purpose.
Amsterdam moves major parts of Pillar III into Pillar I → immigration, Visas, free movement, Asylum. This creates the Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice.
Internal security becomes supranational governance, not national sovereignty.
→ Schengen is absorbed into EU law: abolition of internal border controls, common external border rules, common visa policy.
→ strengthened the EP: expands co-decision - becomes the ordinary legislative procedure in many areas, gains de facto veto power.
The Amsterdam Treaty created the High Representative in the CFSP.
Treaty of Nice 2001
Substantively: a treaty about numbers, votes, thresholds, and institutional survival. Make the EU’s institutions function after eastern enlargement (10+ new Member States).
Introduced council voting reform and changed the Commission size.
For a measure to pass under QMV:
The majority of weighted votes
The majority of Member States
States representing a majority of the EU population (upon request)
Before the Nice Treaty, the Commission had 2 members from large states and 1 from smaller states. With the Nice Treaty, each state had only one member.
→ Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Lisbon Treaty 2009
Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community
Substantively: the EU’s de facto constitutional settlement.
The Lisbon Treaty abolished the 3-pillar system and granted the EU a single legal personality.
TEU → values, objectives, institutions, CFSP
TFEU → competences, policies, procedures
Lisbon explicitly classifies competences:
Exclusive
Shared
Supporting
European Parliament
Ordinary Legislative Procedure becomes the default
Equal co-legislator with the Council
Budgetary parity
National parliaments
Early Warning Mechanism
Subsidiarity control (yellow/orange cards)
European Council
Formalizes the European Council
Creates a permanent President
Separates agenda-setting from day-to-day legislation
CFSP and High Representative: coherence without supranationalism
High Representative = Commission VP + Council chair
European External Action Service (EEAS)