development of European governance and extension of the ‘European Union’ Flashcards
1
Q
Origins
A
- This idea of a union of Western European nations grew from a desire to replace former nationalist rivalries with a culture of pan-European economic and political cooperation
- Thus easing tension in the aftermath of WW2
- At the end of WW2, several Western European countries sought closer economic, social and political ties to achieve economic growth and military security
- It was hoped that by promoting a lasting reconciliation between France and Germany it would reduce the potential for war
- Jean Monnet, French diplomat and political economist, together with Robert Schuman (French foreign minister), proposed the establishment of a common European market for coal and steel (this idea was also known as the ‘Schuman declaration’/’Schuman plan’/’Monnet vision’)
- Monnet believed that such a community should be provided with a parliamentary assembly and a court and that there should be a council of ministers of the member states
2
Q
1948 – OEEC Organisation for European Economic Cooperation
A
- Created to help administer the Marshall Plan
3
Q
1951 – Treaty of Paris
A
- Signed by the six original members: Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, France, West Germany, Italy
- Agreed to create a common market for coal and steel
4
Q
1952 – European Coal and Steel Community
A
- This took effect in July 1952
- The ECSC created a free-trade area for several key economic and military resources
- To manage the ECSC the treaty established several supranational institutions:
o High Authority
o Council of Ministers (renamed Council of the EU)
o Common Assembly (renamed European Parliament)
o Court of Justice - Monnet became the first President of the High Authority of the ECSC from 1952 to 1955
- In the 1950s confidence in the Community as a framework for peaceful relations among the member states had grown and there was a powerful political impulse to ‘relaunch’ its development
- The ECSC inspired the creation of the EEC or common market in 1957
o The United Kingdom had been invited to join but the government of Clement Attlee declined membership due to a desire to maintain economic independence and the feeling that it was too ‘federal’ for British participation
5
Q
1957 – Treaty of Rome
A
- The six ECSC members signed two treaties
o One established the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom)
This was designed to facilitate cooperation in atomic energy development, research and utilization
o The other formed the European Economic Community (EEC) - The treaties of Rome, in force in 1958 were a big building block in a long and complicated process that has constructed the present European Union
6
Q
1958 – EEC (European Economic Community)
A
- Created the ‘common market’ which was the economic union of Western European nations which was founded under the Treaty of Rome
- It featured the elimination of most barriers to the movement of goods, services, capital, labour, the prohibition of most public policies or private agreements that prohibit market competition, a common agricultural policy and a common external trade policy
- It fundamentally reformed tariff and trade policy by abolishing all internal tariffs by July 1968
- The treaty called for:
o Governments to eliminate national regulations favouring domestic industries and cooperate in areas in which they traditionally had acted independently
o Common rules on anticompetitive and monopolistic behaviour and for common inland transportation and regulatory standards - The EEC established four major governing institutions:
o A commission
o A ministerial council
o An assembly
o A court - In 1965 the members signed the Brussels Treaty which merged the commissions of the EEC and Euratom and the High Authority of the ECSC into a single commission
- It also combined the councils of the three organisations into a common Council of Ministers
- The Common Assembly was renamed the European Parliament in 1962
- The ECC enjoyed notable economic success in the 1960s with growth averaging some 5% a year (twice as fast as in Britain and the US)
7
Q
Problems in the 1960s
A
- There was conflict between the emergent federal community, as conceived by Monnet or Hallstein, and De Gaulle’s fundamentalist commitment to the nation-state
- De Gaulle did not like the federal elements and aspirations of the community
- He was determined to use the community as a means to advance French power
o E.g.
By sidelining Euratom in order to keep the French atomic sector national
1963 veto to enlarge the community
8
Q
1962 - Common Agricultural Policy
A
- The six original members vowed that hunger and starvation experienced in post war Europe would not happen again
- The CAP was the EU’s first and for many years, only fully integrated policy
- It was created to ensure food supplies for Europe (food security) and provide a fair income for European farmers
- Price support schemes such as guaranteed prices became a main means of supporting European famers, but this led to overproduction and in the 1980s and 1980s reforms were made to limit production (including moving toward direct subsidies)
- The CAP had from the outset been a key French interest de Gaulle was determined to have it established without undue delay
- It was to be based on public support requiring substantial public expenditure
- Both France and the Commission agreed that this should come from the budget of the community, not the member states
- The Commission insisted that the budget spending must be subject to parliamentary control and it would have to be done by the European Parliament
- De Gaulle was not satisfied and responded by forbidding his ministers from attending meetings of the Council throughout the second half of 1965
- This was resolved by the ‘Luxembourg Compromise’ where de facto veto power was given to every state on topics that were deemed to be ‘very important national interests’
- In the mid 1908s, however, majority voting began to be practised in the context of the single market programme, and has now become the standard procedure applicable to most legislative decisions
- With de Gaulle’s resignation in 1969, French policy became more pragmatic
- The new French President Georges Pompidou was more inclined to cooperate and allow enlargement of the European communities (and cooperation with USA)
9
Q
1979 – European Monetary System
A
- The EMS was a system of exchange rate stabilisation (together with the Exchange Rate Mechanism)
- The Exchange Rate Mechanism was one of the foundation stones of economic and monetary union and was established to manage exchange rates effectively
- It gave currencies a central exchange rate against the European currency unit – that, in turn, gave them central cross-rates against one another
- It was hoped that the mechanism would help stabilise exchange rates, encourage trade within Europe and control inflation
- The ERM gave national currencies an upper and lower limit on either side of this central rate within which they could fluctuate
- In 1992 the ERM was wrenched apart when a number of currencies could no longer keep within these limits
- On what became known as Black Wednesday, the British pound was forced to leave the system (UK Exchange Rate Mechanism Crisis) – the Italian lira also left and the Spanish peseta was devaluated
- A currency’s ability to stay within its margins became one of the convergence criteria deciding its suitability to join the single currency and complete monetary union
- As economic and monetary union developed, it formed the basis for the development of the Euro, the EU’s single currency
10
Q
Working towards ‘single market’
A
- Jacques Delors was the President of the Commission in January 1985 and a federalist in Monnet’s tradition
He wanted single market, single currency, common defence policy and institutional reform - Margaret Thatcher (British PM) was hostile to currency, defence and institutional projects but wanted the single market
- The successful abolition of tariffs on internal trade had demonstrated the value of a programme with a timetable
- The Commission produced a list of some 300 measures to be enacted by the end of 1992 in order to complete the single market by removing the non-tariff barriers
11
Q
1986 – Single European Act
A
- The SEA came about after the European Council decided to convene an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on treaty amendment
- Entered into force 1 July 1987 it provided for the completion of the single market by 1992
- The SEA significantly expanded the EEC’s scope:
o It gave the community competences in the fields of the environment, technological research and development, social policies relating to employment, and ‘cohesion’ and brought foreign policy cooperation into its architecture - The SEA also provided for qualified majority voting in a number of areas of single market legislation and strengthened the European Parliament
- The SEA strengthened both the EEC’s powers and its institutions, with influence from a combination of governments, economic interests, social concerns, the Commission, the Parliament, and a variety of federalist forces
- More generally the SEA set out a timetable for the completion of a single market and committed all members to remove all remaining barriers to a single market
- The prospect of the single market helped to revive the economy and the community institutions gained in strength as they dealt with the vast programme of legislation
- Following his success with the single market Delors was determined to pursue the project of the single currency
- The SEA was succeeded by the Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon Treaties
12
Q
1992 – Maastricht Treaty
A
- Formally known as the Treaty on European Union (TEU)
- The Treaty was designed to enhance European political and economic integration by creating a single currency, a unified foreign and security policy, and common citizenship rights and by advancing cooperation in the areas of immigration, asylum, and judicial affairs
- It created the European Union (which was made up of three pillars)
o 1) Economic Community (it changed the name of the EEC to the European Community and gave the EC broader authority)
o 2) Common Foreign and Security Policy
o 3) Cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs (renamed in the Amsterdam Treaty as ‘Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters) - It also established the EU citizenship which entailed the right of EU citizens to vote and to run for office in local and European Parliament elections in their country of residence, regardless of national citizenship
- The treaty specified an agenda for incorporating monetary policy and formalised planning that had begun in the late 1980s to replace national currencies with a common currency
- John Major (British PM who succeeded Margaret Thatcher) insisted the Britain would participate neither in the single currency nor in a ‘social chapter’ on matters relating to employment
- In order to secure agreement on the treaty as a whole, it was accepted that Britain could opt out of both (subsequently new PM Tony Blair adopted the social chapter but Britain continued to opt out of the euro)
13
Q
1993 – European Union
A
- Took effect on 1 November 1993
- It has five declared objectives:
o To promote economic and social progress
o To assert the identity of the European Union on the international scene
o To introduce European citizenship
o To develop an area of freedom, security and justice
o To maintain and build on established EU law - The structure of the EU is made up of the three pillars set out in Maastricht Treaty – the first pillar is managed by the institutions of the EU, while the second and third work through inter-governmental co-operation
- Economic Community
o The first pillar is responsible for the single market and freedom of movement across borders. It also looks after economic and monetary union and issues such as agriculture, environment and competition
o In this pillar, unlike the other two, member states have given up some of their sovereignty and EU institutions can act independently of the national governments - Common Foreign and Security Policy
o In the second pillar, member states aim to hold common positions and take joint action on foreign and security affairs - Cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs
o The objective of the Justice and Home Affairs pillar is to integrate member states’ policies on asylum and immigration, customs, drugs and crime
14
Q
policies on asylum and immigration, customs, drugs and crime
“Four Freedoms” of the EU
A
- These underpin and are part of the treaties of the EU:
- Freedom of movement of people/workers - gives right to EU migrants to work in any member state
- Freedom of movement of goods - elimination of customs duties and other trade barriers
- Freedom of movement of capital/money - banning of restrictions on capital movements and payments between member states
- Freedom of movement of services - allows EU companies to establish services in other EU countries and provide services in other countries
15
Q
1995 Schengen Agreement (signed in 1985)
A
- Signifies a zone where 26 different European nations, acknowledged the abolishment of their internal borders with other member nations and outside, for the free and unrestricted movement of people, goods, services, and capital, in harmony with common rules for controlling external borders and fighting criminality by strengthening common judicial system and police cooperation
- Through Schengen Area, borders between European countries are only existent on maps, as to over 400 million nationals of 26 member countries the freedom of traveling passport check and border control free within and outside the area is guaranteed, as within a single country, since every country share the common travel and movement rights
