History and Theory of European Integration

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History and Theory of European Integration

• Marina V. Larionova

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Lecture 8

• The Ever Enlarging European Union
• (1993-1999)

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Contents

• The Eftan enlargements and its implications.
• From Maastricht to Amsterdam, from the TEU to the
  Amsterdam treaty, issues and outcomes.

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Recommended Readings

• Dinan Desmond (1999) Ever Closer Union. An
  Introduction to European Integration. Second
  edition. The European Union Series. Palgrave.
  Chapter 7, chapter 13, chapter 16
• Dinan Desmond (1999) Treaty Change in the
  European Union the Amsterdam Experience.
  Developments in the European Union, Cram L.,
  Dinan D. and Neill Nugent (eds), Macmillan press
  Ltd., 1999
• L.Tsoukalis. The Economic and Monetary Union
  The Primacy of High Politics (1996). The European
  Union. Readings on the Theory and Practice of
  European Integration, Nelsen B.F. and Alexander C
  G. Stubb (eds.), Palgrave, 1998.

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European Economic Area

• a new form of structured partnership with common
  decision making and administrative institutions?
  
• Jacques Delors, speech to the EP, January 17, 1989

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EFTA members

• Austria
• Finland
• Iceland
• Liechtenstein
• Norway
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• EEA a means to enter the single market

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Negotiating the Agreement

• A joint EC-EFTA steering group - January 1989
• Launch of negotiations mid 1990
• Acquis communautaire on internal market
• The fundamental objectives
• free movement of goods
• free movement of persons
• freedom to provide services
• free movement of capital
• Contentious issues
• Fishing grounds
• Alpine transit
• EFTA countries contribution to the EC cohesion
  funds
• Decision shaping versus decision making
• EC-EFTA Court

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The institutions

• EEA Council of Ministers
• EEA Joint Committee
• EEA Joint Parliamentary Committee
• EEA Consultative Committee
• EFTA Court cooperation with the EU Court of
  Justice
• May 2, 1992 signing the Agreement a step
  towards the EU membership

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Negotiating the Accession

• Accession applications
• July, 1989 Austria
• June 1991 Sweden
• March 1992 - Finland
• May 1992 Switzerland
• November 1992 Norway

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June 1992 Lisbon Council

• Widening and deepening
• Completion of the TEU ratification process
• Neutral countries political commitment to CFSP
• December 1992 Edinburgh Council
• Decision to start negotiations after TEU
  ratification

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June 1993 Copenhagen Council

• Negotiations completion target deadline of
  January 1995
• End of negotiations - March 1, 1994
• EP vote May 1994

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Contentious issues

• Derogation periods from the acquis communautaire
• Social policy / structural funds
• Energy and environment
• Agriculture and fisheries
• Decision making
• Re weighting the QMV system
• Number of commissioners
• Number of representatives in the EU Parliament

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Ioannina Compromise

• Blocking minority 23 to 25
• Qualified majority 65
• If members of the Council representing a
  total of 23 to 25 votes indicate their intention
  to oppose the adoption by the Council of a
  decision by a qualified majority, the Council
  will do all within its power to reach, within a
  reasonable time a satisfactory solution that can
  be adopted by at least 65 votes

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The Fifteen62 votes with the blocking minority
of 29.9
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1994 Accession referendum results

• Austria 66, 6 per cent in favor
• Finland 56, 9 per cent in favor
• Sweden 52 percent in favor
• Norway 47. 5 in favor

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Lessons from the third enlargement negotiations

• Enhancing tendency for variable geometry
• Acute need for institutional reform
• IGC is indispensable to carry out reforms
  that will allow us to admit new members without
  risk to them or us
• Carlos Westendorp
• Danger of revoking existing agreements on claims
  that enlargement threatens national interests of
  the old member states

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IGC to be convened as mandated by the TEU

• Principles
• Thorough preparation
• Transparency
• Public opinion involvement

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Reflection group

• Composition
• Member states representatives
• Commission representative (Macelino Oreja)
• Two EP representatives following the Corfu
  Council June 1994 decision
• The incursion of supranationalism into an
  avowedly intergovernmental process reflects the
  blending of supranationalism and
  intergovernmentalism throughout the EU system. It
  also casts doubt on the liberal intergovernmental
  view of treaty change, which dismisses the
  importance of supranational actors in shaping
  large interstate bargains.
• Desmond Dinan

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Points of departure for negotiations

• EC report
• Openness
• Legitimacy
• Simplification of procedures
• Effectiveness of operations
• Bringing the EU closer to its citizens
• EP report
• Revision of the TEU architecture / abolishing the
  three pillar structure
• Extension of the co-decision and assent
  procedures
• Council report
• Court of Justice report
• Court of Auditors report
• Lamers-Schauble paper on flexibility

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Mandate and Procedure

• the IGC preparation
• forming the agenda
• identifying areas for reform
• identifying areas of likely agreement
• commenting on divergence of positions
• June 1995 Messina meeting of Foreign Ministers
  launch of the Reflection Group
• Regular meetings
• December 1995 Madrid Council report
• Improving EU efficiency and accountability
• Improving the ability to act internationally
• Making EU relevant to the citizens

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Factors of pressure

• The Balkans crisis
• The Prospect of Eastern Enlargement
• Economic recession and divergence of the member
  states policies
• EMU criteria to be met by a small group
• Need for flexible Treaty provisions to integrate
  further on a new basis
• Christian Democratic Union / Christian Social
  Union Group Reflections on European Policy
• The existing hard core of countries oriented to
  grater integration and closer cooperation must be
  further strengthened
• Coherence and consistency combined with
  elasticity and flexibility
• Test of commitment to European integration for
  Britain
• Italian German relations strained further
• Majors Europe a la carte versus the two tier
  concept

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Key issues

• Flexibility
• Institutional reform
• CFSP reform
• Free movement of people

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March 29, 1996, launch of IGC in Turin
Participants

• Commission without a right of veto
• EP to be briefed and consulted
• Member states key actors
• Germany - Helmut Kohl
• France - Chirac Jospin
• The UK - Major to be replaced by Blair after May
  1997 elections
• Three Presidencies
• Italian - focused on domestic reform
• Irish preparing the first draft based on
  successive approximations
• Dutch shadowed by the TEU experience

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IGC issues Enhanced cooperation Flexibility

• To be developed within the EU institutional
  framework as outlined in Kohl-Chirac letter in
  December 1996
• To be applied to the EU as a whole for member
  states wishing to cooperate more closely
• To proceed subject to a Council decision with the
  right of member - states to block the use of
  flexibility principle

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Common Foreign and Security Policy

• CFSP unit for analysis and planning
• High Representative authority designation to the
  Council Secretary General
• Introduction of constructive abstentionism
• Agreement to the possibility of integration of
  the WEU into the EU should the EC so decide
• Inclusion of the peacekeeping, humanitarian,
  rescue and related operations into the Treaty

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Institutional and decision making reform

• Re weighting of votes in the Council and
  introduction of the double majority principle
• Extension of the QMV within the first pillar to
  research and development policies
• Extension of the QMV into visa and asylum policy
  areas blocked by Kohl
• The Commission size and number of commissioners
  per country
• Compromise
• Delay till the next enlargement
• Limit the number of commissioners to one per
  member state
• Re weight the votes in the Council to compensate
  for loss of influence in the Commission
• EP
• Consultation procedure
• Co-decision right of veto by absolute majority
  of the total membership
• Assent
• 700 members

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Area of freedom, security and justice

• Free Movement of People brought into the EU
  framework
• Immigration and asylum policy transferred to the
  first pillar
• Schengen acquis
• a protocol to the Treaty
• to be communitized within five years
• provision for a European Council unanimous
  decision to remove internal border controls and
  establish common procedures for external controls
  by May 2004
• Irish and British opt out

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Subsidiarity

• Edinburgh Council subsidiarity protocol
  incorporated into the Treaty
• decisions must be taken as closely as
  possible to the citizens. Greater unity can be
  achieved without excessive centralization. It is
  for each member state to decide how its powers
  should be exercised domestically.
• The Community can only act where member states
  have given it power to do so in the treaties.
  Action at the Community level should happen only
  when proper and necessarySubsidiarity or
  nearness is essential if the Community is to
  develop with the support of its citizens.

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Transparency clause

• right of access for all citizens of the Union
  and any natural or legal person residing or
  having a registered office in a member state to
  the EP, Commission and Council of Ministers
  documents.

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Treaty of Amsterdam signed on October, 2, 1997

• Provision for an IGC to be convened at least a
  year before the EU exceeds 20 members for
  comprehensive review of institutional and
  decision making provisions.
• Came into force on May 1999 after a smooth
  ratification

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Main failures

• Institutional reform
• Safeguards on the Flexibility principle clause
• Closeness to the citizens challenge of
  comprehension
• Four parts
• Amendments
• Simplifications
• 13 protocols
• 50 declarations
• it is impossible to replace the EUs founding
  Treaties with a new, streamlined set of
  objectives, guiding principles and institutions
  however intellectually alluring the prospect
  would be.
• Desmond Dinan

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Annex Structure of the Treaty

• The Amsterdam Treaty consists of
• three parts
• an annex
• thirteen protocols
• The Intergovernmental Conference also adopted
• fifty-one declarations, annexed to the Final Act
  
• It also noted a further
• eight declarations by various Member States,
  annexed to the Final Act.

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The first part covers the substantive amendments
and comprises five articles

• Article 1 contains the amendments made to the
  Treaty on European Union
• Article 2 contains the amendments to the Treaty
  establishing the European Community
• Article 3 contains the amendments to the Treaty
  establishing the European Coal and Steel
  Community
• Article 4 contains the amendments to the Treaty
  establishing the European Atomic Energy
  Community
• Article 5 contains the amendments to the Act
  annexed to the Council Decision of 20 September
  1976 on the election of representatives to the
  European Parliament by direct universal suffrage.

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The second part

• The second part of the Treaty - Articles 6 to 11
• deals with the simplification of the treaties
  establishing the three European Communities and
  their annexes and protocols, with a view to
  deleting lapsed clauses and adapting the text of
  certain provisions accordingly (Articles 6, 7 and
  8).
• provides for the repeal of the Convention of 25
  March 1957 on certain institutions common to the
  European Communities and the merger Treaty of 8
  April 1965 (Article 9).
• clarifies that this simplification exercise does
  not alter the legal effects of the texts or the
  acts in force adopted on the basis of them
  (Article 10).
• specifies that the Court of Justice is competent
  to interpret the provisions of this part of the
  Treaty (Article 11).

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The third part

• The third part - Articles 12 to 15 - contains the
  general and final provisions of the Treaty
• Article 12 relates to the renumbering of the
  provisions of the Treaty on European Union and
  the Treaty establishing the European Community
• Article 13 specifies that the Treaty is concluded
  for an unlimited period
• Article 14 deals with ratification and entry into
  force
• Article 15 lists the different language versions.

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Annex

• The annex to the Treaty contains the tables of
  equivalence for the renumbering of provisions of
  the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty
  establishing the European Community.

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13 protocols

• Protocol on Article 17 (ex Article J.7) of the EU
  Treaty, dealing with the Western European Union
  and the progressive framing of a common defence
  policy
• Protocol integrating the Schengen acquis into the
  framework of the European Union
• Protocol on the application of certain aspects of
  Article 14 (ex Article 7a) of the Treaty
  establishing the European Community to the United
  Kingdom and to Ireland
• Protocol on the position of the United Kingdom
  and Ireland in relation to the new Title of the
  Treaty establishing the European Community on
  "visas, asylum, immigration and other policies
  related to free movement of persons"
• Protocol on the position of Denmark in relation
  to the new Title of the Treaty establishing the
  European Community on "visas, asylum, immigration
  and other policies related to free movement of
  persons" and to certain aspect of the common
  foreign and security policy

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Protocols

• Protocol on asylum for nationals of Member States
  of the European Union
• Protocol on the application of the principles of
  subsidiarity and proportionality
• Protocol on external relations of the Member
  States with regard to the crossing of external
  borders
• Protocol on the system of public broadcasting in
  the Member States
• Protocol on protection and welfare of animals
• Protocol on the institutions with the prospect
  of enlargement
• Protocol on the location of the seats of the
  institutions and of certain bodies and
  departments of the European Communities and of
  Europol
• Protocol on the role of national Parliaments in
  the European Union.

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Lecture 9 Theorizing the new Europe

• Changing Context of European Integration, the old
  and new paradigms and theoretical synthesis.
• Multi level governance
• New institutionalism
• Policy networks
• Actor based models

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Readings for the lecture

• Rosamond Ben. (2000) Theories of European
  Integration. The European Union Series. Palgrave
  chapter 5
• Pierson P. The Path to European Integration A
  Historical Institutional Analysis (1996). The
  European Union. Readings on the Theory and
  Practice of European Integration, Nelsen B.F. and
  Alexander C G. Stubb (eds.), Palgrave, 1998
• Marks G., Hooge L., Blank K. European Integration
  from the 1980s State-Centric v. Multi-Level
  Governance (1996). The European Union. Readings
  on the Theory and Practice of European
  Integration, Nelsen B.F. and Alexander C G.
  Stubb (eds.), Palgrave, 1998
• Nugent N. Decision-Making in Developments in the
  European Union, edited by Cram L., Dinan D. and
  Nugent N., Macmillan Press Ltd, 1999.

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Lecture 10 Theorizing the new Europe

• New (liberal) intergovenmentalism.
• Two level games, influence of domestic policies.

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Readings for the lecture

• Rosamond Ben. (2000) Theories of European
  Integration. The European Union Series. Palgrave
  chapter 6
• Moravcsik A. Negotiating the Single European Act
  National Interest and Conventional Statecraft in
  the European Community (1991). The European
  Union. Readings on the Theory and Practice of
  European Integration, Nelsen B.F. and Alexander C
  G. Stubb (eds.), Palgrave, 1998
• Hix S. The Study of the European Community The
  Challenge to Comparative Politics (1994). The
  European Union. Readings on the Theory and
  Practice of European Integration, Nelsen B.F. and
  Alexander C G. Stubb (eds.), Palgrave, 1998
• Schimmelfennig F. Liberal Intergovernmentalism
  (2004) in European Integration Theory. Wiener A.
  and Diez Th. (eds). Oxford.

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• Thank you!