Introduction to the EU/ Law-Making in the EU

Question 1

What two key concepts are covered by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)?

Answer 1

Policies and competences.

Question 2

What two key concepts are covered by the Treaty on the European Union (TEU)?

Answer 2

‘Constitutional’ elements and external (intergovernmental) polices.

Question 3

Which article of TEU spells out the objectives of the EU in 2014?

Answer 3

Article 3

Question 4

What does Article 3(2) TEU aim for?

Answer 4

1. The Union shall offer its citizens an area of freedom, security and justice without internal frontiers…
2. …in which the free movement of persons is ensured (in conjunction with appropriate measures in respect of external border controls etc.)

Question 5

What does Article 3(3) TEU aim for?

Answer 5

That the Union shall establish an internal market (but goes further…very broad provision).

Question 6

According to Van Middelaar, what are the three distinct ‘narratives’ or ‘paradigms’ of the EU?

Answer 6

1. Europe of States (intergovernmentalism)
2. Europe of Citizens (constitutionalism)
3. Europe of Offices (neo-functionalism)

Question 7

What are the advantages of the narrative of a Europe of Citizens?

Answer 7

Lends intellectual support to the idea that Europe is a post-national democratic space for the articulation of citizen interests.

Question 8

What are the disadvantages of the narrative of a Europe of Citizens?

Answer 8

Questionable as to whether there is, at present, a common European identity, or indeed whether it is necessary.

Question 9

What quoted is featured by Habermas and Derrida in the text book?

Answer 9

“[The] differing evaluation of politics and markets may explain Europeans’ trust in the civilising power of the state, and their expectations for it to correct market failures.”

Question 10

What is one way the text book views Europe?

Answer 10

That Europe is seen as a place where there are multiple political communities with a shared way of life.

Question 11

Is there a certain level of backlash against opponents of integration?

Answer 11

Arguably yes. Due to a perceived intolerance of things ‘non-European’, and the view that the integration process is an emphasised form of enlightened co-operation between nations, this can lead to the assumption that opponents can be dismissed as nationalistic (i.e. un-European).

Question 12

What role did WWII have in forming the EU?

Answer 12

Provided a stimulus for those who saw the EU as the only means both to prevent war breaking out between nation states and as a means to respond to increased economic competition from abroad.

Question 13

Is the EU a mimic of the nation state, or an alternative to it?

Answer 13

Arguably both. It has both replicated the symbols and tools of nationhood at a pan-European level; and tries to create a model of political community which is post-national.

Question 14

What is C. Bickerton’s view of the EU?

Answer 14

Something which allows national governments to distance themselves from their citizens, and can impose different policies by saying they are both necessary and externally required.

Question 15

Can you name a good quote from C. Bickerton?

Answer 15

“The state-society relationship is thus reconfigured… a presumed relationship of representation is replaced by one of insulation and separation.”:

Question 16

Can our own narrative about national identity shape our ideas of the EU?

Answer 16

Yes. It can shape our understanding of what the EU means. Individuals that are proud to be part of a political community as opposed to seeing it as a constraint are often those most engaged by the ideal of the EU.

Question 17

How was the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights brought about?

Answer 17

A special Convention was established to agree the Charter. Constituted a move away from negotiations between governments to a new form of deliberative decision-making.

Question 18

What did the Draft Constitutional Treaty seek to achieve and how?

Answer 18

Was concerned to establish the Union as an autonomous constitutional democracy.

(1) Union instruments would be known as ‘laws’ or ‘framework laws.’
(2) Primacy clause asserting the precedence of EU law over national law within the limits of the Treaty.
(3) Bill of Rights of sorts was established with the incorporation of the EUCFR into the Treaty.
(4) The Union would have its own legal personality and Foreign Minister.

Question 19

Why was it optimistic that the DCT could create a common European identity?

Answer 19

The generation of national common identities has the reinforcement of a national system of law and order, common myths and symbols, a national welfare system, economy and administration. Could a convention in Brussels replicate this?

Question 20

How was the process of reaching on the Lisbon Treaty different to that of the Constitutional Treaty?

Answer 20

‘Political agreement’ on the central points of disagreement was reached in confidential negotiations between ministries, and only then was the second stage, an IGC, opened.

Question 21

Name an important reform the Lisbon Treaty implemented.

Answer 21

Replacement of the three pillar structure with a single framework, extending supranational disciplines to many activities, most notably policing and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

Question 22

What does the TFEU set out to do?

Answer 22

Sets out the explicit competencies of the Union and the detailed procedures to be used in each policy field.

Question 23

What is a ‘brake’ procedure?

Answer 23

A national government could insist that a Union matter be discussed at European Council level if a measure touched fundamental aspects of their social security or criminal justice systems.

Question 24

What is differentiated integration?

Answer 24

In some areas, such as policing and judicial cooperation in criminal justice, states can choose whether to participate in individual pieces of legislation prior to their adoption.

Question 25

How did the Lisbon Treaty extend institutional reform?

Answer 25

(1) QMV was extended to about 50 new areas.
(2) Greater parliamentary involvement - the ordinary legislative procedure was applied to a further forty areas.
(3) A power was granted to review, but not veto, legislative proposals to see whether these complied with the subsidiarity principle.
(4) The Council was recognised as a formal EU institution, and a President was established whose job is to drive forward and prepare its work.

Question 26

What is the subsidiarity principle?

Answer 26

It requires that Union measures only be adopted if their objectives cannot be sufficiently achieved by Member States and can, instead, be better realised through Union action.

Question 27

What is the ‘citizens initiative’ brought in by the Lisbon Treaty?

Answer 27

The Commission is obliged to consider proposals for legal measures made by petitions of one million citizens coming from at least seven Member States.

Question 28

van Middelaar: What is the concept behind ‘the Europe of States’

Answer 28

Only states have sufficient authority and operational capacity to buttress European unity.

Question 29

van Middelaar: What is the concept behind ‘the Europe of Citizens’

Answer 29

Pave the way towards a federation. Central bodies’ legitimacy rests on a European electorate. Ultimate goal is a democratic society that thinks of itself as a single political - even cultural - entity.

Question 30

van Middelaar: What is the concept behind ‘the Europe of Offices’

Answer 30

The EU serves certain functional purposes. There is a transfer of specific governmental functions to a European bureaucracy.

Question 31

van Middelaar: What does Alan Milward have to say about the ‘Europe of States?’

Answer 31

Believes that the founding of the Community meant not the end of the national state but its rescue: “The integration process did not supersede or circumvent the political will of national leaders; it reflected their will.”

Question 32

van Middelaar: What does Jurgen Habermas (1995) have to say about the ‘Europe of Citizens’?

Answer 32

European democracy cannot be made a reality ‘unless a European-wide public sphere develops into a common political culture…’