THei part 2 Flashcards
Context/ Why Constitutional Treaty
There were leftover issues from the Nice Treat.
- They had to legitimise the EU due to Euroscepticism and referenda.
There were subsidiarty issues in form of delineation of competences of EU member states.
The EU became more complex: who does waht? - The issue of the legal status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights
- Aim to simplify treaties without changing the substance.
International context of 9/11 and war on terror which dominated the international context.
Matters for EU due of NATO, attack on one member = attack on all.
EU response caused division: some wanted to help, other member states did not.
How would the Constitutional Treaty happen?
Laeken Declaration in 2001.
The goal here was to bring citizens closer to the EU by democratising and legitimising. Simplifying political system in an enlarged union.
The EU had to become a stabilising factor and model in the world.
This all would be done by a convention, IGC and an European Consitution. Different procedureL normally a convention would not be first
How was the Constitutional Treaty convention set up?
There were national government representatives and national parliament respresentatives.
Candidate member states + Commission respresentatives as well.
D’Estaing was Chairman. This was done due only government representatives would not be legitimate
Consitutional Treaty convention GOAL
The goal of the Consitutional Treaty convention was optimising the EU legitimacy part of the diabolic triangle.
- there was however, a weak Commission.
- National parliaments were new = inexperienced + uncoordination.
- European Parliament’s field so this gave them more legitimacy
–> national governments not really involved (IGC would follow)
The convention was mostly for show, as only the national governments of Member States had to accept.
–> It was consitutional because they came with an anthem + flag.
Came with President of EU to fix XI Jinping issue.
Binding Charter of Fundamental Rights instead of non-binding.
Legal acts = laws
No more IGCs, just conventions
Why did the Constitutional Treaty fail?
Failedu due to politisation due to referenda (NL+ France) –> UK .
EU presidency said to stop ratification and have a reflection pause.
Dutch referendum was unprepared.
Fear EU consititution is gonna be more important than national.
Another reason for no = Turkey applying for EU membership.: countries against it.
Old treaty stuff on table again, people voting against due first time hearing of these.
Context/ Why Lisbon Treaty
Continuation after reflection pause of Constitutional Treaty
How did the Lisbon Treaty happen?
After UK precidency; German presidency to prepare recommendations on institutional issues.
Merkel: wait of depolicisation + proposes a small + technical agenda of QMV reform with a stronger role for national parliament +limited competences of EU in taxation + social policy.
Franco-German engine: when France + Germany agree: they almost always get the rest on board.
Merkel + Sarkozy (office in 2007)
Treaty, start IGC, agreement and signing of TEU/TFEU (Treaty on European Union (roof) –> what is the EU, Treaty of Functioning EU (policies) –> pillars)
What changed in Lisbon Treaty compared to Consitutional Treaty?
Not consitutional; but amending treaties (not replacing)
- terminology
-charter of Fundamental rights= declaration, not binding
2 new treaties: TEU, TFEU
What changed in Lisbon Treaty compared to Nice when it comes to decision-making part of diabolic triangle?
There was an extension of decision-making through QMV.
The qualified majority vote went to 55%
Member states: 65% of population.
Reform due to the fact that small countries, with small population had same power as big countries.
President European Council
Stronger HIgh Representative of the Union + stronger EEAS (EU diplomatic service )
What changed in the Lisbon Treaty compared to Nice when it comes to the legitimacy part of diabolic triangle
European Parliament co-legislater in 95% of cases= co-decision.
largest party in EP determines political colour of Commission president.
Right of initiative for EU citizens.
> if EU citizens want to put something on the agenda they can by getting 1 million signatures
What changed in the Lisbon Treaty compared to Nice when it comes to the National control part of diabolic triangle
Clear delineation of competences. Exclusive, shared and supported.
Support means EU has no right to meddle in policy area.
Yellow card procedures for breaching subsidiarity principle
European Council strengthened: broad guidance formalised
Exit procedure
Aftermath of Lisbon Treaty
Ratification issues:
* Ireland referendum. 53% no with 53% turnout
* Germany unsuccesful court challenge
* Czech Republic refuses to sign because of the Charter of Fundamental Rights over Benes decrees. (After war a lot of Germans in Czech, all Germans got kicked out –> fear document can be used to contest this. They got an opt-out for this.)
Issues resolved by 2009
EMU’s influence on start of Euro Crisis
- the European Monetary Union had an unsolid structure.
- Monetary policy was made by ECB (European Central Bank) and the same for all Member states, but the economic policies were different between Member states.
(intergovernmental)
–> governments could not be punished by EU for spending too much - Economies were diverging due to this (growing in different pace, different issues)
and in order to converge them different monetary policies were needed: impossible. - No bail-out clause which meant that all debts + deficits were a porblem of the state and not other states as well.
External shock causing Euro crisis
2008 American Financial Crisis caused by mismanagment + lack of control and supervision in housing sector.
This blew over to Europe due interconnectedness of US and European economies.
All European countries became very much indebted
Monetary Union weakened → financial markets responds → aggravated situation
Greece tumbled into deep trouble, followed by Ireland, Portugal and Spain
Consequences Euro crisis
GDP growth stagnated.
This meant that governments had lower income.
Borrowing money= expensive, so only choice was austerity (spending cuts/ tax increases)
–> high unumployment rates in southern countries.
–> unable to pay unemployment benefits
Northern countries less hit. Southern states wanted bail-outs for Stability + Growth Pact rules, but northern countries did not want to allow this.
Measures to help improve financial/ conjunctural situation
Made the EMU more supranational
- European Central Bank president Mario Dragi:
‘’ Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me it will be enough.’’
–> sudden faith in currency (even eurosceptics)
–> making them speculate in favour - Banks were bailed countries, due as seen of being too important for financial sector
3.Steps made for a banking union (more banking regulatons on suprantional level) - The intergovernmental European Stabilty Mechanism (ESM)
was created in order to loan money from rich to poor Member states - Loans from ESM with conditionality
(meaning the borrowing states had to
reorganise their economies) for Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Portugal, Romania,
Spain and most of all for Greece. - There were also some fiscal and economic measures, such as the strengthening of
the SGP. - European Semester to give recommendations to countries’ economic policy to make economies move together
different views on Eurocrisis (monetarist/economists neutrals)
Monetarist/debtors:
‘‘end austerity, bail us out’’ –> end strict rules
Economists/creditors:
‘’ obey rules, reform economies, stop spending’’
Neutrals:
‘‘WTF is happening’’
The diabolic triancle after Euro Crisis measures
- More EU capacity due to more power/ competences towards European Central Bank
+ better reputation due to saving actor - National control increased because everyting of EC has to be approved by Council of Ministers
- EU legitimacy decreases due to European Parliament is on the sideliness
Case of Greece crisis
The Euro crisis hti the hardest in Greece. There was a very high unemployment rate and very high debt.
Greece had been lying about debts + deficits it had had over previous years.
the northern countries wanted to loan money to Greece but only if Greece would make some structural changes to its economy management.
The Greek government accepted this, because it otherwise would have gone bankrupt.; and it especially ut expenses on social polcy.
–> dissatisfaction among Greek people –> election of left wing populist government.
They held a referendum on acting out the agreements. With a 61,3% no-vote they re-entered negotiations and they still had some conditions, but they were a little bit less strict than in the previous agreement.
Cause of Refugee crisis
Arab spring: civil wars caused millions of Arabians to flee towards Europe.
European sentiment towards Refugee crisis
Terrorist attacks in Europe, which led to more anti-migration sentiments.
Two-sides in Europea towards Refugee crisis
- Help refugees and threat them as humanely as possible
Merkel ‘‘wir schaffen das.’’ - No refugees and push them back,.
They were seen by this side as people seeking to profit from western prosperity, rather than refugees. Led by right-wing populists.
Reaction towards Refugee crisis
The bordering states were most refugees entered were in distresesd and asked for help. The other states refused and pointed towards the Dublin Treaty, which said that migrants should seek asylum in the first country they enter in the Schengen-area. This came from a time where most refugees came by plane, however. Bordering states threatened to send migrants wherever they wanted to go, which caused the north-western states to agree to proportionally reallocate migrants across Europe. Central and eastern Europe did not agree and rejected the proposal for a Common European Asylum System.
Measures for Refugee crisis
- After rejecton of the Common European Assylum System; by centarl + eastern Europe: the system was set up on voluntary basis.
- Frontex was empowered as EU border + coast guard agency
- EU-Turkey deal to control refugee flow
EU-Turkey deal
- EU return all illegal migrants entering thorugh Greece via Turkey
- EU pays Turkey for doing so,
- EU regularly accepts Syrian migrants from Turkey
- Turkey combats illegal migration
- EU and Turkey reopen EU-citizenship talks
- EU and Turkey discuss liberalization of visa requirements for Turkish citizens
Diabolic triangle during Refugee crisis
- National control = okay/ increasing as member states do not give any power away
- EU capacity a bit of increase; only towards fortress Europe idea- no common asylum system: bad for capacity
- No democratic oversigh on how this works so EU legitimacy goes down
Normative legitimacy
if a regime or institution lives up to a set of standards by which is judged
(moral or ethical standars, for example not committing genocide, proper representation)
Sociological legitimacy
if people believe a regime or insitution is normatively legitimate
(more empirical, public support for a regime)
You might think a regime isn’t normatively legitimate, but the majority of people in that country thinks the government is legitimate, it is sociologically legitimate
Drivers of EU politcisation
- economic
- cultural
- insititutional
This is conditonal on political entrepeneurs and their ability to policise the EU, which also depends on electoral system in which they find themselves.
Economic drivers of EU politicization
- Backlash against embedded neo-liberalism.
–> bias towards free market EU - Winners versus lowers of globalisation due to neoliberal economics in EU
Cultural drivers of EU politicization
- struggle of nationalism versus suprantionalism
(refugees, transfer of competences to EU level) - discussion of liberalism versus conservatism
Insitutional drivers of EU politicisation
- Authority transfer towards Brussels
–> integration by STEALTH
–> public was not aware of integration
- Crises+ capability to handle them
– EU + democratic deficit
.3. EU democratic + communication deficit
- who takes credit?
National leaders will claim good decisions the EU makes and blame the EU when something goes wrong. It’s also hard for the EU to reach national citizens due to 27 different countries with different languages.
Trends in EU politicization
- Increases when new Treaties, crises or other noticable development
- Increse in Euroscepticism in national parliaments since start of century due to populists exploiting crises + elite sentiments for more nationalist attittudes
- in 2014 EP had 130 seats that are for abolition of EU
- Euroscepticism is all over Europe, causes vary per region
Trends in voting for European Parliament
- Turnout is decreasing
- There was increase after Brexit due to more interest
- People have disinterest in EU and are more likely to votefor national elections
Summary UK relationship with EU
Uk left negotiations for EEC + Euratom.
EC membership was vetoed twice by France
1975 referendum on EU membership was 67% yes
caused trouble with obstructionist attitude of UK.
BBQ
opt-outs of EMU
obstruction of deeper integration of Amsterdam Treaty and reluctance in NIce
Opt-outs in Eurocrisis
Big part in slowing process of European integration
BREXITTTTT
Timeline of 2016 UK referendum on EU membership
- David Cameron elected as tory PM
- Massive win for UKIP in EP election
- Cameron re-elected and announces EU referendum due to domestic pressure, which also came from within his party. This was a gamble to please his own party members, as he believed the UK would vote to stay in and he even campaigned for this.
- EU proposes talks for a better deal with UK, if they choose to stay
- Brexit referendum with 52% vote for leaving
Remain campaign Bexit
Key message for the remain campaign was that it may be bad now, but it will be worse if we leave. It would lose access to the EU single market, it would lead to a reduction of workers’ rights protection and it would decrease the stability of the country in general. It was a weak campaign, mostly about stability.
Leave campaign Brexit
Much stronger.
Boris Johnson more charismatic + new.
key message: ‘‘lets take back control over our money, borders, our security and our taxes.’’
They claimed it would lead to freedom.
Painted the EU as distant, unaccountable and elitist. Leaving would be beneficial for the ‘working people’ of this country, instead of the elitists. They even said: “the people of this country have had enough of experts”
Tabloids role in anti-EU sentiment
Populist character. Headlines such as: “EU wants to merge the UK with France”, “EU killers and rapists we’ve failed to report”, and “EU to ban selling eggs by the dozen”.
Factors in majority of leaving EU in UK
- stronger campaign to leave than to stay
- Tabloids populist headlines
- lack of EU-know-how
- Nationalist sentiment
Labiur versus conservative attitude towards EU switch
Initially Labour was Eurosceptic and Conservative pro-Europe.
This switched (Even divide in Conservatives, majority of the parliamentary votes to stay in EU came from Tories) due to economic issues becoming less important, while cultural and identity issues became more important.
Nationalist sentiment in UK
Sentiment that UK would still be a global superpower. Reinforced by the fact that UK still had the Commonwealth.
Aftermath of Brexit referendum timeline
- Cameron resigns, Theresa May takes over
- May triggers article 50 to leave, loses elections she called for; due wanted stronger mandate
- May + EU get agreement on withdrawal, but rejected 3 times by British parliament, deadline for Brexit extended twice
- Johnson takes over from May, asks for third extension and wins elec
- Johnson passes withdrawal bill in Parliament and in EP
- EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement agreed upon, end of transition period.
This was all over the course of 4 years lol
EU/UK negotiations main issues
- What to do with UK citizens, who, due to EU-citizenship, moved to EU territory?
- What to do with the Northern-Ireland/Ireland border? The EU and Ireland wanted it to be open, but UK didn’t want open borders on their territory
- How to financially settle the split?
The EU did not want to discuss anything on how the relationship between the EU and the UK would be in the future, before they had agreement on the Irish border question, which is why this question is also called the Irish backstop.
Consequence Brexit for UK
- Aspired to have a new, global role in the world. Due of this independent role, they were able to respond quicker to Russias invasion in Ukraine.
This did come with scepticism, because it meant they were cutting themselves off from international relations - Northern Ireland
issue resolved by opening borders between Ireland/Northern Ireland, but by checking on border between UK mainland and Northern Ireland. - Boost for mainly scottish, but also Welsh and Northern Irish independent movements to rejoin the EU.
Consequences of Brexit for the EU
- Changing power relations, there was one major player less. (obstructionist one)
- more integration
- stronger Franco-German axis - Opportunity to reinvent EU.
Brexit was wake-up call to show that EU should do things different. Push towards a possible Treaty reform (pfffff nog een bhah) - Brexit vote was an inspiration for ideas of other countries to leave, especially pushed by far-right actors
Origins of neofunctionalism
- Based on functionalism
Very first theory in International Relations that tried to explain the process of international cooperation through international organisations and a way to counter nationalism - focus on shared interest of states and non-state actors in international relations (monnet)
- Mitrany (first functionalist) wanted to move beyond nationalism due to horrors of WWII and nationalism leading to wars.
Mitrany’s functionalisms main idea
Do away with nation states and organising government based on functionality along territorial borders. This mismatch occurs between the lvel of structure of the problems and the level on which governments acto to solve it.
This creates pressures to jurisdictional reform.
This integrtion is achieved by incremental steps in technical policy areas, where citizens can really notice improvement.
- climate change/ security –> bigger issues than national solutions
- Monnet: ideas of incremental steps in policy areas surfaced in his time
