VIII Ìåæäóíàðîäíàÿ íàó÷íî-ïðàêòè÷åñêàÿ êîíôåðåíöèÿ
«Ñîâðåìåííûå íàó÷íûå äîñòèæåíèÿ – 2012»
Ïîëèòîëîãèÿ/10. Ðåãèîíàëüíûå ïîëèòè÷åñêèå ïðîöåññû
Dinara Aitkazy
student of
Master EUCAIS program
A
short account of the different treaties of the European Communities/European
Union.
European integration has a long history of
different successful and not really successful events. The 20-th century for
European integration was full of significant moments.
The whole process of integration is marked by
series of treaties and each of them represents a new level of integration.
Thus, within history of European integration we can distinguish following
treaties:
1. European
Community of Coal and Steel;
2. Rome
Treaties;
3. Single
European Act;
4. Maastricht
Treaty;
5. Amsterdam
and Nice Treaty.
For better understanding the role and
importance of the treaties in European integration history is
necessary to closely examine each of them.
After World
War II Europe was totally exhausted and ruined.
Centuries-old trading links had been cut off and any
heavy industry or vital manufacturing that had not been destroyed was operating
below capacity in a Europe.
Effects of the WWII on the European economy had been
disastrous.
Damaged
communications of networks severed the transport of raw materials and finished
products. Not regular delivery of supplies and losses of the productive
apparatus led to considerable number of temporary lay-offs and as a consequence
to reduction of purchasing power at a time when all kinds of requirements
continued to grow. National economies were struggling by sharp need of
restoration of accommodation, industry and the transport infrastructure. In
those conditions people were occupied with everyday life and often had
difficulty in thinking about their long-term future. The deficiency of coal in
the very hard winter of 1946–1947 led to widespread strikes and mass
demonstrations.
Moreover, Europe suffered from political instability.
The whole continent felt influences of both superpowers -
the United States and the Soviet Union -
that fought for the lead role in the international
arena. In those conditions, for Western Europe the only way to survive
was to work together.
The treaty of Paris which established ECSC is
revolutionary integration moment in the history of Europe – starting with the
coal and steel sector; it revitalized the whole European economy by similar
community processes, created a single market across the Community, transformed
Europe through 'step by step' process (building through sectoral supranational
communities) leading to the unification of Europe democratically, including
both East and West Europe separated by the Iron Curtain.
The European Coal and Steel Community (also known as the
Shuman Plan) was international organization of six nations with the goal of
organizing free movement of coal and steel (without customs duties or taxes)
and free access to sources of production, the establishment of the lowest prices and improvement of working
conditions. The ECSC was the first organization which based on the principles
of supranationalism.
French Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Robert Schuman inspired by Jean Monnet and with the agreement of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer of West Germany, on 9 May 1950 declared his aim to “make war
not only unthinkable but materially impossible” [1].
Europe's first supranational community was formally
established by the Treaty of Paris (1951), which was signed by France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Thus
the coal and steel industries were moved from full national competencies to
supranational competence.
The
United Kingdom was invited to join the ECSC, but it refused on grounds of
national sovereignty [2].
The ECSC helped to establish a common market for coal and
steel between upper mentioned six nations, in order to expand the economies; it
increased employment, and raised the standard of living within the Community.
The common market for steel was opened on 1 May 1953 and for coal on 10
February 1953. The market also rationalized the distribution of high level
production at the same time gave stability and employment.
From the legal perspective the Treaty enabled the
development of conditions for the rise and application of a unique legal system
of European Communities. The Treaty became the keystone of the European
integration in a broad sense.
The Treaty consisted of four areas like the ECSC, the
institutions working with this community, the economic and social prerequisites
and the general terms.
It should be noted the huge job which was done by
establishing the important base for the main European institutions as we know
them today.
The ECSC Treaty is the origin of supervising bodies – High
Authority, Assembly, Council of Ministers and Court of Justice.
The High Authority (later
became European Commission) was an executive body which governed the Community.
According to the Treaty the High Authority was responsible for establishing the
best conditions of competition among producers; for preventing the restoration
of producer cartels by requiring businesses to advertise their prices openly
and by monitoring mergers.
It included eight members: France, Germany and Italy
appointed two members each and other nations appointed one member each. Then
these eight members by themselves appointed a ninth person to be President of
the High Authority. Even though each member was proposed by its government, in
High Authority they needed to act together in general interests of the
Community as a whole (without pursuing national interests).
The Treaty provided for action by the High Authority on the
basis of information on production, investments, social conditions (wages and
movements of workers) and to price transparency and other. As we see the
Authority had a wide area of competence to ensure the goals of the treaty were
met and that the common market functioned correctly. It used three types of
legal instruments: Decisions, which had full legislative power (law);
Recommendations that only defined objectives and methods of achieving were left
to member states; and Opinions, which had no legal force.
The Common Assembly (later became the European Parliament) exercised
supervisory powers over the executive High Authority.
It composed of 78 representatives of national governments
who were delegated each year by their Parliaments to the Assembly; Germany,
France and Italy appointed 18 each, Belgium, the Netherlands - 10 and
Luxembourg – 4.
The Special Council of Ministers (equivalent to the current Council of the European
Union) was composed of six representatives of national governments. The
Presidency of the Special Council of Ministers was held by each Member State in
turn for a period of three months.
The main function of the Council was the harmonization of
the work of the high Authority and the general economic policy of the national
governments.
The Court of Justice was to ensure that the law was observed according to the
interpretation and application of the Treaty.
It composed of seven judges, appointed by the national
governments for six-year period. There were no requirements that the judges had
to be of a certain nationality, they just needed to be qualified and
independent.
The Consultative Committee (analogically to the Economic and Social Committee) was
created in order to involve representatives of the various spheres of economic
and social activity in the establishment of the coal and steel sector. Thus, it
organized participation of economic and social bodies in the Community decision-making
process.
The role of the Consultative Committee was to assist the
Commission.
Those institutions have supervised an equal access to the
sources of production and fair relationships on the Common market. This strict
supervision made the Treaty a great success.
Considering the economic effectiveness, the Coal and Steel
Community achieved its success: on early-stage (between 1952 and 1960) iron and
steel production rose by 75% and industrial production rose 58% in Community
participated nations. At the difficult time of overproduction of coal, the ECSC
showed its flexibility by decreasing Belgium’s coal-producing capacity by 30%
and thus, redirect finance to retrain miners and development new industries.
By 1970 the ECSC granted about $150 million in aid to
retrain over 400,000 coal miners (The Columbia Electronic
Encyclopedia, 2007).
The success of the Paris Treaty establishing the ECSC led
to desire of developing such integration between Nations of Europe, but The
European Political Community project failed in 1954 when it became clear that
the European Defense Community would not be ratified by the National Assembly
of France, which was afraid that the project entailed an unacceptable loss of
national sovereignty. As a result, the European Political Community idea had to
be abandoned.
The two Treaties
of Rome which established the European Economic Community (EEC) and
the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or also known as Euratom) were
signed in Italy on 25-th of March 1957.
Less than five years after the entry into force of the
Paris Treaty establishing the ECSC, and less than three years after the failure
of EDC and EPC, united Europe stepped further towards integration particularly since unlike Paris Treaty
(signed for 50 years), the Rome Treaties had no provisions for time or a
withdrawal procedure.
The Rome Treaties entered into force on 1 January
1958. They were the result of intensive series of meetings of foreign ministers
of the Six, presided over by the Belgian Foreign Minister Paul Henri Spaak. Those
meetings, following from the movement for the relaunch of Europe, started right
after Messina Conference (June, 1955).
According to the Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty
establishing the EEC provided for the establishment of a common market, a
customs union and common policies. Thus, the EEC Treaty created a general
common market characterized by a customs union which was based both on the free
movement (also known as “four freedoms”) of goods, persons, services and
capital and the drawing up of common policies, in particular in the sectors of
agriculture and transport [3].
In other words the Treaty had two objectives: first, to
transform the conditions of trade and manufacture on the territory of the
Community, and second, more political, to contribute towards the functional
construction of a political Europe what lead to step forward towards the closer
unification of Europe.
Even thought the Six had agreed on developing Common
Market, there was broad disagreement about procedures for its implementation.
Economies of Germany and Benelux countries much depended on exports, and as a
consequence, they wanted economic liberalism, including a reduction in custom duties
and low common external tariff. On the other side, economies of France and
Italy were less competitive, and hence, they preferred an economy with market
regulations and external protections.
Unable to find a solution to the common agricultural policy
which fit everybody, the Six decided progressively establish EEC, once a
transitional phase had expired. According to the Article 8 of the
EEC Treaty the Common Market will be progressively establish during a
transitional period of 12 years (three stages of four years each). Each stage
consisted of a set of actions to be initiated and carried through
simultaneously. The expiration of the transitional period constitutes the
latest date by which all the rules must enter into force.
Nevertheless, the Treaty provided improvement in
productivity, self-sufficiency in food for participating countries and the
establishment an adequate income for farmers.
The Treaty establishing Euratom created a common nuclear market. The main objective of the
Treaty - to make a contribution to the
formation and development of nuclear industries in Europe, so that all the
participant countries can benefit from the development of atomic energy, and to
ensure security of supply. Moreover, the Treaty guarantees high safety standards
for the public and prevents usage of nuclear materials in places where they are
not intended.
The Euratom consists of exactly the same Member States as
the EEC. However, sometimes negotiations on the establishment of Euratom were
were long and difficult. During diplomatic discussions between the Six, France
clearly indicated to its partners that it gave priority to the Euratom project
rather than to the plan for a common market. France was against Euratom
possessing any powers whatsoever as regards the military use of the atom. The
French Army wanted to buy nuclear weapons and was afraid that the Euratom could
interfere in what seemed to be a national strategic aim. Even though France was
a little ahead of its partners in nuclear research, its resources for financing
such a powerful industry by itself was limited. Therefore it hoped to share the
cost of civil nuclear research with Euratom, so that it might then devote
itself entirely to military nuclear research.
This perspective did not appeal to France’s partners; they
had no desire to possess nuclear weapons, neither to finance them. And all
other five counties with Germany at the head voluntarily abandoned production
of all nuclear weapons.
However, the Suez Crisis in 1956 caused major difficulties
in the supply of petroleum products to Europe, and European unity proved
importance of ensure its autonomy in terms of energy. As a result, in favor to
come to a successful conclusion they decided to give the members of Euratom
discretion to use the fruits of military nuclear research, according to the
provision of international controls. Thus, France agreed to grant the common
market, and Germany took a more conciliatory line towards Euratom. As a result,
negotiations resulted in the signing of the Euratom Treaty on 25 March
1957 in Rome.
The EEC
Treaty established decision-making mechanisms and institutions made possible at
the same time to express national interests and a Community vision. The
institutional balance was based on sort of a triangle: the Council, the
Commission and the European Parliament. They all work together: the Council
prepared the standards, the Commission drafts the proposals and the Parliament
played an advisory role.
The Commission represents the common
interest. It has a monopoly on initiating legislation and proposes Community
acts to the Council of Ministers. It also monitors the implementation of the
treaties and secondary law and has the executive power to implement Community
policies.
The Council of Ministers consists
of representatives of the governments of the Member States and authorized with
decision-making powers.
The Parliamentary Assembly (before 1962 was European
Parliament) was an advisor organ and its members (national
representatives) were not yet elected by direct universal suffrage.
The Treaty also provides for the
creation of the Court of Justice,
which resolved cases between the Member States and between Member States and
Community institutions and heard appeals against Community institutions.
The Economic and Social Committee
(the ECSC retained its Consultative Committee)
was also involved in the decision-making process as an advisor.
According
to the Convention on certain common institutions, which came to force
concurrently as the Treaties of Rome, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Court
of Justice are common to the EEC Treaties and the Euratom Treaty.
Later in
1967, with the Merger Treaty the Council and the Commission become institutions
shared by the three Communities (ECSC, EEC and Euratom) and the principle of budgetary
unity was imposed.
Thus, the
three Communities had a single Court of Justice and a single Parliament. An ESC
was common only to the EEC and to Euratom. Finally, the European Investment Bank (EIB), formed by the Treaty establishing
the EEC, was set up to finance projects which were directly associated with the
implementation of the Common Market.
In February 1986 the Single European Act was
signed by 12 Member States and entered into force on 1 July 1987. It is the
first major amendment of the EEC Treaty. It hopes to realize the potential of
the Common Market, and to add the finishing touches to the Community structure
by enabling the institutions to operate more efficiently.
The
Single Market is defined as "an area without internal frontiers in which
the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in
accordance with the provisions of this Treaty" and Article 8A
of the SEA clearly established
the motivational deadline of 1992
for the completion of the European Single Market [4].
Here
a list of the main documents which led to the signature of the SEA:
- the solemn declaration of
Stuttgart of 19 June 1983;
- the draft Treaty establishing
the European Union;
- the Fontainebleau European
Council of 25 and 26 June 1984;
- the White
Paper on the Internal Market of 1985.
The
last one – the “White Paper” published by the Commission – identified the 279
legislative measures needed to complete the internal market. It actually
scheduled a deadline of 31 December 1992.
The primary objective of the SEA was to add new momentum to
the process of the European construction in order to complete the internal
market. However, this goal was quite difficult to reach on the basis of the
existing treaties, because of the decision-making process at the Council, which
imposed unanimity for the harmonization of legislation.
Designed to speed up the completion of the Single Market,
the Act also provided the establishment of a European area without internal
frontiers with upper mentioned “four freedoms” and more than
300 000 000 consumers. Presented a unique condition for economic
development, the objective of the Single Market was to offer larger markets for
Member States’ products, and at the same time, increase competition and the
stimulations thereof [5].
The Single European Act provided a legal basis for the
European Council that had been created in 1975, but didn’t appear in legal
documents.
The Act also expanded the possibilities for the Council of
Ministers to use qualified majority voting and provided the creation of the
Court of First Instance (CFI) of the European Communities, in order to relieve
the overloaded Court of Justice and establish a second level of jurisdiction.
Moreover, by establishing a new cooperation procedure the
Act increased role of the European Parliament in the Community’s legislative
process. This gave the right for Parliament to reject the Council’s decision,
if an absolute majority of its Members was secured at second reading, and to
make limited changes to the Commission’s proposals.
In addition, the Act established the approval procedure
which expanded the powers of European Parliament of co-decision with regard to
accession treaties and association agreements; as a result, it formalized the
Commission’s participation in European Political Cooperation (EPC). For the
first time, the Act codified the EPC’s practices and procedures which had been
gradually developed since the early 1970s.
In accordance with the Act, mechanisms of foreign policy of
Europe were based on consultation with and information to the Community’s
Member States. Furthermore, the Act formalized the obligation for States to
consult with each other before adopting a final position.
The Commission was
also responsible for the reform of the Community’s structural funds such as the
European Social Fund (ESF), the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee
Fund (EAGGF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The Maastricht Treaty (Treaty on the European Union - TEU) is important new stage
in European integration because it opens the way to political integration. The
TEU was signed in Maastricht on 7 February 1992 and entered into force on 1
November 1993.
The TEU is the result of internal and external events. The
external events are: collapse of the USSR and the outlook of German
reunification. The internal events are: the Member States wished to improve
already achieved progress by the SEA.
With the TEU, the Community clearly went beyond its
original economic objective (the creation of a common market), and its
political ambitions came to the fore.
The TEU had five main objectives:
1.
to strengthen the
democratic legitimacy of the institutions;
2.
to improve the
effectiveness of the institutions;
3.
to establish economic and
monetary union;
4.
to develop the Community
social dimension;
5.
to establish a common foreign and security policy.
The TEU is the basis of the famous "pillar
structure":
First pillar consists the Europeàn Communities (ECSC, EC, Euratom) and concerns the
areas in which the Member States share their sovereignty through the Community
institutions.
The second pillar sets Common Foreign and Security Policy
(CFSP) [6]. This replaces the provisions of the SEA and allows Member States to
take action in the field of foreign policy. This level involves an
intergovernmental decision-making process which largely relies on unanimity.
The third pillar regards cooperation in the field of
justice and home affairs (JHA) [7]. The EU should undertake joint action in
order to offer its citizens a high level of protection in the area of freedom,
security and justice.
The second and the third pillars organize intergovernmental
cooperation, which uses the common institutions with certain supranational
features, notably the involvement of the Commission and the consultation of the
European Parliament [8].
The European Monetary Union (EMU) makes the finishing
touches to the single market. Economic policy consists of three terms: the
Member States must ensure coordination of their economic policies, provide for
multilateral surveillance of this coordination, and are subject to financial
and budgetary discipline.
The aim of monetary policy is to establish a single
currency and to ensure this currency's stability thanks to price stability and
respect for the market economy. Monetary policy is based on the European System
of Central Banks (ESCB), including the Central European Bank and the national
central banks. These institutions are independent of the national and Community
political authorities.
Thus, the TEU renamed the EEC into European Community (EC);
launched the economic and monetary union; established European citizenship;
officially created the European Union (which became the title); set the process
of Economic and EMU (which would lead to the creation of the Euro).
Moreover, the role of the European Parliament was enlarged
due to the establishment of a co-decision procedure in certain areas and
Parliament's involvement in the procedure for confirming the Commission. This
result was not possible without some degree of differentiation between Member
States; and as a consequence, the UK and Denmark did not sign the social
protocol and stayed free from participation in the euro.
The Amsterdam Treaty is a result of two-year discussions and negotiations in a
conference of member state government representatives. It was agreed by the
European Union's political leaders on 17 June and signed on 2 October 1997. It
entered into force on 1 May 1999 after being ratified by the fifteen member
states of the European Union under their respective constitutional procedures.
The Treaty of Amsterdam was based on the existing Treaties,
amended of certain provisions of the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaties
establishing the European Communities and of other related Acts. For clear
understanding the Treaty has been divided into four major chapters dealing with
the main reforms:
Freedom, security and justice
It explains the guarantees to protect fundamental rights,
such as equality between men and women, non-discrimination; discusses the
changes concerning freedom of movement within the EU and the inclusion in the
EC Treaty of a new Title on visas, asylum, immigration, and other policies
linked to the free movement of persons; includes police and judicial
cooperation in criminal matters and the conditions for the integration of the
Schengen acquis into the legal framework of the European Union.
The Union and the citizen
The Treaty brought improvements in areas directly affecting
the rights, interests, and well-being of individual citizens.
Here some of them:
- the
elaboration the idea of European Citizenship, explanation the of the relation
between national citizenship and European citizenship;
- the
development of common strategies for employment and the coordination of
national policies;
- an improvement in promoting high standards
of public health.
Effective and coherent external
policy
The Amsterdam Treaty enabled the EU to defend its interests
more effectively on the international stage.
This chapter consists of two sections: economic and
political. The first one is dealing with extension the scope of the common
commercial policy (to include international agreements on services and
intellectual property rights), and the second one - with reform of the CFSP
(the creation of a new instrument, the improvement the decision-making thanks
to greater use of qualified majority voting in the Council; the creation of the
post of High Representative for the CFSP) and other major reforms.
Institutional questions
The Amsterdam Treaty strengthened the role of the European
Parliament, extended of qualified majority voting, clarified the role the Court
of Justice in areas such as fundamental rights and certain matters closely
affecting the internal security of the European Union, described the
possibility of closer cooperation between those Member States and other several
points.
As we see the Treaty of Amsterdam made a major step
forward. It increased the powers of the Union. The focus was on the
strengthening of the position of human rights within the Union (in order to
bring Europe closer to its citizens), the incorporation of the Schengen acquis in the EU, the cancellation of
the UK’s derogation on social policy, and the establishing of “an area of
freedom, security and justice”, which strengthened the means for taking action
in matters of foreign policy [9].
The Treaty of Nice was signed on 26 February 2001 and entered into force on 1
February 2003 after being ratified by the fifteen Member States of the EU. The
main objective of this Treaty was to prepare the EU for enlargement by revising
the Treaties in four key areas:
-size and
composition of the Commission;
-weighting
of votes in the Council;
-extension
of qualified-majority voting;
-enhanced
cooperation.
Much of the text of the Treaty is about reforms in
decision-making of the EU; it also extended Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) in
the European Council and removed national vetoes from thirty-nine areas. It
gave the opportunity to elect the Commission President to the European
Parliament and gave him the power to fire individual Commissioners.
Looking forward to enlargement, it set limits on the
numbers of future Commissioners and MEPs, revised the voting powers of the
member states in the European Council to give more weight to the largest
states, and formalized the idea of enhanced co-operation first set out in the Treaty
of Amsterdam. The Treaty strengthened the CFSP by creating special
representatives and the idea that the Council should be able to negotiate on
behalf of all members at international meetings. Finally, in the 'Declaration
on the Future of the EU', it announced that another Inter-Governmental
Conference should be set up to write an EU constitution [10].
As from the Treaty of Nice, it became obvious that the EU's
architecture had to be defined in a global manner so it could function properly
after enlargement. It was the movement which led to the creation of the
European Convention and the preparation of the Constitution.
Concluding this article, I would like to say that the all upper
mentioned Treaties reflect the evolution of the European Union’s process of
integration and show all historical steps (which were sometimes unthinkable
hard). Each Treaty is a tremendous amount of work done by Europeans in
order to work together, each Treaty is a new level of achievement towards a
common goal of the Nations and each Treaty is
a valuable contribution to the development of Europe
as a union.
References:
1.
Gateway to the European union. Declaration of 9 May 1950. Available at:
http://europa.eu/abc/symbols/9-may/decl_en.htm (accessed: 9 February 2011);
3.
European navigator. The establishment of the EEC and Euratom.
Available at: http://www.ena.lu/ (accessed 22 February 2011);
6.
Title V of the Treaty of the European Union;
7.
Title VI of the Treaty of the European Union;
9.
European Navigation. Historical events. The Treaty of Amsterdam.
Available at: http://www.ena.lu/ (accessed 25 February 2011);