This document is a PDF file that provides information on the member states of the European Union, their relationship with EU institutions, and the factors that influence their relative powers. It covers topics such as the history of EU membership, the economic and demographic factors that impact me...
European Union Politics Book by John McCormick - Chapter 9 : The
member states
● ↗ debates about the nature relationship between EU institutions and member states
since expansion membership of the EU
Key points
● The member states of the EU occupy an unusual place in international law; while they
are sovereign states, they have also pooled much authority within the EU.
● Guidance on the relative powers of the member states and the EU institutions can be
found in the treaties, common policies and the body of EU law, but in all three cases
there are ambiguities.
● The influence of the EU member states is partly a function of how long they have been
members, the size and wealth of their national economies, their population size and
their attitudes towards the process of integration.
● Where once the process of applying to join the EU was relatively simple, it has become
more demanding and complex as the reach and effect of integration has expanded.
● The Copenhagen conditions require that an aspirant member state should be
democratic, a free-market economy, and willing to adopt the existing body of EU laws
and policies and adapt its administrative structures to fit with the needs of integration.
● Candidate countries currently include Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and
Turkey. Countries that face the most challenging barriers to EU membership include
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Moldova.
⚠️ Has changed since the war in Ukraine ⚠️
I. The legal position of the member states
Every year = G7 (Groupe of 7) = meeting of the heads of governments of the 7 major industrilazed
economies :
1. Canada
2. Germany
3. France
4. Italy
5. Japan
6. United Kingdom
7. United States
, 8. (Russia suspended in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea)
9 people = also the president of the European Commission and the president of the European
Council
Anomalies : no seat at the UN for the EU BUT members of the EU have developed common
positions on most topics under discussions and vote as a group
In the WTO (World Trade Organization) : EU member states have their seats + a seat for the EU in
its own right + European Commission represents the voices of the member states collectively
(common trade policy)
Member states of the EU =
● sovereign actors in the international system (governments, populations, legitimacy,
territory, sovereignty)
● BUT they have transferred authority so not accurate to see them as independent actors
⇒ free to take unilateral action on many issues, have separate votes in the European Council +
Council of Ministers
⇒ BUT in many areas of law and policy they are subject to the common rule of the EU
⇒ AND they have not built the kind of legal and political ties that make them members of a
European superstate ⇒ possible to leave
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