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Summary Politics of the European Union
Goals:
History of european integration
Know how institutions work
The main theories of european integration
Be able to contextualize and analyze current events
Early 20th century
Treaty of versailles
League of nations
Ww2 caused:
Economic devastation
Political weakness
Divided continent
Failure of treaty of versailles is known
Exploration of new interstate relations
Change of political climate:
Combatting nationalism
New political map of Europe
New international power balance
Division of Germany
Change of the economic climate
Bretton woods monetary system:
IMF
World Bank
General agreement on tariffs and trade
European recovery program (marshall aid)
Differences between the western European states
All states joined for hard-headed national calculations always prevailed
European integration helped the nation state
Institutional developments
Organization for european economic cooperation > 1948
The council of Europe > 1949
NATO > 1949
The European coal and steel community > 1951
The European defense cooperation > western European union > 1954
European Economic Community > 1958
Organization for economic co-operation and development > 1961
The European coal and steel community
1950 Schuman Declaration
50 years duration
Ambition to create a free trade area
Coal and steel integrate: main resources for warmaking and industrialization
Common market makes it harder to build weapons
Institutions of the ECSC
High authority: nine members (prequel to european commission)
Special council of ministers: ministers of porfolios coal and steel (precursor of the european council)
Common assembly (precursor of the european parliament)
Court of justice: settled conflicts between member states
Architects of european integration
Jean Monnet (president of ECSC)
Robert Schumann (french prime/foreign minister, schumann declaration)
Konrad Adenauer (Chancellor of Germany, German entrance nato)
Alcide de Gasperi (italian prime minister)
The European Defense Community (1950)
Establish an European Army
Supranational organization
Didn't pass by the French parliament, UK was not interested
This failed
Western European Union (1955)
6 members + UK
Forum for defense cooperation
Permitted Germany to join NATO
Did not exist long
Not institutionalized
The European Economic Community 1957
Refocus on economic integration
Liberal capitalism
Some protectionist elements: agriculture
Creates a common market with a free trade area: removing all tarifs
Creation of a customs union: creates a common external tariffs: creates a common external trade policy. The Common Commercial Policy
Common rules: prohibits practices that prevent competition between member states
Common Market: promotes free movement of persons, services and capital
Mentioning a common currency (47 years)
Messina declaration 1955 and treaties of Rome 1957
Institutions of the EEC
Commission (initiates new policy and oversee implementation)
Council of ministers (makes decisions on proposals from the commission)
Parliamentary assembly (could question or censure the commission) (elected from 1979)
Court of justice (responsible for respect to treaties)
EURATOM 1957
European Atomic Energy Community
Treaties of Rome
Promotion of research
Health and safety
Nuclear common market
Same institutions
Did not do much, member states protected own market
These institutions form The European Communities
Options to study
Chronology
Treaties
Deepening of policies
Widening of membership
Chronology:
Grand steps: treaties, enlargement
Incremental steps: economic, political decisions, court judgement
Treaties:
Reflect, advance and unfold integration
No rolling back
1966-1980s: gap
Eurosclerosis: no appetite for european integration: french resistance
Luxembourg compromise of 1966: unanimity for all decisions
Treaty overview
Treaty ECSC: 1951
Treaty EEC & EURATOM: 1957
Single European act: 1986 (Economic integration)
Treaty of Maastricht: 1992 (formation of the European Union, EU gained power in more areas)
Treaty of Amsterdam: 1997 (adjustments decision making procedure for eastern European Enlargement)
Treaty of Nice: 2001 (preparation for eastern European enlargement decisionmaking)
Treaty of Lisbon: 2009 (a real European Union legally)
Treaty of maastricht: pillar structures
3 pillars
First pillar: EEC, ECSC, EAEC (majority)
Second pillar: common security and foreign policy (unanimity)
Third pillar: justice and home affairs (unanimity)
Other treaties:
Merger treaty: merges institutions
Schengen treaty: free movement
Deepening = vertical integration
Institutional deepening: institutions above the state gain power, increased use of majority voting
Policy deepening: growth of political power of the EU, new fields of policy areas
History viewed by economic integration:
In stages
Free trade area
Customs union
Integrated internal market
Economic and monetary union
Widening
Denmark, Ireland, UK 1975
Greece 1981
Portugal and Spain 1986
Austria, Finland, Sweden 1995
Cyprus, Malta, baltic states, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia 2004
Bulgaria, Romania 2007
Croatia 2013
(Norway rejected twice after a referendum)
(Switzerland rejected once by referendum)
1960: EFTA, Competitor to the EEC but failed (UK as founder, becomes the EEA)
EEA: switzerland, iceland, norway, liechtenstein (no voting rights but part of the economic single market)
Changes in conditions (kopenhagen criteria)
Stable institutions guaranteeing: democracy, rule of law, human rights, respect minorities
Functioning market economy, ability to cope with competitive pressure and market forces, product standards
Acceptance of the acquis communautaire: to be able to take on membership obligations, adherence to political economic and monetary union
The main EU institutions
Citizens represented in the parliament
Member states represented in the european council and council of the EU
EU interests represented in European commission
The European council: representing the member states at the highest level
Heads of state or government
Sets the EU political agenda
Since 2009 officially, lisbon treaty (created in 1974)
Recognition in the single european act (1986)
Increased power
Before 2009 the HoS/G and president of the commission, but also included foreign ministers and one other commissioner
President of the european council
Since 2009
Appointed for 2.5 years, 1 time renewable
Responsibilities: chairs EuCo meetings, ensure the continuity of the work of the european council
Find consensus and cohesion within the EuCo
Ensures the external representation of the EU on security and foreign policy
Former presidents of EuCo
Herman van Rompuy 2009-2014 (low profile, looks for compromises, efficient)
Donald Tusk 2014-2019 (high profile, strong positions, bold but biased)
Charles Michael 2019-2024 (low profile, looks for compromises)
Frequency of meetings
Varies according to changing needs and circumstances
At least 4 meetings of 2 days
Restrictions who can enter
Extensively prepared and closely reported
Formal: announced meetings, informal: meeting to discuss something, extraordinary: when something important suddenly happens.
Eurosessions: only for Euro-countries, since 2015, twice a year
Functions: history making decisions are made in these summits, contentious matters are referred up to the EuCo, policy initiator, forum of exchanging ideas
Topics: eu evolution, constitutional and institutional matters, appointing presidents, enlargement, external relations, specific internal policies,1 economic and monetary policies
Council of the EU
Ministers of national government
Negotiate and vote on legislation
Since 1951
Council of the European Union functions:
legislates together with the parliament
Also has executive functions (areas of high politics, euro area, migration, foreign policy)
Forum of exchange: devising the big bargains that orientate future EU policy
key responsibilities
policy and law-maker actor
Decision maker on binding legislation
Co-legislates with the EP, sort of upper chamber
Decision maker on nonbinding legislation
adopt opinions or recommendations
Executive actor
Single market: council committees
made of national representatives that work together with the commision on executive decisions
Foreign and security policy: at the ministers’ level
the council takes decisions with immediate executive implications
Economic affairs: at ministers’ level, sanction member state for exceeding budget deficit rules
Mediator
Find compromises on legislative proposals and future reforms
Mediates between:
national and ideological interests
the council and the commission
the council and the EP
Mediation is performed by the council presidency and the general secretariat
council configurations do exist to
The European council consists of three levels of meetings
Ministers
Coreper: Committee of permanent Representatives
Committees and working groups
In practice the working party decides and the corper and ministers adopt it
The council meets around 4000 times a year
The ministers
Formations and membership
Ministerial meetings bring together all relevant people
Consists of 100-150 people
Powers:
The ministers take all final decisions on anything adopted in the council’s name
Commission proposals for legislation
Common positions or actions in foreign & security policy
Noting progress reports
Requests to the Commission for information
The Eurogroup
Has a permanent president
Jeroen Dijsselbloem held the position from 2013-2018
ECOFIN adopts official decisions of the Eurogroup
COREPER:
Committee of permanent Representatives
COREPER 1, deputy permanent representatives, deal mainly with routine matters
COREPER 2, deals with difficult matters
There also exist senior committees which can be between coreper and the committees and working groups
The council presidency
rotates every 18 months between groups of 3 member states (so 6 months with every member state)
In these 18 months the 3 member states can coördinate their topics
The presidency has a lot of power because it decides the agenda
presidencies offer opportunities but can also create major problems for member states because it can be seen as a burden
The small EU countries have difficulties to man the institution
Also during elections, presidency is hard because you can’t press your own issues
The foreign affairs council is always chaired by a high representative
Decision making procedures
formally there are three decision making procedures
Unanimity: for sensitive policy areas
Qualified majority
Simple majority
What is the European commission
Looks like a EU civil service
Also has executive powers
A complex bureaucracy
Supranational
The heart of the EU political system
Independent of the member states
Roles and functions
Initiator and proposer of new policies (sole right of legislative initiative)
Guardian of the legal framework (seeing if the member states follow EU law)
Executive functions (for example imposing fines in competition policy)
Manager of EU finances (administer cohesion policy (help offered by the EU when new members join)
External representative and negotiator
Power resources
Its powers of initiative: exclusive and non-exclusive
Neutrality
Access to information through: commission services, always present in all decision making forums, a lot of advisor and expert committees
The college of commissioners of the european commission
Under the Lisbon treaty: one commissioner per member state, 5-year terms, nominated and accepted, and approved as a whole
The Spitzenkandidat
Political groups in the EP appoint candidates for the position of commission president
Group with the most votes becomes commission president
Not always true, European council can intervene
Located in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg
Key powers
Legislative power
Budgetary power
Parliamentary control
Enlargement decisions
Legislative:
not a normal parliament
cannot initiate legislation only ask the commision
Does not adopt legislation on its own, always together with the council
Is part of an institutional triangle with the commission and the council where it can:
be on equal footing in oridnary legislative procedure
give a non-binding opinion as consultation
say yes or no to legislation as a whole in the consent procedure
makes it a take it or leave discussion where the EP can’t decide about the specifics
Budgetary powers:
The EP has co-budgetary authority with the council
considerable influence on the annual budget
propose modifications, or approve/reject the whole budget
The EP is however excluded from deliberations on the multiannual financial frameworks (MFF)
are agreed on every 7 years
It can only agree/reject about the MFF as a whole
Scrutiniser of the executive
The parliament can elect the commission president and the college
dismiss the college (vote of no confidence, only came close in 1999)
special and inquiry committees (no consequences)
Budgetary control committee
Written and oral questions to the commission, the ECB and other EU agencies
They have however little control over the council and no control over the European council.
Giving consent for enlargement and international trade agreements
The EU parliament only comes very late in the process and can only agree or disagree
EP formal work
standing committees: eacht committee has 80 members, some more important, prominent then others
Factors determining EU policy processes
Treaty Base
This lays down the different decision making procedures and specifies the circumstances in which they are to be used
Status of policies
procedures tend to be more fixed when binding decisions is envisaged
Commission legislation which is often very specific and technical is usually subject to less political review and discussion than council and EP legislation
Degree of generality
Policy making may not necessarily involve a specific procedure but can consist of exchanges of ideas by interested parties
Newness/controversiality/sensitivity
The more this applies, the more complex policy processes are likely to be
Balance of responsibility
Where the EU policy making role is supplementary to that of the member state
Circumstantial and their perception
Some things evolve in time like crime and terrorist threats which became a more international problem
Types of EU acts / decisions
Constitutional framework: the history making decisions
Treaties
revision procedure
Legally binding acts
EU secondary law: Policy setting decisions
Regulations, directives and decisions
Ordinary legislative procedure & special legislative procedures
EU implementing law
Delegated and implementing acts, executives and administrative decisions
Adopted by the commission, the council or the ECB
Non binding acts: Policy shaping decisions
Soft law
Recommendations, opinions, guidelines and joint actions
Mostly adopted by the council or the commission
Policy processes across policy areas
Hard law
Community method
Single market
Agriculture and fisheries
migration and asylum
Hard & soft law
Intensive transgovernmentalism
Foreign and security policy
Police cooperation
Treaty making
Soft law
Open method of coordination
Economic policy
Employment
Social inclusion
Executive decisions
Centralized decision making
Competition policy
Monetary policy
The community method
Focus on hard law (1992) to binding decision (2009)
From unanimity to more QMV in the council
trilogues: informal meetings between the Commission, the Council, and the EP
Take place once the Council and the EP have reached initial internal positions
Agreement possible at any stage, but majority of compromises reached at first reading
Consultation procedure: asking the EP what they think of a proposal
Key areas of application:
Police cooperation
Family law
Harmonization of regulations regarding personal documents
Harmonization of indirect taxation
Expanding ECB authority in banking supervision
The consent procedure: EP has to agree with a proposal
Areas of application:
The multiannual financial framework (MFF)
The ratification of international agreements signed with third countries (e.g. TTIP)
The accession of new Member States to the EU (enlargement)
withdrawals from the EU
Why is EU unity in external policy difficult?
A capability - expectations gap still exists
Potentially the EU is a major international actor because:
Its size and resources
How it can act as an united actor
The EU has one voice in the global trade stage
It is called the common commercial policy
Because it is a single customs union with a single trade policy and common external tariff for other EU countries
The European Commission speaks for all member states in the WTO
The EU concludes international trade agreements on behalf of the member states
The EU has the potential to pursue a liberal international trading system
With that it can conclude a variety of different types of trading agreements (trade-, economic cooperation-, association-agreements)
To increasingly incorporate political conditionality into trading agreements with non-democratic countries
To defend EU interests, which could lead to disagreements with non-EU countries
The council of the European Union deals with the issues about trade
Informs the commission and parliament
Could also involve national parliaments when it has a lot of impact
Foreign and defense policies: size and resources
The EU has a bigger army personnel than the US
Modern military (second after the US)
Extensive diplomatic experience and skills
Special links with many parts of the world due to a colonial past
EU only has one seat in the permanent UN council and only 1 nuclear power
An extensive and developing institutional framework
Historical development
1950s and 60s nothing happened
1970s began developing a european political cooperation: characterized by flexibility, confidential and informal
A treaty base was established
The maastricht treaty created the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) as second pillar of the newly formed EU
The Amsterdam and Nice treaties strengthened the CFSP
The EU mostly succeeds in developing a shared view, even if it is in general terms on most foreign policy issues
There are a few problems however:
Not all EU states are NATO members
Differing views on Atlantic partnership
Sovereignty question
Differing interests in and perceptions of foreign policy theaters
The high representative
Double hatted: chair of the foreign affairs council and vicepresidente of the European commission
Steers the CFSP
Implements decisions adopted by the european council and the council of the EU
Builds consensus between member states
Oversees operational conduct of EU missions and operations deployed as part of CSDP
ensure consistency and coherence of the EUs external action
CSDP: common security and defense policies
Smaller than CSFP
Only involves defense
Made it's first appearance in the maastricht treaty
Amsterdam treaty specified EU's main external security concerns
Stages of the economic and monetary union
1986: the single european act set out the objective to create EMU
1990: abolition of all restrictions of movement of capital
1992: Maastricht treaty established EMU officially
Institutional asymmetry between economic and monetary issues, EMU has a stronger monetary side, which has a hard time to adjust to other countries.
It creates some problems because it had: a one size fits all policy, while there are a lot of different economies. It has weak and fragmented financial regulation, poor implementation of the stability and growth pact, and the absence of a fiscal union.
1994: establishment of the european monetary institute, predecessor to the ecb
1999: irrevocable fixing of conversion rates. ECB responsible for monetary policy
2002: creation of the euro
Key characteristics of the EMU
Eurozone members can no longer devaluate their currency or take individual decisions on exchange and interest rates
Macro economic policies are aligned under the umbrella of the stability and growth pact (Budgetary deficit maximum 3%, government debt shouldnt be higher than 60% of the GDP)
Member states are part of a multilateral surveillance system on their economic policies
EU response to the 2008 crisis
Provide financial assistance to countries in trouble
Create the ESM, european stability mechanism: provides loans in exchange for reforms
ECB's bond-buying programs on secondary markets
Strengthening the economic and fiscal policy coordination
Making high government debt illegal: the fiscal compact
Creation of the European Semester: strengthening the role of the commission in monitoring public debt and budget defecit, increasing the possibility of sanctions for non-compliance
Increase banking regulation amd supervision
Create the single supervisory mechanism: common rules to be followed by eurozone banks, which are supervised by the ECB in the framework set by the European Banking Authority
Terminology:
Intra-EU migration = free movement (eu citizens can go study, work, live and move freely between member states
External Migration = immigration to the EU (people coming from outside the EU, known as third country nationals)
Difference in regular (legal) and irregular (illegal) migration
Refugees = asylum policy, escaping from persecution, war or natural disasters. Have international protection rights
Conflicts between member states concerning migration
Burden sharing: some countries are more affected than others.
Domestic politics: some countries do not want to accept external migration
EU-response to the refugee crisis
Military patrolling in the mediterranean sea (to prevent loss of life at sea and prevent irregular migration)
Frontex
Create processing centers: the hotspot approach
Redefine the list of countries in.which citizens have the right to qualify for asylum
Relocation and resettlement
Stop refugee inflows and externalize the problem (closing down the frontier, stranding people in greece) (EU turkey readmission agreement: turkey closing its border in exchange for financial support
Main critic point on the EU refugee problem
Inability to respond effectively and in a coordinated manner
The inhumane treatment of asylum seekers
Obstacles in decision making: internal domestic politisation (rise of farright). High legel of distributive conflict: how to share the burden?
The EU health policies
The EU has supporting competences in human health
Health mentioned only as a justification to prohibit the free movement of goods, services or people under exceptional circumstances
The EU sets safety standards for food, pharma, toys, medical devices, chemicals etc.
Health systems are national, but people moved freely across borders
Constitutional asymmetry between policies promoting market efficiency and those promoting social protection
The EU was unprepared for the covid pandemic
Relevant EU institutions
European commission: directorate for health and food safety (DG SANTE): proposed legislation and financial support and coordinate the exchange of best practices between EU countries.
The council: employment, social policy, health and consumer affairs configuration (EPSCO council)
EU agencies: European center for disease prevention and control (ECDC): monitor illness and risk assessment
European Medicines Agency (EMA): facilitates development and access to medicine, evaluate applications for marketing authorisation, monitor the safety of medicines and provide information to healthcare professionals.
EU measures adopted:
Measures to preserve the internal market: launch infringement procedures against governments which ban export of protective equipment
Coordinate restrictions on mobility: short suspension of schengen area
Measures to create a common pool of resources: RescEU, creates a stockpile of protective and medical equipment.
Create a joint procurement scheme for vaccines: allows the European Commission to purchase vaccines tor the EU as a block: creates equality and brings prices down. The Commission focused on lowering prices instead of quick delivery.
EMA took longer to approve vaccines
Establish elements of fiscal capacity at the EU level to support economic recovery: creates an emergency recovery fund - Next Generation EU - and a revised multiannual financial framework 2021-2027
Shared bonds: makes lending money cheaper for poorer member states
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Summary Politics of the European Union
Goals:
History of european integration
Know how institutions work
The main theories of european integration
Be able to contextualize and analyze current events
Early 20th century
Treaty of versailles
League of nations
Ww2 caused:
Economic devastation
Political weakness
Divided continent
Failure of treaty of versailles is known
Exploration of new interstate relations
Change of political climate:
Combatting nationalism
New political map of Europe
New international power balance
Division of Germany
Change of the economic climate
Bretton woods monetary system:
IMF
World Bank
General agreement on tariffs and trade
European recovery program (marshall aid)
Differences between the western European states
All states joined for hard-headed national calculations always prevailed
European integration helped the nation state
Institutional developments
Organization for european economic cooperation > 1948
The council of Europe > 1949
NATO > 1949
The European coal and steel community > 1951
The European defense cooperation > western European union > 1954
European Economic Community > 1958
Organization for economic co-operation and development > 1961
The European coal and steel community
1950 Schuman Declaration
50 years duration
Ambition to create a free trade area
Coal and steel integrate: main resources for warmaking and industrialization
Common market makes it harder to build weapons
Institutions of the ECSC
High authority: nine members (prequel to european commission)
Summary political science
This was largely an introduction to the field with no real information that you should know for the exams.
Terminology
Analytical political theory: study of concepts, ideas and values who are used to describe and explain = conceptualizing
Political theory: a combination of analytical, empirical and normative theories
Normative political theory: How politics should be
Normative political science: The use of theories about how politics should be
Empirical
Facts
Describe and explain
observational analysis
Normative
Values
How it should be
prescribing and evaluation
Argumentational analysis
Lijphart:
Empirically descriptive:
The Netherlands is a segmented but stable state.
Empirically explanatory:
The Netherlands is stable because it has a consensus democracy
Normative prescribing:
Segmented states should become a consensus democracy
Normative evaluated:
Consensus democracy is better for stability than a competitive democracy.
Discussion about how a closed and final a theory is
How do we look to reality and how do we cope with it
Philosophy of Science: philosophical research to assumptions, methods and results of scientific research.
Meta-theory: About the core of reality
Ontology: What is? What is knowable
Epistemology: What ought to be? How can we know?
Methodology: How can it be researched?
Ontology
If a tree falls, and nobody sees or hears it, did it really fall down?
Theory about being
Is there a world outside of our experiences
Material sense (gravity), social sense (culture), perceptions and beliefs
Objectivism and constructivism
Epistemology
What can we know? theories of knowledge
Summary Politics of the European Union
Goals:
History of european integration
Know how institutions work
The main theories of european integration
Be able to contextualize and analyze current events
Early 20th century
Treaty of versailles
League of nations
Ww2 caused:
Economic devastation
Political weakness
Divided continent
Failure of treaty of versailles is known
Exploration of new interstate relations
Change of political climate:
Combatting nationalism
New political map of Europe
New international power balance
Division of Germany
Change of the economic climate
Bretton woods monetary system:
IMF
World Bank
General agreement on tariffs and trade
European recovery program (marshall aid)
Differences between the western European states
All states joined for hard-headed national calculations always prevailed
European integration helped the nation state
Institutional developments
Organization for european economic cooperation > 1948
The council of Europe > 1949
NATO > 1949
The European coal and steel community > 1951
The European defense cooperation > western European union > 1954
European Economic Community > 1958
Organization for economic co-operation and development > 1961
The European coal and steel community
1950 Schuman Declaration
50 years duration
Ambition to create a free trade area
Coal and steel integrate: main resources for warmaking and industrialization
Common market makes it harder to build weapons
Institutions of the ECSC
High authority: nine members (prequel to european commission)
Samenvatting en collegeaantekeningen - Internationale Politiek Bachelor 1 - Universiteit Leiden
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