Supranationalism v Intergovernmentalism

Question 1

what are there debates over?

Answer 1

supranational v intergovernmental approaches to decision making

Question 2

what is intergovernmental decision making?

Answer 2

intergovernmental decision making is still used in the EU in some areas, although it has declined over the years

requires unanimity, so all states have a veto or blocking vote

Question 3

where is intergovernmental decision making used in the EU?

Answer 3

EU foreign policy still requires unanimity, with the obvious effect being that it is harder to make decisions that are agreeable to all members

likewise, there must be unanimity between all current members for new states to be admitted or treaties to be adopted or amended

Question 4

what is the problem with intergovernmental decision making?

Answer 4

the difficulty of achieving unanimity and the ability of one state to veto decisions makes the leaders of EU states reluctant to change treaties without pressing need

in late 2016, the regional parliament of Wallonia in Belgium threatened to veto the EU-Canadian free trade deal known as CETA

this parliament threatened to derail the whole process, but Wallonia’s objections were eventually overcome and the treaty went ahead

Question 5

what is supranational decision making?

Answer 5

supranational institutions make decisions that are binding on nations

there is considerable debate over the advantages and disadvantages of supranational decision making

Question 6

in what ways is the EU supranational?

Answer 6

the EU is the only truly supranational organisation in the world, with supranational bodies like the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union, and forms of supranational decision making in the Council of the European Union

a key requirement of membership of the EU is the acknowledgement that decisions of the EC and ECJ are binding

Question 7

advantages of supranational decision making: the EC and ECJ

Answer 7

the supranational nature of the EC and ECJ makes them neutral adjudicators – it would not be fair or effective for member states to award their own judgements and penalties

a key requirement of membership of the EU is the acknowledgement that decisions of the EC and ECJ are binding

the EU would not work effectively if the states held on to their sovereignty and the single market only works because the EC and ECJ are independent of the states and their decisions are binding

Question 8

advantages of supranational decision making: the single market

Answer 8

particularly with the introduction of the single market, it was felt that states could not be relied on to refrain from pursuing their own national interests

the single market requires states to allow the sale of products in their domestic market from other EU states, provided they are safe and not detrimental to public health

Question 9

CASE STUDY: Cassis de Dijon

what does this case study demonstrate?

Answer 9

the Cassis de Dijon case is an important case in EU law regarding the free movement of goods that provides for the mutual recognition of standards in EU member states

it also demonstrates the supranational approach taken by the ECJ

Question 10

CASE STUDY: Cassis de Dijon

what did the German authorities introduce? what did this mean for Cassis? what was the result?

Answer 10

the German authorities introduced a rule insisting that fruit liqueurs must be a certain alcoholic strength, which Cassis de Dijon was not

Cassis is a French liqueur with an alcohol level of 16%

Germany would not allow it to be sold as “liqueur” under German law, which states that the minimum percentage of alcohol should be 25%

as a result, the liqueur was banned from being sold in Germany

Question 11

CASE STUDY: Cassis de Dijon

what did the ECJ deem this ‘rule’ about alcohol percentage to be?

Answer 11

the ECJ deemed this ban unlawful and considered it to be a protectionist move by Germany to help preserve the market for its own fruit liqueurs and Schnapps

Question 12

CASE STUDY: Cassis de Dijon

what did the ECJ argue about Cassis de Dijon?

Answer 12

the ECJ argued that Cassis de Dijon was not dangerous to public health and as long as the product was properly labelled, no German consumer could be confused or misled about the product

the EU single market requires the free movement of goods and as Cassis de Dijon is a perfectly legal product, it should not be banned in another EU member state

Question 13

CASE STUDY: Cassis de Dijon

what was the impact of this case on sovereignty?

Answer 13

demonstrated that ECJ rulings are binding on member states, which challenges the sovereignty of those states by giving ultimate authority to the ECJ in various matters that it rules on

Question 14

CASE STUDY: Cassis de Dijon

what does this illustrate about the supranational approach?

Answer 14

without such a supranational approach, the single market would be open to abuse from member states who pursue their own interests at the expense of other member states – as seen in Germany’s protectionist policy concerned Cassis de Dijon

thus ensuring that member states adhere to the rules of the single market and cannot pick and choose which EU rules to abide by

Question 15

what type of voting is used in the Council of the European Union?

Answer 15

the Council of the European Union is a legislative body of the EU where each state’s government is represented

the Council uses qualified majority voting (QMV) in 80% of legislation put before it

Question 16

what is QMV?

Answer 16

QMV is a special type of majority vote that requires…

– 55% of member states (at least 16 out of 28) to agree to the decision

– at least 65% of the population of the EU to support the decision

Question 17

what is the purpose of QMV?

Answer 17

the purpose of QMV is to make decision making in the Council as fair as possible

the ‘double majority’ rule of QMV essentially means that in theory no country has a veto, although if enough countries band together they can block the decision

Question 18

what is QMV designed to balance?

Answer 18

QMV is designed to balance the interests of big and small states

among the 28 current members of the EU, 20 have populations of less than 2.5% of the EU’s 508 million people, while Belgium (with its 11 million citizens) is the 9th biggest population

the total population of the 20 smallest countries is less than the population of Germany and the UK combined, while the largest four countries (Germany, the UK, France and Italy) have a combined population of around 273 million

Question 19

how does QMV balance the interests of big and small states?

Answer 19

a double majority vote requires a combination of both big and small states

neither big nor small states can gang up on the others because 65% of the population of the EU needs to support the measure

neither all the small states or all the big states make up this population alone, meaning that both big and small states will need to support the measure in order for it to pass

therefore, QMV balances the right of the small member states not to be railroaded by the demands of the bigger states with the right of the bigger states not to be thwarted by the smaller states

Question 20

what is QMV rarely used for? how is this an advantage?

Answer 20

QMV is rarely used to force countries to accept measures that they do not want – rather, it encourages those who might use their veto to negotiate as good a real as they can get

it is difficult to get all 28 member states to agree, especially if each member state has a veto

so QMV makes each member state realise that if they are in a minority, they might have to accept the decision of the majority and a decision that they do not want

to avoid this they should start negotiating with other member states to get the best deal they can