Political Structures And Processes Of The European Union
Institution
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
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Political Structures And Processes Of The European Union
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POLITICAL STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
HOC 1 05/10/2021 INTRODUCTORY SESSION
About PSPEU
- Aim: introduction to the functioning of the EU
- Covering history, institutions & policy-making processes
- Blended learning → Combining live online sessions, IRL group discussions & self-study; all Canvas-
enabled
Why opt for the blended approach?
o A global pandemic: we are experiencing history & human tragedy → yes, things are a bit
messy
o Teaching ‘focused content sessions’ online: most robust solution for educational
continuity
o In-person group discussions: countering the social erosion we all experience
o Make the best of present uncertainty and pursue maximum flexibility for all
- Course team: prof dr Alexander Mattelaer & TA Christil Asamoah
Course overview (zie les voor extra uitleg)
Datum Uur Locatie Onderwerp
1 12/10/2021 18-20 Online Introductory session
2 12/10/2021 16-18 Online Digital focused content sessions
A short history of European integration
3 19/10/2021 16-18 Online Digital focused content sessions
A Union of Member States (Council & EUCO)
4 26/10/2021 16-18 VUB Q.D. Group discussion
Foreign policy
5 09/11/2021 16-18 Online Digital focused content sessions
A Union of Supranational Institutions (COM & EP)
6 16/11/2021 16-18 VUB Q.D. Group discussion
Law-making for the single market
7 23/11/2021 16-18 VUB Q.D. Digital focused content sessions
A Union founded on the rule of law (CJEU, ECA and the
Courts)
8 30/11/2021 16-18 VUB Q.D. Group discussion
European identities
9 07/12/2021 16-18 Online Digital focused content sessions
An Economic and Monetary Union (ECB)
10 14/12/2021 16-18 VUB Q.D. Group discussion
Macroeconomic policy
11 21/12/2021 16-18 VUB Q.D. Guest lecture by BE PermRep Amb Willem Van de Voorde
& wrap-up
,What to expect from the different ‘blended components’?
- Focused content sessions → cram the maximum of essential knowledge into digital 2h sessions
(with recordings available for study purposes)
- Group discussions on campus
o Emphasis on social interaction
o Aim to attend at least one discussion session (registration)
o Meant to illustrate & expand upon the content covered in the online sessions
o Complemented by online resources (preparation & self-study)
o Exact format TBC via Canvas announcement
- Closing session: guest lecture plus exam recap
- If possible: extracurricular visit to EU institutions (#WeKonekt week)
Course evaluation
100% written exam, format: closed book, written exam
- TEN multiple choice questions (testing knowledge) → No ‘guess correction’ penalties
- ONE essay question to which you respond by writing a one-page analysis (testing writing and
argumentation skills, on top of knowledge)
Both parts account for half the weight of the overall grade (i.e. MCQ = 1 pteach, essay = 10 pts)
Last HOC: full review of previous exams
Study resources
- Compulsory course materials (available from Canvas)
o All online sessions (slides & recordings) → compile your own notes
o Self-study PDF readings & video links
- Extra study resources
o Consolidated versions of the treaties (TEU & TFEU)
o Additional links provided in slides and/or via Canvas
o EU affairs news: quality media & specialised outlets (e.g. www.euractiv.com)
o European studies journals availlable from VUB library (esp JCMS, JEPP, JEI)
- Optional handbook: Neill Nugent, The Government and Politics of the European Union
(Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, 8th ed., €39.99). By no means essential.
Some housekeeping rules
- Preparation is key (up-to-date with Canvas, readings, EU affairs news...)
- Respect your fellow students → mute microphones unless speaking etc
- Ask your questions in class, or via Canvas (rather than email)
- Group discussions require teamplay & preparation
- Combine self-study with interaction (cf. recordings & engagement)
- Prepping & passing the exam =your responsibility
- Knowledge management requires facts, analysis & opinion
,Why study European integration?
Theoretical argument:
Welcome to multi-level
governance:
EU level above the state, yet
unlike other International
Organizations (sui generis)
Powerful historical argument why it makes sense to study European integration:
European Integration = the central historical phenomenon of postwar Europe (European History post 1945)
Because if you zoom out, European history before 1945 is characterized by armed conflicts, violence… The
European landmass is somewhat the most violent place on earth in general UP TO mid 20th Century, when
European politics take a turn in a different direction. This doesn’t mean that there were no conflicts or
tensions or competition, but after the two World Wars, archenemies started dealing with each other on a
different footing is pretty remarkable.
Photo: On September 25, 1984,
70 years after the start of the
First World War, German
Chancellor Helmut Kohl met the
French president François
Mitterand at the Douaumont
cemetery in Verdun
Clever endeavor EU rooting.
,Arguments from recent history:
From one ‘crisis’ to the next
- 2009 Sovereign debt crisis & the Euro
- 2014 Ukraine crisis & relations w Russia
- 2015 Migration crisis
- 2016 Brexit
- 2019 Climate emergency
- 2020 COVID-19 emergency
More often than not, the EU-level plays a key role in generating policy (re)actions -based on EU
competences & MS coordination
In crisis, political contestation is never far away
- Taxation, poverty and the redistribution of wealth
- Citizenship and identity issues: belonging to political communities
- Political values: freedom, democracy, sovereignty, rule of law, pluralism etc
→ The essence: sorting out European politics by means of constant negotiations and common institutions
Self-study resources (links on Canvas)
- Article: Monnet, J. (1963) A Ferment of Change, Journal of Common Market Studies, 1 (3), pp. 203-
211.
- An entertaining video: CGP Grey, The European Union Explained*, Youtube2013 (i.e. slightly out of
date due to Brexit)
- Background references: the consolidated Treaties (TEU & TFEU). If in doubt about the EU, consult
the Treaties!
, POLITICAL STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
HOC 2 12/10/2021 A SHORT HISTORY OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
What is history of European integration?
= European history of 20th Century & Beyond
It starts quite early in the 20th Century (World Wars) because it is quite impossible to understand what
happened in the second half of the 20th Century if you ignore what happened before
Ultimately about ‘high politics’ amongst European capitals
Security cooperation
Economic integration
Early seeds, treaties & bargaining are key
- Key message of this lecture: much of how the EU works institutionally really has its deep origins
in the very beginning, which is why it makes sense to focus on the early years in particular.
- Secondly, we need to pay attention to the treaties.
- Thirdly, we need to pay attention to the constant bargaining.
, If we zoom out, we can see that the EU
started as a story that involved only a handful
of countries; 6 member states founded
together the EU: Belgium, Netherlands,
Luxemburg, France, Germany (Federal
Republic of Germany) and Italy.
A story of expanding an economic and
political model from the original founding 6
member states to what became ultimately
28, now due to the Brexit back to 27.
6 – 9 – 10 – 12 – 15 – 25 – 27 – 28 – 27
The integration has been contested,
triggering all sorts of political controversy.
Signs of partial disintegration:
- French ‘empty chair’ crisis in 1965-66
- Brexit 2016 referendum → 2020 UK withdrawal
- ‘Rule of law’ debate → concerns about Polexit
KEY POINT The broad sweep about European Integration is about EXPANDING the membership. But
the contestation of European membership has been there right from the beginning and is very much
a subject of political debate.
, Some founding fathers
- Robert Schuman: the single most important founding father of the EU, French foreign minister,
wanted to make a deal between Germany and France to make future wars impossible.
- Konrad Adenauer: became the first post-war German chancellor and pursued a course of
orienting West-Germany towards its Western partners. German foreign policy became the
concept of Westbindung.
Geographical connection: Schuman was French foreign minister and grew up close to
Luxemburg in a part that has been contested often between Germany and France & Adenauer
was the former major of Cologne and thus looking Westwards.
- Jean Monnet: top level French politician, top level French civil servant, put forward the big
ideas of European Integration at the time.
- Paul-Henri Spaak: Belgian politician, key contribution as foreign minister: leader in the
formation of the institutions that evolved in the EU
- George Marshall: USA chief of staff of President Roosevelt, key military figure in Washington
DC during the war, afterwards he became Secretary of State of USA. He saw the destruction
that the World Wars had caused
- and many others: Winston Churchill UK, Alcide De Gasperi ITALY…
These people were already quite advanced in their careers at that time.
They went through the early decades of the 20th century.
They experienced two major World Wars, they looked with extreme urgency for ways for preventing
this from happening again.
KEY POINT The story of constructing the European project starts with a whole generation of individuals
who are deeply scared by war time experience and influenced in their thinking by what the wars had
shown (they saw the destruction from very close). They wanted to do things differently, which means
they wanted to do things more TOGETHER: cooperation instead of conflict.
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