Lecture notes
Samenvatting Geography, Planning and the European Union
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Lecture 1/2 - 08/02/2023An introduction to the European Union
One of the hardest continents to define is Eurasia, especially the boundaries between Europe
and Asia which can be really arbitrary and complicated. So the borders of Europe may seem
clear, yet if you dive into it they can be really fuzzy (geographically and culturally). Can Russia
or Belarus become a member of the EU if they get rid of dictatorship? And then again we
respond differently when we talk about Morocco or Greenland joining the EU. You can think
about what is Europe and what is not in different ways.
A short history lesson
The German problem : Historical occurrence, that when the powers that control Germany start
to unite, there is a tendency that this will dominate the whole of Europe. Other parts then
respond to make it less powerful. There have been several attempts to unify. One of the first
was in 1648 during the Holy Roman Empire when the Treaty of Westphalia was signed = it
established the principle of non-interference in internal affairs. This laid the basis of a nation
state and is still being called upon. This does become slowly infeasible with our world becoming
more globalized. At some point there was the Napoleonic Empire (1815). When people started
to be worried the moment he started to occupy the central part of Europe he would dominate
and that he controlled the German excess. At the end there was the Congress of Vienna (1815)
where it was discussed that they would never again want one power to have control over that
central part of Europe. They tried to distribute different parts to different nations, the idea was
that every territory had people that were homogenous. That failed because populations are too
diverse to separate territories. Later on you had the German confederation, where Prussia
started to ally with other kingdoms and became a powerful center. This led to the construction of
the German Empire which came to an end with the first world war and the Treaty of Versailles in
1919 = idea was that Germany had to be cut down and be controlled, they were being
constrained in their borders and payments. Then after you have the Weimar Republic with a
humiliated Germany and resentment, which makes a recipe for disaster. In response the rise of
the Third Empire where Germany quickly restores her strength and a new attempt to take over
Europe. Again there were consequences leading to the division of Germany (parts were given
away), but also of Europe with the iron curtain during the Cold War. How do we prevent one
powerful nation at the heart of Europe?
Instead of taking resources away, what if we organize Europe economically in such a way that
one member state cannot exclude the other countries from the resources in their countries,
opening and integrating the market. Putting down regulations excess, to democratic excess >
The European Coal & Steel Community (1951) with assemblies and a court of justice. It is the
blueprint for the EU. The origin of what later became the start of the EU was an international
agreement between six member states, when they decided together to draw up a list of
agreements which they signed. Sometimes it gets interpreted as losing sovereignty, but they
didn’t have to sign it. Each country is allowed to step out, but as long as you are in, you have to
, play by the rules. The guiding principle was no more war and to prevent it from happening. From
there on, things start moving.
This collaboration started on coal and steel, but what about other sectors? The idea of
collaboration started to be explored in more areas. This resulted in 1957 in the Treaty of Rome,
it is the source of some of the core ideas, an ever closer union. Idea is if we have one market
where we can trade and have commercial relations over borders, we will limit the possibility of
war. The European Economic Community expands and you see a spawning of all kinds of
institutions. Every time a new one appears, it often replaces institutions on a national level,
because it now happens on an European scale. Twice the UK tries to enter and twice France
blocks their application, when they entered it was the UK who sometimes put the break on
integration. Now that they have left, what will Denmark and Ireland do? Since the UK is their
biggest trading partner. In 1975 a first attempt of social policy and the regional development
fund was introduced. In 1987 the Single European Act was signed and the EEC got a legal
basis. The building of legal institutions is slow, but once it starts it is almost impossible to
reverse. In 1991 the idea that Europe can be united with a prosperous future ahead > the EEC
became the EU. The Treaty of Maastricht was signed, which was seen as the umbrella of all
previous treaties. Some countries decided to only stay part of EEC, but not sign the treaty and
not become part of the EU (Iceland f.e.). The treaty starts also now thinking about political and
social parts, it initiates the monetary union (1999). Every country that joins after the treaty needs
to implement the Euro eventually. The EU keeps on enlarging and there are constantly
adjustments of the treaties with new ones emerging. The Copenhagen Criteria in 2002 stated
the criteria for joining the union, but since then every country that joined didn’t fit the criteria but
had an exception due to political reasons. The Treaty of Lisbon (2009) was the last one signed.
The same year when the spirit of optimism died, afterwards with the crisis aboard it became
politically hard for all countries to sign.
Institutions
European Council = are the heads of state or government of the EU countries (Mark Rutte).
They don’t have law making abilities, they are a guidance body.
The Council of the EU = represents the governments, national ministers from each government
meet to adopt laws and coordinate policies (depending on the topic). They are with the
parliament the main legislation part.
European Commission = represents the common interests of the EU and is the EU’s main
executive body. Are the guardians of the treaties, one counselor per member states. Can be
compared to a national government, people by the member states that carry out the practice,
how to best put ideas into law before putting it to the parliament.
European Parliament = members get elected directly by citizens of the EU. It has to approve
any regulations, any law that has been set up by the commission. They approve the new
European commission.
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