The European Union: United in Diversity

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The European UnionUnited in Diversity

• Justin Sosne
• Coro Fellow in Public Affairs, 2006 - 2007

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EU Presentation OARR

• Outcomes
• The Fellows will learn how and why the European
  Union came into existence
• The Fellows will learn how the European Union is
  structured
• The Fellows will learn about current issues
  surrounding the European Union
• Agenda
• 4WH of the European Union (O1)
• LDWpF of the European Union (O2)
• WIGO of the European Union (O3)
• Roles Justin will present
• Rules
• Fellows will listen actively
• Fellows will question for clarification.
• Fellows will not fall asleep.

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4WH
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What is the EU?

• The European Union (EU) is a
• 27-member multi-national intergovernmental and
  supranational organization aimed at the promotion
  of economic and political integration on the
  European continent.

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Where is the EU?
UNITED KINGDOM SWEDEN SPAIN SLOVENIA
SLOVAKIA
AUSTRIA BELGIUM BULGARIA CYPRUS CZECH
REPUBLIC
ROMANIA PORTUGAL POLAND NETHERLANDS MALTA
LUXEMBOURG
DENMARK ESTONIA FINLAND FRANCE GERMANY
GREECE HUNGARY IRELAND ITALY LATVIA
LITHUANIA
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Who lives in the EU?

• 457 million citizens expected to reach 470
  million by 2025
• Net population gain will be due primarily to
  migration, since total deaths will outnumber
  total births after 2010
• This gain will stop in 2025, however population
  estimates for 2050 are around 450 million

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Why did the EU form?

• War experience
• - 25 million people died in WWI and 40 million
  died in WWII
• - nationalism (extreme patriotism) was
  perceived as the most deadly force in human
  history
• - EU formed to prevent Germany from
  regaining military might as well as future
  Europe-wide conflicts
• - put war-making industries (coal and
  iron) under supranational control (ECSC 1951)
• - constrain nationalism through web of
  political rules (EEC 1957)

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Why did the EU form?

• 2) Cold War
• - end of Western European great powers,
  imperial rivalries in Africa, South America, and
  Asia
• - formed EU to unite against rising Soviet
  threat
• - US was main catalyst of EU formation
  because they wanted a strong Europe next to the
  USSR
• 3) Economic Benefits
• a. Comparative advantage
• b. Economies of scale
• c. Bargaining power

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How did the EU form?

• 1946 Winston Churchill calls for a kind of
  United States of Europe during a speech at
  Zurich University
• 1949 Formation of Council of Europe
• 1950 Schuman Declaration
• 1951 Formation of the European Coal and Steel
  Community (ECSC) between Belgium, the
  Netherlands, Luxemburg, France, Italy, and West
  Germany through the signing of the Treaty of
  Paris

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How did the EU form?

• Early 1950s - Two failed proposals
• 1) European Defense Community (EDC) called
  for creation of a common European army, with
  joint high command designed to protect Europe
  against rising Soviet threat without allowing
  Germany too much military control
• 2) European Political Community (EPC)
  called for a federation of European states with a
  bicameral parliament, executive organ, and a
  European Court
• 1954 Both ideas were shelved after French
  assembly rejects EDC treaty because it did not
  want to cede French military control to a
  supranational defense force

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How did the EU form?

• 1957 Treaty of Rome signed, two new
  communities
• 1) European Economic Community (EEC) - purpose
  of the EEC was to establish a customs union among
  the six founding members, based on the "four
  freedoms" freedom of movement of goods,
  services, capital and people
• 2) European Atomic Energy Community
  (Euratom) - created to pool the non-military
  nuclear resources of states
• 1967 EEC, Euratom, and ECSC merge into one
  body, the European Community (EC)

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EU Enlargement

• 1973 United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark
• 1981 Greece
• 1986 Spain, Portugal
• 1995 Sweden, Austria, Finland
• 2004 Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Hungary,
  Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic,
  Estonia, Latvia
• 2007 Bulgaria, Romania
• Candidates Croatia, Turkey, Former Yugoslav
  Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)

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EU Integration

• 1979 European Parliament first direct
  elections
• 1986 Single European Act (SEA)
• 1) reformed the operating procedures of the
  institutions
• 2) Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) was
  extended to new areas
• 3) 1992 was set as goal for establishment of
  a single market
• 4) Eliminated non-tariff barriers (i.e.
  size of products, health regulations)

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EU Integration

• 1992 Maastricht Treaty
• 1) Established the EUROPEAN UNION!!!
• 2) Created three pillars under this heading
• a. European Communities (all the
  economic stuff)
• b. Common Foreign and Security Policy
• c. Justice and Home Affairs
• 3) Established Economic and Monetary Union as
  a formal objective
• 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam updated Maastricht
  and aimed to make the EU more democratic

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EU Integration

• 2002 12 countries form monetary union,
  abolish national currencies for Euro
  administered by the European Central Bank (ECB)

AUSTRIA BELGIUM FINLAND FRANCE GERMANY
GREECE IRELAND ITALY LUXEMBOURG
NETHERLANDS PORTUGAL SPAIN
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Who can belong?

• Copenhagen Criteria (1993)
• 1) stability of institutions guaranteeing
  democracy, the rule of law, human rights and
  respect for and protection of minorities
• 2) the existence of a functioning market
  economy as well as the capacity to cope with
  competitive pressure and market forces within the
  Union
• 3) the ability to take on the obligations of
  membership including adherence to the aims of
  political, economic monetary union.

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LDWpF
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Load

• Goals of the EU
• 1) Fewer frontiers, more opportunities
• - Any EU citizen can live, travel, and
  work in any EU country (Schengen Agreement)
• 2) A greener Europe
• - Taking the lead in implementing the
  Kyoto Protocol
• - Preventing pollution from crossing
  borders
• 3) Going abroad to learn
• - Facilitate student exchanges
• 4) Jobs and prosperity
• - EU leaders have pledged to make the
  EU the worlds most dynamic knowledge-based
  society with a competitive economy and skilled
  workforce

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Load

• Goals of the EU
• 5) Equal opportunities
• - First treaties stated that men and
  women must receive equal pay for equal work
• 6) Freedom, security, and justice for all
• - Adopting common rules on these crimes,
  and taking steps to ensure full cooperation
  between their police and customs officers,
  immigration services and law courts (i.e.
  European arrest warrant) 7) Exporting peace and
  stability
• - Spread prosperity through aid and
  expansion

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Design
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Design

• How is the EU intergovermental?
• 1) Decisions made by European Council members
  act on behalf of national interests
• 2) Pillars II (Foreign Affairs) and III
  (Justice and Home Affairs) decisions require
  unanimous vote
• 3) Treaties all new treaties must be
  ratified by member states

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Design

• How is the EU supranational?
• European Commission functions as the agenda
  setter
• - members swear an oath to the EU
• - initiate legislation geared towards
  Europe as a whole
• Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) in Council of
  Ministers
• - 62 of EU population must be represented by
  decision
• - one state cannot block a decision
• Acquis communitaire EU laws must be implemented
  on national level
• European Court of Justice (ECJ) can overturn
  national decisions

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Working Parts

• European Commission (executive branch)
• - Headquarters Brussels, Belgium
• - Official languages English, French,
  German
• - Structure
• 1) College of Commissioners
• - current president Jose Manuel
  Durão Barroso
• - one member from each EU member
  state
• - commissioners are supposed to
  represent interests of EU as a whole,
  rather than country (supranational)
• 2) Directorate-General
• - 26 department bureaucracy
  comprised of over 5,000 employees

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Working Parts

• European Commission (cont.)
• - Functions
• 1) Power of initiation all EU
  legislation must be initiated here
• 2) Implementation responsible for
  implementing legislation passed by Parliament
• 3) Guardian of the Treaties
  interprets how to implement
• 4) Manages finances
• 5) Handles external relations
• 6) Only body that can take member state
  to ECJ

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Working Parts

• European Parliament (legislative branch)
• - Headquarters Strasbourg, France and
  Brussels
• - Structure
• - directly elected by EU citizens once
  every 5 years
• - only part of the EU that is democratic
• - represents around 457 million EU
  citizens
• - members are known as Members of the
  European Parliament (MEPs) 736 overall
• - no uniform voting system to elect MEPs,
  each state is free to choose, as long as its a
  form of proportional representation (PR)
• - 7 Europe-wide political parties
  (supranational)

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Working Parts

• European Parliament (cont)
• - Structure (cont)
• - degressive proportionality based on
  population, but small states have more than
  they should

Strasbourg
Brussels
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Working Parts

• European Parliament (cont.)
• - Functions
• - cannot initiate legislation, but can
  amend or veto it in about ¾ of policy areas
  (codecision procedure)
• - decides rest using assent or
  consultation procedure
• - supervises the European Commission
  must approve all appointments en bloc can
  dismiss it with a vote of censure, but need
  2/3 majority (1999)
• - controls the EU budget
• - serves as lower-house, as in a
  bicameral system
• - appoints European Ombudsman

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Working Parts

• Council of Ministers (legislative branch)
• - serves as upper-house of European
  legislature with the Parliament
• - Structure
• 1) 9 Councils top ministers in
  particular policy area of each member nation
  meet
• Areas General Affairs and External
  Relations Economic and Financial Affairs
  Agriculture and Fisheries Justice and Home
  Affairs Employment, Social Policy, Health and
  Consumer Affairs Competitiveness Transport,
  Telecommunications, and Energy Environment
  Education, Youth, and Culture

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Working Parts

• Council of Ministers (cont.)
• - Structure (cont.)
• 2) Committee of Permanent Representatives
  (COREPER)
• - ambassadors or representatives from
  diplomatic missions of member states to the
  European communities
• - prepares the Council agenda and
  negotiates minor and non-controversial
  matters, leaving controversial issues for
  discussion, and other issues for formal
  agreement, by the Council

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Working Parts

• Council of Ministers (cont.)
• - Structure (cont.)
• 3) Working groups 3000 civil servants
  (eurocrats) who often reach de facto agreement
  then submit for approval at Councils
• 4) Presidency minister from country
  with presidency presides over Council meetings
  presidency rotates every six months based on a
  pre-established rotation (current presidency
  Finland)

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Working Parts

• Council of Ministers (cont.)
• - Functions
• 1) Legislation - the Council passes EU
  law on the recommendations of the European
  Commission and the European Parliament. 2)
  Approval of the EU budget - the Council and the
  Parliament must agree on the budget. 3)
  Foreign and defense policy - while each member
  state is free to develop its own foreign and
  defense policy, the Council seeks to achieve a
  common foreign and defense policy for the member
  states.
• 4) Economic policy - the Council also
  seeks to achieve a common economic policy for
  the member states.
• 5) Justice - the Council seeks to
  co-ordinate the justice system of the member
  states, especially in areas such as terrorism.

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Working Parts

• European Council
• - also known as European Summit
• - works like a Council of Ministers
  meeting, except with the heads of state present
• - takes place 4 times a year on average
• European Court of Justice (judicial branch)
• - two courts
• 1) European Court of Justice (ECJ)
• - high court, 25 judges, 6 year
  renewable terms
• - President of the Court 3 year
  renewable term
• - 8 advocates-general serve
  special advisory role research cases and
  present opinion to justices, but decision
  not binding

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Working Parts

• European Court of Justice (cont.)
• - two courts
• 1) European Court of Justice (ECJ)
• areas of jurisdiction
• a) Claims by the European Commission that a
  member state has not implemented a European
  Union Directive or other legal
  requirement.
• b) Claims by member states that the European
  Commission has exceeded its authority.
• c) References from national courts in the EU
  member states asking the ECJ questions
  about the meaning or validity of a
  particular piece of EU law.

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Working Parts

• European Court of Justice (cont.)
• - two courts
• 2) Court of First Instance
• - 25 judges, 6 year renewable terms
• - independent court affiliated with the
  ECJ
• - no permanent advocates-general
• - jurisdiction to hear all direct
  actions by individuals and member-states
  against EU
• - types of actions failure to act,
  damages, public or private contracts entered
  into by the EU, civil service

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Working Parts

• European Central Bank sets monetary policy for
  12 Eurozone countries, based in Frankfurt,
  Germany

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Fuel

• MONEY - 100 billion budget
• - Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 2003 total
  output of goods and services annually
• - EU 9755.4 billion (US12775
  billion)
• - United States US12445 billion (
  9500 billion)
• - Germany 2128.2 billion (US2786
  billion)
• - Trade
• - EU only accounts for 7 of world
  population, but accounts for 25 of all imports
  and exports
• - Trade between EU countries accounts for
  2/3 of all EU trade
• - EU trade accounts for over half of all
  trade in each of the 25 member nations,
  sometimes as much as 80

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Trade with other countries, as a percentage of
each countrys total trade, 2003
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International trade in goods, in billions of
Euro, 2002
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Fuel

• Political security
• - no wars have been fought between EU
  members since its formation
• - Europe wants to secure its borders to the
  east and south by spreading economic prosperity
• Enhanced services
• - education university student exchanges
  enhances intellectual capital
• - infrastructure development money is
  spread out to poorer countries to develop roads,
  ports, etc.
• - environment prevent pollution from other
  countries entering yours

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WIGO
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WIGO

• Immigration
• - causing cultural clashes i.e. riots in
  Paris
• - big deal in Rotterdam when a new
  mosque obstructed the view of the local soccer
  stadium
• - Berlin is second-largest Turkish city
  after Istanbul
• - Muhammad just became the most popular
  boys name in England
• - EU has traditionally had very liberal
  immigration policy (lots of social benefits, high
  level of tolerance, etc.)
• - Changing in wake of terrorist attacks and
  increasing xenophobia
• - Immigrants have boosted aging and
  declining EU population
• - How will EU policy reflect cultural
  demographic change?

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WIGO

• Enlargement
• - just enlarged by 10 countries, 2 more this
  month
• - new entrants cause EU funds to be spread
  thin, dont necessarily meet anti-corruption and
  economic requirements
• - culturally very different from Western
  Europe
• - translation now necessary in many more
  languages ()
• - new EU members want more power i.e.
  Poland mirrors whats happening in the United
  Nations
• - What to do about Turkey?

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WIGO

• Constitution
• - EU constitution was signed by all 25 heads
  of state in 2004
• - Designed to streamline previous treaties,
  codify human rights, and streamline
  decision-making
• - All 25 countries must ratify for it to
  pass into law
• - France and the Netherlands voted it down
• - What is the future of EU law?