history Flashcards
Empty chair policy
initial crisis in the integration process, France held Council presidency and, to obstruct alterations to the funding mechanisms of the common agricultural policy, it boycotted council meetings rendering it impossible to make decisions
Luxembourg compromise
later Luxembourg assumed council presidency and introduced a method known as consensus approach: to avoid need for formal voting, presidency takes all MS interests into account and negotiates until a mutually agreeable outcome is reached (consensus)
Spinelli draft
The Spinelli Draft (1984) was a proposal to transform the European Economic Community (EEC) into a political union with stronger supranational institutions. It was very ambitious in both political and institutional terms and envisaged among other things, orginising the legislative branch to a bicameral system common to states with federeal constitution.
Maastricht treaty
- 1993
- establishment of the EU
- EU as an umbrella term for 3 pillars introduced by the treaty
- creation of economic and monetary union
- introduction of euro
- strengthened the parliament (veto)
three pillars structure
- EEC + ECSC + EAEC + new added competences (EMU, consumer protection
- and 3. added CFSP and JHA (justice and home affairs)
Copenhagen criteria
1993
established democratic maturity and the rule of law as requirements for the envisaged enralgement of the EU to the east
Treaty of Amsterdam and Treaty of Nice
- Amsterdam: 1997, came into force in 1999
Nice: 2003 - primary law revision
- preparation for the Eastern enlargement
- more power to the parliament
- enhanced cooperation of the MS
- extending areas of qualified majority voting in the council
Lisbon Treaty
- 2009 in force
- current version of primary law was established
- dissolved the three-pillar structure
- introduced a unified legal personality of the EU
- extended the ordinary legislative procedure
- new double majority system (before there were weighting votings which favoured smaller MS)
- obligation for national courts to provide effective remedies
- possibility of withdrawal from the EU
convention method
- Art 48 (3) TEU as part of the ordinary treaty revision procedure
- aim: involving civil society and ensuring greater transparency and acceptance in the society of the legitimacy of primary law
- used in crafting the CFR and constitution for Europe (which was later rejected by NL and FR)
poly-crisis
- from 2005 the euphoria phase was followed by crises
- most fundamental challenges in EU history
- initial trigger: NL and FR rejected the project for constitutional treaty
- refugees from Syrian civil war, nationalist factions in MS, Brexit, Covid
- EU handled it successfully but it showed its weaknesses - asylum and rule of law
Multiannual Financial Framework
- 2021-2027
- milestone in the integration history
- new own resources (plastic levy)
- economic stimulus package (largest since Marshall Plan) Next Generation EU
