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EU Reader SummaryChapter 1: Introduction
- EU=intergovernmental organization its made up of sovereign states but also has federal characteristics, EU
law is supreme over national law and it has its own Parliament and Central bank.
- EU consists of 28 member states
- European Coal and Steel Community was founded in 1952 and consisted of (France, Germany, Italy, Belgium,
Netherlands, and Luxembourg)
- Accession of Denmark, Ireland, and UK in 1973
- In 2004: 8 Eastern European countries joined
- In 2013: Croatia joined the EU
- Founders of ECSC regard European integration as political rather than economic project.
- The goal of this was to prevent another war breaking out between France and Germany as it would lead to
political integration and make the outbreak of war between Europe’s countries unthinkable.
- Over time Eu also increased in geographic size, scope and intensity through the signing and ratification by
member states of a number of key treaties.
- Continued economic integration within EU could only be achieved by making deals with which each and every
member state could agree.
Chapter 2: History of the EU
The 1950s and 1960s: the early period of European Integration
- During the period of 1870-1945, France and Germany came into military conflict with one another no less than 3
times.
- After WWII, Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet believed that the war could only be ended through political
integration they was started by a proposal of: place French and German coal and steel sectors under the
control of a supranational authority.
- Steel and Coal were crucial determinants of country’s military strength at that time.
- Besides France and Germany other countries were invited as well and that’s when ECSC was established.
- They abolished tariffs between each other and that led to huge increase in coal and steel trade between
members and lowered dependence on imports form the US.
- After few years, Coal and steel sectors decreased in military importance due to development of nuclear power
- Second: Benefits were seen by ECSC of economic cooperation that political leaders become sympathetic to
broader economic integration.
- The European Economic Community (EEC) has an objective for a creation of custom unions. The achieve this, the
treaty of Rome was established
- ECSC, EEC and Eurotom were merged as three European Communities in 1967
The 1970s and 1980s: from Eurosclerosis to Maastricht
- The main obstacle to further economic or political integration was thar EC required all member states to agree
with decisions, which became difficult
- Problem got worse when Denmark, UK and Ireland joined EC in 1973 as now there were 9 member states.
- An early attempt of monetary integration failed
- Even after tariffs were eliminated: member states were still using detailed national technical regulations and
standard to protect their domestic firms from foreign competition.
- Significant progress was made in 1986 when Single European Act was signed which introduced system of
majority voting.
- Objective of SEA: harmonizing technical regulations, removing capital controls, ensuring mutual recognition of
approval by nation regulatory agencies.
The 1990s to the present: Maastricht, Lisbon, and beyond
- The Maastricht Treaty formally established the RU and thereby created EU citizenship which gave right to
citizens of the member states to move and live in any other EU member state.
- Introduced a coordination mechanism for the foreign policy of its member states
- Increased powers of the European Parliament significantly and defined a timetable for establishment of an
economic and monetary union and European Central bank.
, - There was establishment of Common market, common currency, and central bank, EU citizenship, this
Maastricht treaty has also been politically controversial.
- Many Eurosceptics also believe that EU has a so-called democratic deficit, arguing that EU lacs democratic
legitimacy because EU legislation is typically agreed upon by national governments rather than national
parliaments.
- Treaty of Lisbon (2007) was signed to improve democratic accountability of EU. It strength position of European
parliament
- Democratic deficit of EU has still remained a contentious issue and is still a major source of Euroscepticism.
- In the process of European integration, periods of rapid progress alternated with episodes of stagnation
- In recent years, EU has come under Eurosceptics, and have current issues including democratic deficit, financial,
and macroeconomic stability in the Eurozone, and immigration.
Chapter 3: Institutions of the EU
European Council
- Most important institution of EU. Consists of democratically elected Heads of State or Government (prime
minster or president) of all member states.
- The function of European Council is to set general direction for the EU in the future. It discusses enlargement,
institutional reform, external relations as and urgent issues related to recent global financial crisis.
- Decisions (taken by consensus) taken by council has to be worked out by European Commissions.
- They meet four times a year in European Summits
European Commissions
- Can be seen as sort of European government, consists of 28 commissioners (one from every member state)
- Function of them is to make proposals for the EU legislation that are later sent to EU institutions for discussion.
- Second function: execution of EU decisions and guarding of its laws, such as enforcing EU competition policy and
it has the power to give large fines to firms which breaches EU competition law
- Commissions has exclusive authority to negotiate trade deals with other countries on behalf of the EU
- European Parliament have the power to fire the commission by the means of a vote of no confidence
- The power of European Commission is one of the reasons that the EU is accused of having a democratic deficit,
with Eurosceptic politicians complaining about EU laws being initiated by the “unelected bureaucrats)
Council of ministers (aka Council of European Union)
- Forum in which national governments discuss, modify and vote on EU legislation and policy.
- Consists of member states national ministers that are responsible for the policy area that is discussed.
- When piece of EU environmental legislation is discussed: national environment ministers = Council of ministers
- When EU’s foreign policy is discussed: national ministers = council
- The council explicitly represents the interests of the individual member states
- Any significant piece of EU legislation has to first be accepted by the councils before it can be enacted
However, decisions in Council of minsters don’t require consensus and are made through system called qualified
majority voting. Legislation is accepted if i) 55 percent of member states vote In favor of the proposal, ii) member states
voting in favor represent 65 percent of EU citizens.
- This is called double majority requirement which is to ensure that large countries are given a larger weight in the
voting procedure.
European Parliament
- The only EU institution where members are directly elected by EU citizens, so the parliament constitutes the
democratic backbone of the EU.
- Consist of 751 members called “Members of the European Parliament” and every five years elections for EP are
held. Candidates organize themselves into political groups (consists of large number of national political parties)
- 3 largest groups are European political party (EPP), Progressive Alliances of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), and
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats of Europe (ALDE)
- Main functions of EP are: i) voting on EU legislation, ii) control and supervision of European Commission, iii)
controlling EU’s budget.
- EP also has right to amend policy proposals and send them back to European commission’s/council of ministers
for deliberation.
- Representatives of EP also discuss policy ideas with EC before proposal is initiated by Commission.
- EP has quite some control over the formation and policy orientation of Commission
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