EU policies

Lecturer:
• Miklós VASARY PhD associate professor
• mvasary@metropoltian.hu

Mandatory readings:
• Slides
• Zoltan Horváth (2011): Handbook on the
European Union
 Schedule
• Basics of EU
• Basics of the main institutions, legal system,
decision making
• Basics of EU common budget, free movement of
goods and servicies
• EU enlargements and EU 2020 Strategy
• Basics of EU common policies – mainly:
– Economic and Monetary Union
– Regional and Cohesion Policy
– Common Agricultural Policy
– Common Commercial Policy
Introduction
 Why european
cooperation and integration?
Propelled by a distinctive set of historical circumstances and
impulses and motivated by political, economic and security
considerations.
1. Wish to avoid a repeat of governmental failures culminated in
two World Wars in the 20th century and expansionist
nationalism (Nazi Germany).
2. Economic demolition caused by wartime destruction.
3. Emergence of two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union
with competing economic and political ideologies.
4. Division of Europe (East and West) and the need for security
from Soviet threat and expansionism.
5. Need for rapid development in standards of living and
economic performance to establish long-lasting peace and
security. Poor economic performance was perceived as
providing a climate of political instability conducive to the
growth of Fascism and Communism as the extreme ideologies.
6. Franco-German reconciliation as the basis of stability within
Western Europe.
 European Coal and Steel Community I.

• The coal and steel industries being essential

for the production of munitions, Schuman
believed that by uniting these two industries
across France and Germany under an
innovative supranational system that also
included a European anti-cartel agency, he
could make war not only unthinkable but
materially impossible.
 European Coal and Steel Community II.
• Treaty of Paris on 18 April 1951
• forming the European Coal and Steel Community,
it was formed by "the six":
– France,
– Italy,
– the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands and
Luxembourg) together with
– West Germany
• The common market was opened on 10 February
1953 for coal, and on 1 May 1953 for steel.
 The ECSC supranational institutional
framework
• The High Authority (now the European Commission)
responsible for formulation a common market in coal
and steel, cooperating closely with the national
bureaucracies to implement community legislation;
• The Council of Ministers representing the member states
interests;
• A Common Assembly of national parliaments delegates;
• The Court of Justice to ensure compliance of the
member states with the Treaty terms and examining
disputes.
 Institutional framework

Council of
opinion Ministers Legal transaction

decision
proposal
Common
Court of Justice
Assembly

opinion Legal transaction

High Authority
 Institutional framework - nowdays
decision + opinion

European European
Parliament Council Legal transaction

decision
proposal Court of Justice
opinion

Legal transaction
European
Commission
 Treaties of Rome
• the European Economic Community (EEC) and
the second established
• the European Atomic Energy Community
(EAEC or Euratom)
• signed on 25 March 1957.
• Both treaties were signed by The Six:
– Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands and West Germany.
 Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community
Article 2
The Community shall have as its task, by establishing a common market
and progressively approximating the economic policies of Member
states, to promote throughout the Community a harmonious
development of economic activities, a continuous and balanced
expansion, an increase in stability, an accelerated raising of the
standard of living and closer relations between States belonging to it.
 Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community
Article 3
For the purposes set out in Article 2, the activities of the
Community shall include, as provided in this Treaty and in
accordance with the timetable set out therein:
(a) The elimination, as between Member states, of customs
duties and of quantitative restrictions on the import and
export of goods, and of all other measures having equivalent
effect;
(b) The establishment of a common customs tariff and of
common commercial policy towards third countries;
(c) The abolition, as between Member states, of obstacles to
freedom of movement for persons, services and capital;
 Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community
Article 3
(d) The adoption of a common policy in the sphere of
agriculture;
(e) The adoption of a common policy in the sphere of
transport;
(f) The institution of a system ensuring that
competition in the common market is not distorted;
(g) the application of procedures by which the
economic policies of the member states can be
coordinated and disequilibria in their balances of
payment remedied;
 Single European Act (SEA)
signed in 1986
the first major revision of the 1957 Treaty of
Rome
core element of the SEA was to create a Single
Market
 Single European Act (SEA)
• to establish of a common market over a period that would
conclude on 31 December1992.This would mean an area without
obstacles to free movement of goods, people, services and
capitals. This ambitious goal, summed up in 282 detailed
measures, was broadly reached in the foreseen term. The
common market became a reality.
• Different procedures were passed to coordinate the monetary
policy of the member States, paving the way toward the
objective of economic and monetary union.
• to promote integration in the spheres of social rights (health and
the workers' security), research and technology, and
environment.
• To achieve the objective of a greater economic and social
cohesion among the diverse countries and regions of the
Community, reform and financial support to the denominated
Structural Funds, European Agricultural Guidance and
Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), European Regional Development Fund
(ERDF), European Social Fund (ESF) was settled.
 Treaty of Maastricht – The Treaty of the
European Union
• signed in Maastricht on 7 February 1992
• the Treaty of Maastricht responds to five key
goals:
– strengthen the democratic legitimacy of the
institutions;
– improve the effectiveness of the institutions;
– establish economic and monetary union;
– develop the Community social dimension;
– establish a common foreign and security policy.
 Amsterdam Treaty
• signed in Amsterdam on 2 October 1997
• The aim:
– to create the political and institutional conditions to
enable the European Union to meet the challenges of the
future such as the rapid evolution of the international
situation,
– the globalisation of the economy
– and its impact on jobs,
– the fight against terrorism, international crime and drug
trafficking,
– ecological problems and threats to public health.
 The main results
• Freedom, security and justice: to protect fundamental
rights within the European Union, such as equality
between men and women, non-discrimination and data
privacy
• The Union and the citizen: development of the concept of
European citizenship; consolidation of environmental
policy an improvement in the instruments available to the
European Union for promoting high standards of public
health; the clarification of the aims of consumer protection
policy
• Effective and coherent external policy: common strategy,
improved decision-making, post of High Representative
• Institutional questions: qualified majority voting by the
Council, structure and operation of the European
Commission
 The Treaty of Lisbon
• 21 and 22 June 2007, European leaders
reached a compromise and agreed to convene
an IGC to finalise and adopt, not a
Constitution, but a reform treaty for the
European Union.
• signed on 13 December 2007
 The main results – I.
• 1. A more democratic and transparent
Europe, with a strengthened role for the
European Parliament and national
parliaments, more opportunities for citizens to
have their voices heard and a clearer sense of
who does what at European and national
level.
– strengthened role for the European Parliament
– greater involvement of national parliaments
– stronger voice for citizens
– Withdrawal from the Union
 The main results -II.
• 2. A more efficient Europe, with simplified
working methods and voting rules, streamlined
and modern institutions for a EU of 27 members
and an improved ability to act in areas of major
priority for today's Union.
– Effective and efficient decision-making
– A more stable and streamlined institutional
framework
– Improving the life of Europeans (energy policy,
public health, civil protection, climate change,
space, territorial cohesion, humanitarian aid etc.)
 The main results -III.
• 3. A Europe of rights and values, freedom,
solidarity and security, promoting the Union's
values, introducing the Charter of Fundamental
Rights into European primary law, providing for
new solidarity mechanisms and ensuring better
protection of European citizens.
– Democratic values
– Citizens' rights and Charter of Fundamental Rights
– Freedom of European citizens
– Solidarity between Member States
– Increased security for all
 The main results -IV.
• 4. Europe as an actor on the global stage will be
achieved by bringing together Europe's external
policy tools, both when developing and deciding
new policies. The Treaty of Lisbon gives Europe a
clear voice in relations with its partners
worldwide. It harnesses Europe's economic,
humanitarian, political and diplomatic strengths
to promote European interests and values
worldwide, while respecting the particular
interests of the Member States in Foreign Affairs.
 The main results -V.
• 4. Europe as an actor on the global stage
– A new High Representative for the Union in Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy, also Vice-President of the Commission
– A new European External Action Service
– A single legal personality for the Union will strengthen the
Union's negotiating power, making it more effective on the
world stage and a more visible partner for third countries and
international organisations.
– European Security and Defence Policy will preserve special
decision-making arrangements but also pave the way towards
reinforced cooperation amongst a smaller group of Member
States.