The politics of the European Union (second edition)
By Herman Lelieveldt and Sebastiaan Princen
Inhoud
Chapter 1: the historical development of the EU ............................................................................. 2
Chapter 2: Analysing the EU........................................................................................................... 6
Chapter 3: The institutional framework .........................................................................................11
Chapter 4: Legislation and decision-making: putting the institutional puzzle together ......................17
Chapter 5: Public opinion and political participation ......................................................................23
Chapter 6: Interest groups and interest representation ..................................................................26
Chapter 7: Political parties and the European Parliament ...............................................................30
Chapter 8: An overview of EU policy-making..................................................................................35
Chapter 9: Agenda-Setting............................................................................................................40
Chapter 10: Decision-making ........................................................................................................44
Chapter 11: Implementing policies ................................................................................................47
Chapter 12: Reflecting on the EU as a political system ....................................................................50
,Chapter 1: the historical development of the EU
The following questions are going to be examined in Chapter 1
- What was the historical background to several initiatives for international cooperation after the
Second World War
- What made the European Coal and Steel Community so important for European integration
- What have been the major developments in the process of European integration when looking at the
evolution of its policies, institutions and membership over the decades
- What does the history of European integration teach us about studying politics today?
The origins of European integration
The institutional roots of the EU lie in the years following WW2. Europe was shattered, and not for the first
time!
- Philosophers like Rousseau, Bentham and Kant had already concerned themselves with this problem
and come up with proposals for some type of federation of states in order to guarantee peace and
avoid war none of these ever materialized.
- In 1946, Winston Churchill held his famous speech. He proposed to recreate the European family in a
regional structure called the United States of Europe. He urged France and Germany.
But, in the new Europe (after WW2) there was a division between two spheres of influence. On the one hand
the Soviet Union and on the other hand America. Hence, America was supportive of many of the initiatives that
were launched to foster cooperation:
- Military cooperation Western European Union (WEU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO)
- Political cooperation Council of Europe
- Economic cooperation the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), the Benelux
and the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)
The legacy of the two world wars made any form of cooperation involving Germany and France difficult.
- The most delicate and pressing issue was the German question- Germany’s large coal resources in the
Ruhr area were pivotal for Europe’s recovery and for the French steel industry in particular.
On 9 may 1950 the French minister Robert Schumann did a declaration that is nowadays considered to be the
EU’s founding moment. Two things in the speech merit attention:
1. The plan was innovative because it proposed the institution of an impartial body: The High Authority
that would be empowered to monitor and execute the agreement between the member states. This
feature would give the ECSC the characteristics of a supranational organization. The supranational
formula differentiated the organization from all the other organizations which had been set up so far:
these had been intergovernmental organizations.
2. A second important feature of the plan was its limited scope. Cooperation would start on a small basis
by first trying to manage the common market for coal and steel. It was a deliberate decision to do this,
because it was absolutely clear that the time was not ripe yet for a fully-fledged federal state.
Supranational organizations: Organizations in which countries pool their sovereignty on certain matters to
allow joint decision-making
Intergovernmental organizations: Organizations in which member states work together on policies of common
concern but retain their full sovereignty
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,Schumann’s plan needed to turned into a treaty between the countries that wanted to take part:
France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy.
On 18 April 1951 the six countries signed the Treaty of Paris which formal established the European Coal and
Steel Community
The four main institutions:
- A Council of Ministers
- A High Authority
- A Court of Justice
- A Common Assembly
A brief historical survey of European integration
The 50’s: from one to three communities
After the 6 member states had ratified the treaty of Paris, the ECSC started operation in July 1952, with Jean
Monnet as the first president of the High Authority.
Ratification: Procedure through which a member state formally commits itself to a treaty, in most countries via
a majority vote by its parliament.
The three communities:
1. The European Coal and Steel community.
2. The European Atomic Energy Community (Eurotom): would strive for the development of nuclear
energy, and
3. The European Economic Community (EEC) would focus on establishing the free movement of goods,
services, workers and capital
between the member states.
The 60’s: progress and setbacks
Of the three communities the EEC turned out to be the most energetic: Progress on the elimination of customs
duties (tariffs, charges levied on imports or exports) was ahead of schedule and the Commission managed to
complete this three years earlies than planned.
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, Three other developments signalled the EEC’s success in cooperating on economic front:
1. The Yaoundé agreement, a preferential trade agreement (countries agree on lowering the tariffs they
charge on importing goods) with the former colonies.
2. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the negotiating framework for liberalizing trade
in the world.
3. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), established a system of guaranteed minimum prices for specific
agricultural products.
The 60s were also marked by 2 key rulings of the Court of Justice:
1. Individuals could invoke European legislation directly (direct effect)
2. European legislation assumed precedence over national legislation (supremacy)
The 70’s: moving out of gridlock, slowly
The early years of the 70’s were difficult, not least because of the economic crisis.
- The economic setbacks seemed to generate a retreat from European cooperation with member states
unwilling to move ahead with integrative steps.
In the end of the 70’s the pessimism gave way to renewed confidence
- A couple of small developments would provide the foundation for more significant integrative steps in
the decades to come:
o The Treaty of Luxembourg was signed
o The UK, Ireland and Denmark joined
o The European Council was developed
The 80’s: moves towards a single market
Customs duties might have been abolished, but there were so many other barriers that a truly single marked
did not exist yet.
- A new commission took office, which made the single market one of its key ambitions.
- In 1986 the Single European Act (SEA) was signed.
The 90’s: The road towards European Union
The project of completing the single market proved to be successful and led to renewed attention to achieving
further integration in the fields of economic and monetary policies.
- The treaty of Maastricht broadened the areas that would be part of Community policies, including a
timetable to introduce a single currency, the Euro.
- The UK and Denmark negotiated opt-outs and hence were enabled to keep their own currency
Opt-outs: specific exceptions that are granted to a member state when it is unwilling or unable to fully accept
all provisions of a treaty law.
Ordinary legislative procedure: decision-making procedure that is most commonly used in the EU for adopting
legislation, giving equal powers to the European Parliament and the Council.
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