6 - Key Policies in the EU Flashcards
How the EU carries out its policies
through the power of law, rather than money
Legislation vs. execution
EU polices are formulated in Brussels but national governments have a monopoly of power in their actual execution
EU jurisdiction
Exclusive competencies = only the EU can act in these areas
Shared competencies with MS = MS can act only if the EU has chosen not to
MS competencies = EU can support
Principle of Subsidiarity
the decision can be taken at the lowest level possible
3 kinds of policies
market-building
market-correcting
market-cushioning
3 modes of policy making
- the community method: qualified majority voting and the ordinary legislative procedure
- the intergovernmental method - EP is not involved
- The Open Method of Coordination: a form of soft law, intergovernative, is not binding and does not require MS to make or amend laws
Community method
- sole right of European Commission to initiate legislation
- co-decision power between the Council and the EP
- use of QM voting in the Council
Intergovernmental Method
- the commission’s right to initiative is shared with EU countries or confined to specific areas of activity
- the Council acts unanimously
- the EP plays a purely consultative role
- the European Council plays a key role
Market Building Policies
liberalization and the creation of a single market which involves the four freedoms
Market Correcting Policies
compensate for the cost to particular groups imposed by the building of a single market and to limit inequality
Market Cushioning Policies
attempt to limit the potentially harmful effect of market on human beings and the environment
Market-Building Policy: Competition Policy
similar to anti-trust laws
Encouraging competition among firms and battling monopolistic practices
The commission is the main player
Trade policy
Treaty of Rome:
common market
single external tariff
Commission as negotiator
Treaty of Nice: committee as negotiator but MS decide the EU’s position, often conflict emerges between the two
Economic Monetary Policy (EMP)
a common currency created under the Maastricht Treaty
European Central Bank handles this, with main goals as price stability and anti-inflation
National governments can no longer control interest rates
Market Correcting Policies: CAP
original aim to increase agricultural production
Now it protects agriculture by controlling prices and levels of production and subsidizing rural life
benefits are distributed unequally to older MS more
Cohesion Policy
aims at reducing inequality among regions and at compensating governments of poor countries for the cost of economic integration
introduced with First Enlargement
every MS gets some
Market Cushioning Policies: Consumer Protection
regulation on product safety, hygiene standards, etc
created the Food Safety Agency
Environmental Protection
focus has enlarged to areas that are not market-related, such as protecting environmentally sensitive habitats
Europeanization Def
1) can derive from different stages of the policy process
2) more than a formal policy but also beliefs, values, and norms
3) about the impact on the MS: adoption at the EU level and incorporation at domestic level
Positive integration
an active supranational policy
EU has negotiated a policy template which has to be downloaded in the MS
Negative integration
the removal of national barriers to create a common policy
