Weblecture 6 – Introduction to international and European union law
Origins and Foundations of the European Union:
Facts and figures:
27 Member States.
447.7 million inhabitants.
24 official languages.
18.292 trillion $ GDP.
19 Member States have one common currency (Euro).
Where do we come from? There was a lot of war and the European people couldn’t get to agreements and
only looked at who was the strongest.
Peacekeeping: the Zurich Speech by Winston Churchill in 1946: yet all the while there is a remedy which, if
it were generally and spontaneously adopted by the great majority of people in many lands, would as if by
a miracle transform the whole scene, and would in a few years make all Europe, or the greater part of it, as
free and as happy as Switzerland is today. What is sovereign remedy? It is to recreate the European Family,
or as much of it as we can, and to provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace, in safety
and in freedom. We must build a kind of United States of Europe.
Peacekeeping: The Schuman Plan:
Problem after Second World War: Coal and steel deposits in the Saarland and the Ruhr area.
Remembering Rurhkampf 1923.
Finishing the spiral of revenge.
Solution: Schuman Declaration on 9th may 1950.
Schuman Declaration:
Pooling of strategic goods for recovery as well as for war economy: Coal and steel.
Common administration by a high authority.
Task is the fusion of markets and the expansion of production.
Economic integration as basis for keeping peace in Europe.
Europe will not be made at once, but requires de-facto-solidarity.
Failure of a Political Union:
Draft treaties following the Schuman Declaration:
1951: European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC): entry into force in 1952.
1952: European Defense Community (EDC).
1952: European Political Community (EPC).
1954: Failure of EDC in French Assemblée Nationale.
Failure of EDC and of EPC is equivalent to the failure of an integration of nation states.
What is the alternative?
Alternative: integration of citizens.
Conclusions:
Integration of individuals instead of states:
State citizens (assigned to the nation state) shall become market citizens (assigned to the internal
market).
Political integration as a necessary consequence of the economic integration of individuals.
Instrument: integrating markets:
Easy to establish since markets are built on freedoms.
Advantageous for the participating states.
Crucial conditions:
Existence of rights conferred upon individuals.
Protection of rights conferred upon individuals.
Union Institutions:
Who are the actors in the EU decision-making?
European Parliament, article 14 TEU.
Council of the EU, article 16 TEU.
Who are the actors – legitimation, art. 10 TEU:
European Parliament, art. 14 TEU, art. 223-234 TFEU:
Composition:
Maximum 751 Members of Parliament:
Currently: 705 MEPs (because of Brexit).
, National delegations: from 96 (Germany) to 6 (Malta).
Representatives of the Union’s citizens, art. 14(2):
Number of MEPs is not proportionate to population size.
Problem of degressive proportionality:
Malta: 1 MEP per 68.883 citizens > France: 1 MEP per 874.514 citizens.
Securing plurality of national parties.
Principle of equality of citizens.
Principle of equality of states.
Elections shall be by direct universal suffrage, secret and free:
Term is 5 years.
President and 14 vice-presidents for 2.5 years.
Powers:
Legislative and budgetary functions.
Voting on all COM legislative initiatives.
Request the COM to submit legislative proposals.
Political control:
Committee of inquiry.
Motion of censure against Commission as a body.
European Ombudsman.
Council, art. 16 TEU, art. 237-243 TFEU:
Composition:
Representatives at ministerial level.
Presidency:
Principle: group of 3 Member states for a period of 18 months (turning chair for a period of 6
months).
Foreign Affairs Council (FAC): High representative.
Groups are made up on a basis of equal rotation.
COREPER (Committee of Permanent Representatives):
Representatives of MS.
Adoption of procedural decisions (not substantive).
Examination of COM draft legislative proposals.
Powers:
Legislative and budgetary functions.
Voting on all COM legislative initiatives.
Request the COM to submit legislative proposals, art. 241 TFEU.
Conclusion of international agreements, art. 218 TFEU.
Taking decisions for defining and implementing the CSFP in the light of the guidelines of the
European Council.
Voting:
Qualified majority (default option: article 16(3) TEU):
(1) 55% of MS (15/27) and (2) 65% of population of the EU.
Unanimity not.
European Commission, art. 17 TEU, art. 244-250 TFEU:
Composition:
President of the Commission (Ursula von der Leyen):
European Council puts forward to the EP a candidate, taking account of the elections of the
EP.
European Parliament elects by majority.
If no election: European Council has to put forward a new candidate within 1 month.
De-facto direct election by the Union citizens.
College of Commissioners:
Until 31 october 2014: 28 Commissioners (1 per MS).
From 1 november 2014: representing 2/3 of MS (18).
European Council can modify the number unanimously.
European Council adopts a list with Commissioners.
Vote of approval by the EP.
4 vice-presidents (one of the is the high representative).
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