THE TREATY OF NICE AND THE

CONVENTION ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE

The Amsterdam leftovers were meant to be resolved by the Treaty of Nice. However, that
Treaty prepared the European Union only partially for the important enlargements to the
east and south of 1 May 2004 and 1 January 2007. Hence, following up on the questions
raised in the Laeken Declaration of 15 December 2001, the European Convention made an
effort to produce a new legal base for the Union in the form of the Treaty Establishing a
Constitution for Europe. Following negative referendums in two Member States, this treaty
was not ratified.

TREATY OF NICE
The Treaty was signed on 26 February 2001 and entered into force on 1 February 2003.
A.

Objectives

The conclusions of the 1999 Helsinki European Council required the EU to be able, by the
end of 2002, to welcome as new Member States those applicant countries which were ready
for accession. Since only two of the applicant countries were more populous than the current
Member State average, the political weight of countries with a smaller population was due to
increase considerably. The Treaty of Nice was therefore meant to make the EU institutions more
efficient and legitimate and to prepare the EU for its next major enlargement.
B.

Background

A number of institutional issues (which became known as the Amsterdam leftovers) had been
addressed by the Maastricht and Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conferences (IGCs) (1.1.3) but
not satisfactorily resolved: the size and composition of the Commission, the weighting of votes
in the Council, and the extension of qualified majority voting. On the basis of a report by the
Finnish Presidency, the Helsinki European Council decided at the end of 1999 that an IGC
should deal with the leftovers and all other changes required in preparation for enlargement.
C.

Content

The IGC opened on 14 February 2000 and completed its work in Nice on 10 December 2000,
reaching agreement on the institutional questions and on a range of other points, namely a
new distribution of seats in the European Parliament, more flexible arrangements for enhanced
cooperation, the monitoring of fundamental rights and values in the EU, and a strengthening
of the EU judicial system.
1.

Weighting of votes in the Council

Taking together the system of voting in the Council, the composition of the Commission and,
to some extent, the distribution of seats in the European Parliament, the IGC realised that the
main imperative was to change the relative weight of the Member States, a subject that had been
addressed by no other IGC since the Treaty of Rome.
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Two methods of defining a qualified majority were considered: a new system of weighting
(modified from the existing one) or the application of a dual majority (of votes and of
population), the latter solution having been proposed by the Commission and upheld by
Parliament. The IGC chose the former option. The number of votes was increased for all Member
States but the share of the most populous Member States decreased: previously 55% of the votes,
it fell to 45% when the 10 new members joined and to 44.5% on 1 January 2007. This was why
the demographic safety net was introduced: a Member State may request verification that the
qualified majority represents at least 62% of the total population of the Union. If it does not,
the decision will not be adopted.
2.

The European Commission

a.

Composition

Since 2005 the Commission has included one commissioner per Member State. The Council has
the power to decide, acting unanimously, on the number of commissioners and on arrangements
for a rotation system, provided that each Commission reflects the demographic and geographical
range of the Member States.
b.

Internal organisation

The Treaty of Nice provides the President of the Commission with the power to allocate
responsibilities to the commissioners and to redistribute these in the course of a term of office.
The President chooses the Vice-Presidents and decides how many there shall be.
3.

The European Parliament

a.

Composition

The Treaty of Amsterdam had set the maximum number of MEPs at 700. At Nice the European
Council thought it necessary, with an eye to enlargement, to revise the number of MEPs for each
Member State. The new composition of Parliament was also used to counterbalance the changed
weighting of votes in the Council. The maximum number of MEPs was hence set at 732.
b.

Powers

Parliament was enabled, like the Council, the Commission and the Member States, to institute a
legal challenge to acts of the Council, the Commission or the European Central Bank on grounds
of lack of competence, infringement of an essential procedural requirement, infringement of the
Treaty or of any rule of law relating to its application, or misuse of powers.
Following a proposal by the Commission, Article 191 was transformed into an operational legal
basis for the adoption, under the codecision procedure, of regulations governing political parties
at EU level and rules on their funding.
Parliaments legislative powers were increased through a slight broadening of the scope of the
codecision procedure and by requiring Parliaments assent for the establishment of enhanced
cooperation in areas covered by codecision. Parliament must also be asked for its opinion should
the Council pronounce on the risk of a serious breach of fundamental rights in a Member State.
4.

Reform of the judicial system

a.

The Court of Justice of the European Union

The Court of Justice was empowered to sit in a number of different ways: in chambers (where
it consists of three or five judges), in a Grand Chamber (eleven judges) or as the full Court.
The Council, acting unanimously, may increase the number of Advocates-General. The Court
of Justice of the EU retains jurisdiction over questions referred for a preliminary ruling, but it
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may, under its Statute, refer to the Court of First Instance types of matters other than those listed
in Article 225 of the EC Treaty.
b.

Court of First Instance

The powers of the Court of First Instance were increased to include certain categories of
preliminary ruling, with the possibility of judicial panels being established by unanimous
decision of the Council. All these operating provisions, notably on the powers of the Court of
First Instance, were thenceforth set out in the Treaty itself.
5.

Legislative procedures

Although a considerable number of new policies and measures (27) now required qualified
majority voting in the Council, codecision was extended only to a few minor areas (covered
by former Articles 13, 62, 63, 65, 157, 159 and 191 of the EC Treaty); for matters covered by
former Article 161 assent was now required.
6.

Enhanced cooperation

Like the Amsterdam Treaty, the Treaty of Nice contains general provisions which apply to all
areas of enhanced cooperation and provisions specific to the pillar concerned. Whereas the
Amsterdam Treaty provided for enhanced cooperation under the first and third pillars only, the
Treaty of Nice encompassed all three pillars.
The Treaty of Nice made further changes: referral to the European Council ceased to be an
option, the concept of a reasonable period of time was clarified, and the assent of Parliament
was now required in all areas where enhanced cooperation related to a question covered by the
codecision procedure.
7.

Protection of fundamental rights

A paragraph was added to Article 7 TEU to cover cases where a patent breach of fundamental
rights has not actually occurred but where there is a clear risk that it may occur. The Council,
acting by a majority of four-fifths of its members and after obtaining the assent of Parliament,
determines the existence of the risk and addresses appropriate recommendations to the Member
State in question. A non-binding Charter of Fundamental Rights was proclaimed (1.1.6).
D.

Role of the European Parliament

As with earlier intergovernmental conferences, Parliament was actively involved in preparations

for the 2000 IGC, giving its views on the conference agenda and its progress and objectives.
Parliament also expressed its opinion on the substance and judicial implications of the Charter
of Fundamental Rights (1.1.6). Parliament insisted that the next IGC should be a transparent
process, involving European and national parliamentarians and the Commission, as well as input
from ordinary people, and that its outcome should be a constitution-type document.

CONVENTION ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE

A.

Basis and objectives

In accordance with Declaration No 23 annexed to the Treaty of Nice, the Laeken European
Council of 14 and 15 December 2001 decided to organise a Convention bringing together the
main parties concerned for a debate on the future of the European Union. The objectives were
to prepare for the next IGC as transparently as possible and to address the four main issues
concerning the further development of the EU: a better division of competences; simplification
of the Unions instruments of action; increased democracy, transparency and efficiency; and the
drafting of a constitution for Europes citizens.
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B.

Organisation

The Convention comprised a chair (Valry Giscard DEstaing), two vice-chairs (Guiliano Amato
and Jean-Luc Dehaene), 15 representatives of the Member States heads of state or government,
30 members of the national parliaments (two per Member State), 16 members of the European
Parliament and two members of the Commission. The countries having applied to join the Union
also took part in the debate on an equal footing but could not block any consensus which might
emerge among the Member States. The Convention thus had a total of 105 members.
In addition to the chair and vice-chairs, the Praesidium comprised nine members of the
Convention and an invited representative chosen by the applicant countries. The Praesidium had
the role of lending impetus to the Convention and providing it with a basis on which to work.
C.

Outcome

The work of the Convention comprised: a listening phase in which it sought to identify the
expectations and needs of Member States and Europes citizens; a phase in which the ideas
expressed were studied; and a phase of drafting recommendations based on the essence of the
debate. At the end of 2002, eleven working groups presented their findings to the Convention.
During the first half of 2003, the Convention drew up and debated a text which became the draft
Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.
Part I of the Treaty (principles and institutions, 59 articles) and Part II (Charter of Fundamental
Rights, 54 articles) were laid before the Thessaloniki European Council on 20 June 2003. Part
III (policies, 338 articles) and Part IV (final provisions, 10 articles) were presented to the Italian
Presidency on 18 July 2003. A subsequent IGC adopted this text on 18 June 2004, retaining
the basic structure of the Conventions draft, albeit with a considerable number of amendments.
However, as a result of two negative referendums, in France and the Netherlands, the ratification
procedure for the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe was not completed (1.1.5).
D.

Role of the European Parliament

The impact of MEPs during the work of the European Convention was seen by most observers as
decisive. Thanks to several factors, including their experience of negotiating in an international
environment and the fact that the Convention was meeting on Parliaments premises, MEPs
were able to leave a strong imprint on the debates and on the outcome of the Convention. They
were also instrumental in the formation of political families comprising MEPs and national
MPs. Parliament thus achieved a considerable number of its original aims, and most of that
achievement is now safeguarded in the Treaty of Lisbon.
Petr Novak
10/2015

Fact Sheets on the European Union - 2016