Origins Flashcards
What is the European union?
The European Union is a unique economic and political union between 27 EU countries that together cover much of the continent.
What is European integration (pooling of sovereignty)?
The European Union (EU) comprises a set of common supranational institutions established by the member states, each of which gives up some of its sovereignty, to make decisions on matters of joint interest at a European level. This pooling of sovereignty is often referred to as “European integration”.
Founding members of ECSC - which later became the European Union?
(Also what is ECSC)?
Hint : They were also called the Inner Six.
The ECSC - European Coal and Steel Community (founding members: France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) was the first of a series of supranational European institutions that would ultimately become today’s “European Union”.
Founding members of EFTA (Also what is EFTA)?
Hint : They were also called the Outer Seven.
They were in contrast to the outer seven (United Kingdom, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Austria who formed the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) rather than engage in supranational European integration.
Goals of the EU?
Goals and values of the EU (Internal market)
* promote peace, its values and the well-being of its citizens
* offer freedom, security and justice without internal borders
* sustainable development based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive market economy with full employment and social progress, and environmental protection
* combat social exclusion and discrimination
* promote scientific and technological progress
* enhance economic, social and territorial cohesion and solidarity among EU countries
* respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity
* establish an economic and monetary union whose currency is the euro.
Is EU based on rule of law? If yes, elaborate
The European Union is based on the rule of law. This means that every action taken by the EU is founded on treaties that have been approved voluntarily and democratically by all EU countries. The treaties are negotiated and agreed by all the EU Member States and then ratified by their parliaments or by referendum.
The treaties lay down the objectives of the European Union, the rules for EU institutions, how decisions are made and the relationship between the EU and its Member States. They have been amended each time new Member States have joined. From time to time, they have also been amended to reform the European Union’s institutions and to give it new areas of responsibility.
What is the timeline of EU?
Hint : Starts from 1952 from ECSC
1952; The European Coal and Steel Community
1958; The treaties of Rome:
* The European Economic Community
* The European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM)
1987: The European Single Act: The Single Market
1993; Treaty on European Union – Maastricht 1999;
Treaty of Amsterdam
2003; Treaty of Nice
2008; Treaty of Lisbon
Mention some secondary legally binding and non-binding sources of EU law.
Legally binding: regulations, directives and decisions
Non-legally binding: recommendations and opinions
What was the June 2016 referendum for UK’s participation in EU?
On 23 June 2016, a rather narrow majority of the UK electorate (51.9%) voted in favour of the country’s withdrawal from the European Union. As the Supreme Court confirmed in its Miller / Article 50 judgment in January 2017 – R (on the application of Miller and another) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2017] UKSC 5 –, this vote as a matter of law was purely advisory.
Highlight about the Withdrawal Agreement that was created in pursuit of the UK to leave the European Union.
Hint : Talk about the agreement during both , Theresa May and Boris Johnson’s time.
Prime Minister, Theresa May, initiated the procedure of withdrawing from the EU. Pursuant to Article 50 of the TEU, a Member State wishing to leave the EU needs to give official notice to the President of the European Council. The May government also negotiated a Draft Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union, which, however, failed to win approval in several votes in the UK House of Commons. In accordance with Article 50(3) of the TEU, the EU and the UK agreed to postpone Britain’s exit from the EU to 31 October 2019 at 11pm BST.
Even though new Prime Minister Johnson repeatedly insisted that Britain will indeed leave on that day, Parliament passed legislation to prevent a ‘no deal’ exit, by requiring the government to seek a further extension of the country’s departure from the EU, if by 18 October there is no agreed new draft of the Withdrawal Agreement. Thus, there still is a high degree of uncertainty as to the practicalities of the withdrawal, in particular on how to retain an open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and about the status of expats after Brexit. There also is uncertainty about what legal rules will govern after ‘exit day’ the relations between the UK and the EU. It may well be that much of EU law will continue to apply by virtue of the Agreement on the European Economic Area.
For the time being, the UK continues to be a Member State of the EU, and EU law remains in force. Even after the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, a good knowledge of EU law will be important for UK-based lawyers, since as a matter of the UK’s domestic law, much of EU law will continue to have effect by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
What was the ECSC Treaty 1951 (expired on 23 July 2002)?
The main objective of the treaty was creating a common market in coal and steel between the Member States, to promote economic expansion and employment, as well as raise the standard of living in participating states.
What was the Rome Treaty (EEC) 1957?
The Treaty established the EEC with an aim of creating a common market between its founding states characterised by harmonisation of economic policies, to increase stability and promote peaceful relations among its Member States.
What was the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM)?
The establishing an atomic community was similarly aimed at raising of the standard of living and to the development of relations between the states but in this case by creating the conditions necessary for the speedy establishment and growth of nuclear industries. It was to secure that relevant information is shared between Member States, the same safety and security standards are applied throughout, and peaceful use of nuclear energy is promoted.
What was the Single European Act (SEA) 1986?
In the 1960-s and 1970-s the objective of creating a common market between the Member States appeared to be unattainable due to the opposition from the Member States (often rejecting the Commission’s proposals for market harmonisation). A new commitment was required to bind the Member States to the objective of establishing a common market. To this end, the SEA made institutional and substantive changes to the Community legal order. Firstly, it increased the powers of the European Parliament in the legislative process and the procedure of concluding foreign agreements, as well as accepting new Member States. In terms of substantive changes, the SEA most significantly defined the objective of establishing an internal market, which is ‘an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured’. The SEA also established a deadline for the accomplishment of this task by 1992.
What was the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty) 1992?
The Maastricht Treaty in addition to the existing Community established a European Union and created a multi-pillar constitutional order. The first pillar included the previously existing three communities: the ECSC, EURATOM and the EEC – the latter was renamed to European Community (EC) (note the disappearance of the ‘Economic’). The second pillar included the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the third pillar was dedicated to Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). The EU competence varied from pillar to pillar: the second and third pillars were predominantly intergovernmental, with unanimity among the Member States required to adopt binding legal instruments, and with little involvement of the supranational institutions, i.e., the Court of Justice, the Commission and the European Parliament. In terms of institutional changes, the EU Treaty introduced the co-decision procedure, which gave the Parliament a co-equal role in relation to the Council in the legislation-making procedure in a number of areas of EU competence. It also established the objective of creating a monetary union. Importantly, the Treaty further established the concept of EU citizenship and expanded the competence of the EC in a number of new areas. Conversely, the Maastricht Treaty adopted the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality as – inevitably feeble – limitations on the Community’s legislative powers.
