enlargement of the eu

Question 1

Legal basis for enlargement

Answer 1

▪Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union (Treaty of Lisbon — TEU) establishes which states may apply;

▪Article 2 TEU describes the EU’s founding values.

Question 2

Objectives of enlargement

Answer 2

The EU’s enlargement policy aims to unite European countries in a common political and economic project. Guided by the Union’s values and subject to strict conditions, enlargement has proved to be one of the most successful tools in promoting political, economic and societal reforms, and in consolidating peace, stability and democracy across the continent. Enlargement policy also enhances the EU’s presence on the global stage.

Question 3

constitutional changes made in preparation of enlargement

Answer 3

▪Fundamental values clause:
EU > Liberty, Rule of law, Democracy, Fundamental freedoms etc
>Treaty of Amsterdam

▪Suspension clause:
Breach of fundamental values clause by EU member state will result in sanctions e.g. removing legislative powers

▪Enlargement has driven the constitutional development of the EU

Question 4

Implementation of suspension clause: Austria

Answer 4

> Jorg Haider (fascism)
call for suspension for breach
Article 7 - can we suspend Austria? Proved not be strong enough as suspension mechanism
Article 7 later strengthened by Treaty of Nice (now we don’t need actual breach, just ‘RISK’ of breach

Question 5

1.What is membership conditionality? When did it emerge?

Answer 5

Membership conditionality is the “unprecedented formal imposition of so-called ‘political conditions’ for membership”

It emerged in the Copenhagen conclusions

Question 6

2. What are the Copenhagen criteria? Enumerate them and discuss.

Answer 6

the Copenhagen criteria are Democracy, Fundamental rights and Protection of minorities (political)

Question 7

3.How did the Treaty of Amsterdam amend Art 49, Final Provisions?

Answer 7

Art 49 made reference to conditions,

Art 2 teu

Question 8

4.What was the objective of the sanction mechanism imposed by Treaty of Amsterdam (Art 7)?..

Answer 8

▪The objective of the sanction mechanism in Art 7 Treaty of Amsterdam - to suspend EU voting rights - is to hold a member state accountable for committing fundamental rights violations

How did the “Austrian crisis” reveal its shortcomings? how has the Treaty of Nice attempted to deal with this?

▪The Austrian (Jorg Haider) crisis showed that Art 7 was not strong enough as a suspension mechanism

▪The treaty of Nice strengthened Art 7 by making just a ‘risk of breach’ (rather than actual breach) sufficient to trigger it

Question 9

5.In what way did the Treaty of Nice attempt to improve EU decision-making capacity ?

Answer 9

The treaty of Nice attempted to improve EU decision-making capacity by providing for each member state to nominate only one commissioner until the union reaches 27

> Rotation system for fairness
Procedure for nominating commission is ‘qualified majority voting’ (to replace unanimous voting)
However, it created new imbalances which put certain countries at a disadvantage

these are all mainly institutional changes

Question 10

Consider the Commission, the Council of Ministers (especially the weighting of votes), the European Parliament and the European Central Bank.

Answer 10

…

Question 11

6.Read Articles 2,3, 5, 6,7., 8, 9-12,14-19,20, 49,50 TEU. Discuss the significance of these amendments, introduced by Lisbon, for enlargement.

Answer 11

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Question 12

3 strands of the enlargement-related constitutional agenda

Answer 12

1. ‘Political conditions’ for membership (e.g. fundamental human rights, democracy, rule of law and respect for/protection of minorities..) sparked debate on whether EU needs to entrench them
2. Copenhagen European council - “the unions capacity to absorb new members, while maintaining momentum of European integration, is also an important consideration”
3. The issue of the union’s decision-making capacity due to the accession of more member states

Question 13

enlargement - what’s the accession criteria?

teu article 49

Answer 13

the accession criteria, or Copenhagen criteria, are the essential conditions all candidate countries must satisfy to become a member state. These are:

▪Political criteria: stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, Rule of law, human rights and respect for/protection of minorities

▪Economic criteria: a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competition and market forces

▪Administrative and institutional capacity to effectively implement the acquis (i.e. the current body of eu law) and ability to take on the obligations of membership