Exam Definitions (EU integration) Flashcards
Acquis communautaire
Acquis communautaire is the collection of common rights and obligations that constitute the body of EU law, and is incorporated into the legal systems of EU Member States.
The EU acquis evolves continuously over time and includes:
- the content, principles and political objectives of the EU Treaties;
- any legislation adopted to apply those treaties and the case-law developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union;
- declarations and resolutions that are adopted by the EU;
- measures in the fields of common foreign and security policy and justice and home affairs;
- international agreements that the EU concludes, and agreements concluded among the Member States themselves with regard to the EU’s activities.
Candidate (applicant) countries are required to accept the acquis before they can join the EU. Derogations (exceptions) from the acquis are granted only in exceptional circumstances and are limited in scope. The acquis must be incorporated by candidate countries into their national legal order by the date of their accession to the EU, and they are obliged to apply it from that date.
Acquis screening
(or analytical examination of the acquis) is a preparatory phase of accession negotiations. The screening process is carried out jointly by the Commission and each of the candidate countries. This process allows the candidate countries to familiarise themselves with the acquis and, subsequently, to indicate their level of alignment with EU legislation and outline plans for further alignment. A further purpose of screening is to identify those areas of the acquis in which progress is needed if the candidate countries’ legislation is to be compatible with the EU rules.
Agenda 2000
(For a stronger and wider Union) - a single complete framework offering a clear and coherent vision of the Union’s future at the beginning of the 21st century.
Its primary aim was to prepare the Union for its greatest challenges: the reinforcement of its policies and the accession of new members, within a strict financial framework.
The Agenda 2000 legislative package results from the combined effort of all the institutions. It was conceived at the Madrid European Council in December 1995 and presented by the Commission on 16 July 1997.
It covers four main, closely related areas:
1 - the reform of the common agricultural policy
2 - structural policy reform (improve the effectiveness of the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund)
3 - the pre-accession instruments
4 - the new financial framework
Amsterdam leftovers
a number of institutional issues that had been addressed by the Maastricht and Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conferences (IGCs) but not satisfactorily resolved.
These included:
1) size and composition of the Commission,
2) weighting of votes in the Council
3) extension of qualified majority voting.
On the basis of a report by the Finnish Presidency, the Helsinki European Council decided in late 1999 that an IGC should deal with the leftovers and all other changes required in preparation for enlargement.
They were resolved in the Nice treaty.
Association Agreements
are legally binding agreements between the EU and third countries. It is aimed to foster close relationships between the EU and countries on a wide range of topics.
Association agreements cover many policy areas, foremost of which is that of economic cooperation.
The EU generally enters into such agreements with countries that belong to any of the following three categories:
- countries that have a special historical bond with EU member states. Most of these are former colonies, as well as several developing countries
- members of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA)
- prospective members of the European Union
The EU has a special agreement procedure with which to adopt association agreements. To ensure the objectives laid down in an agreement are met as well as to facilitate cooperation an association council is instituted for each association agreement.
International agreements are based on the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union (TfEU).
Avis
(an “opinion”) is a non-binding act by which the European Union conveys an evaluation along with possible actions that can be taken with regard to a certain issue without imposing a mandatory legal framework. Opinions are usually given out to member states or when addressing a very specific situation. It can be issued by the main EU institutions (Commission, Council, Parliament), the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee.
(DEFINITION 2: it is an instrument that allows the institutions to make a statement in a non-binding fashion, in other words without imposing any legal obligation on those to whom it is addressed).
BBQ
one of the most controversial issues in UK-EU negotiations.
A period between 1979 and 1984 that culminated in the negotiation of a budget rebate (‘abatement’) by the Thatcher government in 1984. It was sometimes referred to by Roy Jenkins, president of the EC Commission 1977-1981, as the ‘Bloody British Question’
Before 1980, the main source of budget revenues was the so-called Traditional Own Resources, consisting of common custom duties and agricultural and sugar levies.
In 1980, to cover the increasing costs faced by the European Community, member states were asked to provide a fraction of their annual Value Added Tax (VAT) receipts to finance the budget. Because of this, the UK soon became a large contributor to the EU budget.
At that time, almost 70% of the EU budget was spent on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The UK, whose agricultural sector had a different structure (and still has) than other member states, benefited little from the money distributed from the CAP. As a result, the UK soon became a large net contributor to the EU budget despite being the third poorest member at the time.
In June 1984, at Fontainebleau outside Paris, Margaret Thatcher negotiated what is now known as the UK rebate with other EU members. The aim was to correct for the apparent imbalance in the UK contribution at the time. The UK rebate was ratified and then implemented in May 1985.
CEFTA
(Central European Free Trade Agreement) - was established on December 21, 1992 by representatives of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia as a trade agreement that hoped to mobilize efforts to integrate into the western European institutions, and eventually join European political, economic, security, and legal systems.
The eventual goal was to consolidate democracy and free-market economics. Former parties are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Slovenia. Their memberships ended when they became member nations of the European Union, and per the agreement in 2006, the CEFTA decided to cover the Balkan states.
Current members of CEFTA include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Serbia.
CFSP
(The European Union´s Common Foreign and Security Policy) enables the EU to act and express its position on the international stage.
It was originally set up as a mechanism for coordinating the foreign policies of the various countries and was subsequently incorporated into the acquis communautaire of the Treaties by the Maastricht Treaty of 1997.
The CFSP was consolidated with the Treaty of Lisbon of 2009, which established a High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and a European External Action Service (EEAS), a genuine European diplomatic corps at the service of the aforesaid High Representative, and provided the Union with its own legal personality and the capacity to enter into agreements with both States and international organisations.
The objectives of the CFSP, as set out in Article 21 of the Treaty of the European Union, are to:
- maintain peace and strengthen international security
- promote international cooperation with third countries
- advance and consolidate democracy and the rule of law, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Chicken war
the period of tensions between the United States and the Common Market over chicken tariffs in 1961–1964.
The chicken war began in mid‐1962 when the six member nations of the Common Market—France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg—raised their common outer tariff on poultry to 13.43 cents a pound. It intended to serve as a barrier to chicken imports and encourage the development of European poultry growers and contribute to the agricultural self-sufficiency of the European Economic Community.
The tariffs damaged the United States exports (the Common Market said that the loss is only $19 million. The United States Government declared that the loss was $46 million).
The US response was a tariff on light trucks, potato starch, dextrin, and brandy known as “Chicken Tax”.
Eventually, the tariffs on potato starch, dextrin, and brandy were lifted but the truck tariff still stands at a whopping 25 percent. This form of protectionism has remained in place to give US domestic automakers an advantage over imported competitors, however, nowadays many are questioning this policy.
Common price (Common Agricultural Policy)
“target price” is one of the instruments of achieving the objectives of CAP.
Common price is an ideal price set by the Commission for each of the major farm products in the EEC which is higher than the global price.
Foodstuffs entering the EEC from non-member countries were subject to “variable levies” (tariffs), which prevented target prices from being undercut by cheaper imports.
The target price is chosen as the maximum desirable price for those goods within the EU.
Constructive abstention
refers to the possibility to be introduced in the common foreign and security policy to allow a Member State to abstain on a vote in Council without blocking a unanimous decision.
Such a possibility will be written into the Treaty on European Union with the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam.
If the constructive abstention is accompanied by a formal declaration, the Member State in question will not be obliged to apply the decision but must accept that it commits the Union. The Member State must then refrain from any action which might conflict with Union action based on that decision.
Council of Europe
is the continent’s leading human rights organisation (!! Distinct from the European Union).
It includes 46 member states, 27 of which are members of the European Union.
All Council of Europe member states have signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights, a treaty designed to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Council of the European Union
(informally also known as the Council) one of the EU institutions where meetings of government ministers from each EU country are held with the aim to discuss, amend and adopt laws, and coordinate policies.
The ministers have the authority to commit their governments to the actions agreed on in the meetings.
Council meetings take place in Brussels, except for three months (April, June and October) when they are held in Luxembourg.
Together with the European Parliament, the Council is the main decision-making body of the EU.
The Council:
- negotiates and adopts EU laws, together with the European Parliament, based on proposals from the European Commission
- coordinates EU countries’ policies
- develops the EU’s foreign & security policy, based on European Council guidelines
- concludes agreements between the EU and other countries or international organisations
- adopts the annual EU budget - jointly with the European Parliament.
Crocodile Club
(founded on the initiative of Altiero Spinelli on the 9th of July 1980) is a cross party group of members of the European Parliament (MEP) who advocated for further European integration (to the extent of a European federation) and more powers to the European Parliament.
It was named after the restaurant in Strasbourg where the members of the EP were meeting.
The legacy of the Crocodile Club:
1- Establishment of the Committee on Institutional Affairs and TEU drafted by it (despite the fact a Draft Treaty Establishing a European Union was not ratified by the National Parliaments of member states (except for Italian Parliament), it triggered the negotiations and provided a basis for the successive reform treaties and treaty proposals including Maastricht Treaty, Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon Treaties);
2 - The manner of the treaty’s creation (it was the first project developed by a directly elected Parliament, with the democratic participation of different groups together representing the full spectrum of political views. The adoption of the treaty by the EP in February 1984 was a victory of parliamentary constitutionalism over intergovernmentalism)
In 1986, after Spinelli’s death, a group of MEPs established the “Altiero Spinelli Action Committee for European Union’’, an intergroup intended to continue the work started in 1980 by the Crocodile Club.
Currency snake
an exchange rate system that operated between various member countries of the EEC during the 1970s, in which exchange rates between the currencies of the participating states were only allowed to fluctuate within a restricted range.
The fluctuations in the rates of each currency were confined within a margin of± 2,25 percent.
In addition, the group as a whole was also managed in respect to the dollar, with fluctuations confined within a range of ± 4,45 per cent.
After 1973, however, the ‘snake’ was left to float against the dollar, and the ‘tunnel’ vanished.
It was the first attempt at European monetary cooperation. This method of managing European currencies was replaced in 1979 by the European Monetary System.
Customs union (stages of economic integration)
is an FTA, in which member countries apply a common external tariff on goods imported from outside countries. (EU; EU-Turkey, EU-Andorra, MERCOSUR, SACU etc.)
[MORE DETAILED DEFINITION]
The European Customs Union is a trade alliance formed by members of the European Union, allowing them to work as a single unit. Formed in the late 1960s, the organization allows the free movement of goods within the union without any tariffs and implements standardized rates of customs duties on goods imported from other countries. The union is also responsible for preventing the trade of dangerous goods, plants, and animals, as well as fighting organized crime, terrorism-related activities, and tax fraud.
Decision
is a legally binding act in its entirety. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, a decision is binding for the EU as a whole.
Decisions can address specific legal entities, in which case a decision is binding only to them.
In its current form the decision was introduced with the Lisbon Treaty that came into force December 2009. It replaces various legal instruments introduced by earlier Treaties.
Decisions are directly applicable and do not need to be transposed into national legislation. Legal entities that are directly affected by a decision may make a direct appeal to decisions in a court of law in relation to both a state as other legal entities.
Decisions are most often used for specific measures, and rarely to set policy.
Directive
A “directive” is a legislative act that sets out a goal that all EU countries must achieve.
*However, it is up to the individual countries to devise their own laws on how to reach these goals.
Ex: the EU single-use plastics directive
Double majority
A double majority means that two different criteria are needed to decide on an EU law or to reach a decision.
Under the “double majority” proposed in theLisbon Treatyon 1 November 2014:
- 55% of member states must be in favour of a proposal
- Representing 65% of the total EU population.
- 72% of member states must agree if proposals do not come from the Commission
Economic (and monetary) union (stages of economic integration)
The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) represents a major step in the integration of EU economies. Launched in 1992, EMU involves the coordination of economic and fiscal policies, a common monetary policy, and a common currency, the euro.
The decision to form an Economic and Monetary Union was taken by the EC (later enshrined in the Treaty on European Union, aka the Maastricht Treaty).
Economic and Monetary Union takes the EU one step further in its process of economic integration, which started in 1957 when it was founded.
EMU means:
- Coordination of economic policy-making between Member States
- Coordination of fiscal policies, notably through limits on government debt and deficit
- An independent monetary policy run by the European Central Bank (ECB)
- Single rules and supervision of financial Institutions within the euro area
- The single currency and the euro area
Within the EMU there is no single institution responsible for economic policy. Instead, the responsibility is divided between Member States and the EU institutions.