The policies of the European Union

Interactive Tests & Preparatory Material for Open Competitions

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 Principles
 Legal basis: Treaty articles, milestone European Council Conclusions

 History: Treaty / policy changes, evolution of policies, White Papers

 Policy objectives: main (Treaty) objectives and current aims

 Issues of the day: current affairs in each policy (eg. Internal Market:
Bolkestein directive on services)

 Institutions: who does what and how, decision-making procedure,

voting rules; Community programs, actions, Agencies

 Abbreviations in this presentation: CON = consultation procedure,

COD = codecision procedure, ASS = assent procedure, UNA =
unanimity, QMV = qualified majority, ECOSOC = Economic and Social
Committee must be consulted, CoR = Committee of Regions must be
consulted
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 Agriculture and Fisheries

 Legal basis: Articles 32-38 of the EC Treaty (since Rome)

 Objective: to increase agricultural productivity, to ensure a

fair standard of living and income for the agricultural
community, to stabilise markets, to assure supplies and to
ensure reasonable prices

 The CAP today: objective is to encourage competition and

counter protectionism, to reform the subsidies regime, to put
bigger emphasis on rural development, food quality and food
safety, to diversify the country’s economy

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council: CON,

QMV), market regulation (Commission, Council)
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 Internal Market

 Legal basis: Articles 23-31, 39-60, and 94-97 of the EC Treaty

(since Rome and SEA)

 Objective: to ensure the free flow of goods, capital, people,

and services within the Internal Market (IM), and to remove any
barriers thereto

 Principles: mutual recognition and ban of discrimination

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council,

Parliament: CON/COD, QMV/UNA, ECOSOC - exceptions),
oversight and enforcement (Commission),
counsel (Community Agencies)

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 Basic legal notions of the Internal Market – Free
movement of goods (1)

 Art 28/29: Prohibition of custom duties, duties and charges

having an equivalent effect, discriminatory taxation,
quantitative restrictions, measures having an equivalent effect

 The Dassonville formula: All trading rules enacted by the

Member State which are capable of hindering directly
indirectly actually or potentially intra-Community trade.

The Cassis de Dijon formula and the notion of mutual

reconition: Once a product has been lawfully marketed, it can
be put on the market anywhere within the Community
except… - Restrictions based on Art 30 of the EC Treaty,
mandatory requirements elaborated by the Court of Justice
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 Basic legal notions of the Internal Market – Free
movement of goods (2)

 Exceptions figuring in Article 30: public morality, public

policy or public security; the protection of health and life of
humans, animals or plants and of national treasures
possessing artistic, historic or archaeological value; or that
of industrial and commercial property

 Mandatory requirements: a flexible system which allows

the Court of Justice to introduce new exceptions. E.g.:
Consumer protection, protection of the environment,
fairness of commercial transactions

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 Basic legal notions of the Internal Market – Free
movement of workers

 Art. 39: Abolition of any discrimination based on nationality

 Regulation 1612/68

 Exceptions figuring in Article 39:

 public policy
 public security
 public health
 public service

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Basic legal notions of the Internal Market – Freedom of
providing services

 Art. 49: The “residual” freedom

 Basic elements:
 limited in time
 remuneration
 cross-border character
 Exceptions figuring in Art 55 of the EC Treaty:
 public policy
 public security
 public health
 public service
 Exceptions developed by the Court of Justice: imperative
requirements/objective justifications

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 Competition

 Legal basis: Art’s 81-89, 94-97 of the EC Treaty and those

on the IM (since Rome and SEA)

 Objective: to ensure undistorted competition within the IM

 Prohibits all practices that may distort interstate commerce

(price-fixing; limiting or controling production, markets, technical
developments, or investments; sharing markets or sources of
supply; applying dissimilar conditions to trading partners to
place them at competitive disadvantege, etc.)

 Prohibits state aid that may distort interstate commerce

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council,

Parliament: CON, QMV), oversight & enforcement (Commission)
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 Economic and Monetary Union

 Legal basis: Art’s 98-124 of the EC Treaty (since Maastricht)

 Objective: co-ordination of MS’s economic policy

 Single monetary policy for the eurozone; convergence

objectives for all the others (except the UK and Denmark)

 Community bodies: lawmaking and oversight (Commission,

Council, Parliament), enforcement (Commission, Council),
monetary policy, foreign-exchange operations, hold and manage
foreign reserves, promote smooth operation of payment system,
issuing notes and coins (ESCB)

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 Cohesion policy

 Legal basis: Art’s 158-162 of the EC Treaty (since Rome,

SEA and Maastricht)

 Objective: strengthening economic and social cohesion,

reducing regional disparities

 European Regional Development Fund, European Social

Fund, CAP, CFP, Cohesion Funds, European Investment
Bank, ISPA, Sapard, Phare

 Objective 1,2,3, Interreg III, Urban II, Leader +, Equal

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council,

Parliament: COD/ASS, QMV/UNA, ECOSOC, CoR),
oversight and enforcement (Commission) 11
 Customs

 Legal basis: Art’s 23-31, 135 of the EC Treaty (since Rome)

 Objective: single rate system,harmonisation and

automatisation of customs system, inspecting imports

 Harmonised Community customs code

 Community bodies: setting rates (Commission, Council, QMV),

passing the Community customs code (Commission, Council,
Parliament: COD, QMV)

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 Taxation

 Legal basis: Art’s 90-93 of the EC Treaty and those on the IM

(since Rome and SEA)

 Objective: to ensure the smooth functioning of the IM

 Harmonisation of minimum levels of VAT and excise duties,

fight against tax evasion and fraud, administrative co-operation

 Some taxes are practically Community taxes, enriching the

EU budget

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council,

Parliament: CON, UNA, ECOSOC)

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 External Trade

 Legal basis: Art’s 131-134 of the EC Treaty and those on

Customs (since Rome)

 Objective: common trade policy with third countries,

harmonious development of int’l trade, reducing int’l trade
barriers

 Common principles in subsidies regimes, in customs policy,

economic liberalisation, export policy and trade protection

 Community bodies: external representation (Commission),

mandate and ratification (Council, Parliament: CON/AS,
QMV/UNA)

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 Foreign and Security Policy, External Relations

 Legal basis: Art’s 11-28 of the EC Treaty, Article 181 of TEU

(since SEA and Maastricht)

 Objective: common – but not single – foreign policy on certain

issues: principles, guidelines, common strategies, common
actions, common positions

 Community bodies: external representation (Commission,

Council Presidency and HR), decision-making (Commission,
Council: UNA), ratification of foreign treaties (Council,
Parliament: AS), oversight (Parliament)

 Defense policy

 PCAs, stabilisation agreements, … 15

 Overseas aid and development

 Legal basis: Art’s 177-181 and 308 of the EC Treaty and those
on external relations and CFSP (since Rome and Maastricht)

 Objective: support for developing countries, humanitarian aid,

(emergency aid, food aid, refugee relief)

 Opening markets (GSP), financial and technical support,

debt-relief, through multilateral and bilateral contacts

 Community bodies: external representation (Commission),

decision-making and oversight (Comm., Council, Parl.: COD,
QMV), financial instruments (European Development Fund,
European Investment Bank, European Office
for Emergency Humanitarian Aid - ECHO)
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 Justice and Home Affairs 1.

 Legal basis: Art’s 61-69 of the EC Treaty, Art’s 6, 29-42 of the

TEU, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, those on CFSP,
the Schengen Agreement and those on customs policy (since
SEA and Maastricht)

 Objective: to build and area of Freedom, Security and Justice

 The Tampere and Hague Programmes: to progressively build

a common immigration and asylum policy, to ensure citizens’s
fundamental rights, to build a single visa regime, to harmonise
border controls; customs policy, to strengthen police and judicial
co-operation, relations with third countries

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 Justice and Home Affairs 2.

 Community bodies: lawmaking

(Commission, Council, Parliament: COD/CON, QMV/UNA),
oversight and enforcement
(Commission), oversight (European Monitoring Centre on
Racism and Xenophobia, soon to become Agence of
Fundamental Rights), intelligence sharing and co-operation
(Council, Europol, Eurojust)

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 Energy 1.

 Legal basis: the articles on IM, competition, customs union,

taxation, Trans-European Networks (154-156), environment
and research, and those on external relations and CFSP

 Objective: energy saving, security of supply, to lessen the

role of traditional hydrocarbon energy sources, protection of the
environment, Internal Market in energy goods

Kyoto procotoll, directives on energy saving, strategic oil

reserves, energy research, rail policy, liberalisation of energy
markets, nuclear research

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Comm., Council,

Parli.: CON/COD, QMV/UNA), oversight and enforcement
(Commission), research (Joint Research Centre) 19
 Transport 1.

 Legal basis: Art’s 70-80, 154-156 of the EC Treaty,

those on the IM, taxation, competition, environment and
customer protection (since SEA and Maastricht)

 Objective: to strengthen cohesion, dismantle barriers,

ensure competition, protect the environment and customer
rights & security

 Strengthening interstate infrastructure (TEN), increase the

role of rail, harmonisation of tolls, caps on freighting,
harmonisation of security and technical rules and of customers’
rights, Galileo global positioning sytem

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 Transport 2.

- Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council,

Parliament: COD/CON, QMV/UNA, ECOSOC, CoR),
oversight and enforcement (Commission)

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 Environment 1.

 Legal basis: Art’s 174-176, 94-97 of the EC Treaty, European

Council Conclusions 1998 Vienna and 2001 Gothenburg
(since Rome, Maastricht and Amsterdam)

 Objective: protection of the environment and of human health,

sensible use of natural resources, sustainable development;
the principles of prevention and „polluter pays”

 waste processing, noise reduction, water protection, anti-

pollution measures, environmental areas, climate change,
environmental and biodiversity

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 Environment 2.

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council,

Parliament: COD/CON, QMV/UNA, ECOSOC, CoR),
oversight and enforcement (Commission), researchand counsel
(European Enviromental Agency)

 Community programs: LIFE, european environmental audit,

Natura 2000, …

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 Consumer protection

 Legal basis: Art’s 153, 94-97 of the EC Treaty and those on

public health, plus Paris Summit 1972 Conclusions (since Rome,
SEA and Maastricht)

 Objective: to protect the health, safety and economic interests

of consumers, to promote their right to information, education
and to organise themselves; consumer protection requiremens
must be taken into account in all Community policies

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council,

Parliament: COD, QMV, ECOSOC), oversight and enforcement
(Commission), counsel (European Extra-Judicial Network:
www.eejnet.org)

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 Employment, social policy, anti-discrimination 1.

 Legal basis: Art’s 13, 125-130, 136-150 of the EC Treaty and

those on the IM (since Rome, SEA and Amsterdam)

 Objective: to raise employment and working conditions,

to ensure a high level of social protection, to battle discrimination

 To make labour more mobile, the market more flexible, social

systems more compatible, to regulate working time, to help
the aged stay employed, …

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 Employment, social policy, anti-discrimination 2.

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council,

Parliament: CON/COD, QMV/UNI, ECOSOC, CoR, EC),
oversight and enforcement (Commission), researchand counsel
(European Monitoring Centre on Racism and
Xenophobia, soon to be Agency of Fundamental Rights,
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
Conditions, European Centre for the Development of Vocational
Training, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work)

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 Enterprise and Industry

 Legal basis: EC Treaty articles on the IM, competition,

taxation, customs union, external trade, research, employment,
and cohesion, and Article 157 (since Rome)

 Objective: to ensure competition, protect customers and the

environment, to strenghten SMES and the role of new
technologies

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council,

Parliament: COD/CON, QMV/UNA), oversight and enforcement
(Commission), financial instruments (European Investment
Bank and the cohesion and structural funds)

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 Public Health 1.

 Legal basis: Article 152 of the EC Treaty (since Amsterdam)

 Objective: a high level of health protection in all EU policies, to

improve public health, preventing diseases, obviating sources of
danger to healt, to reduce drugs-related health damage, reearch
into causes

 Disease prevention and controll, regulation of tobacco,

regulation of drugs, blood transfer and human organs,
food safety, policy co-ordination and conserted action,
research, education and information

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 Public Health 2.

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council,

Parliament: COD, QMV, ECOSOC, CoR), oversight and
enforcement (Commission), information exchange and co-
ordination (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug
Addiction, Food Safety Authority, European Agency for the
Evaluation of Medicinal Products, European Centre of Disease
Prevention and Control, European Food and Veterinary Office)

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 Information Society 1.

 Legal basis: EC Treaty articles on the IM, competition,

research and enterprise, art’s 154-156 on TEN and
European Council conclusions Lisbon 2000 (since Rome and
SEA)

 Objective: to spread new communication and information

technologies, make Europe the most dynamic knowledge-
based society by 2010

 Aims to provide for a competition- and customer-friendly

market environment, and to weaken old state monopolies’ hold
on the market

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 Information Society 2.

 e-Europe 2005: spread broadband Internet, third-generation

mobile phone technology, digital broadcasting, online public
services, online public and education institutions

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council,

Parliament: COD/CON, QMV, ECOSOC, CoR),
oversight and enforcement (Commission)

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 Research 1.

 Legal basis: Article 163-173 of the EC Treaty (since Rome and

SEA)

 Objective: to strengthen the scientific and technological bases

of industry, to make it more competitive, to promote research

 Promoting research and co-operation, using the full potential

of the IM (eg. researcher mobility), raising research expenditure

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 Research 2.

 Seven-year Research Framework Programme: biotechnology

and genetics, IT, nanotechnology (the science of the very small),
space policy, food safety and health, sustainable development,
economy and other social sciences, nuclear fission and fusion
research (ITER), Galileo

 Community bodies: passing the Framework Programme

(Commission, Council, Parliament: CON, QMV, ECOSOC),
oversight (Commission), research (Joint Research Centre)

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 Audiovisual policy

 Legal basis: EC Treaty articles on the IM and competition, and

Article 151 (since Rome)

 Television Without Frontiers Directive, l’exception culturelle,

Media plus programme

 Community bodies: lawmaking (Commission, Council,

Parliament: COD/CON, QMV/UNA, ECOSOC, CoR),
oversight and enforcement (Commission), financial instruments
(European Investment Bank)

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 Education and Training 1.

 Legal basis: Article 149-150 of the EC Treaty, European

Council Conclusions Lisbon 2000, Stockholm 2001 and
Barcelona 2002 (since SEA)

 Objective: to develop quality education and vocational training

 Education: strengthen the „European dimension”, mobility,

co-operation among educational institutions, encourage distance
learning, mutual recognition of academic qualifications

 Vocational training: facilitate access, adaptation to industrial

changes, stimulate co-operation, mutual recognition of
professional qualifications

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 Education and Training 2.

 Community bodies: incentive measures (Comm., Council,

Parl.: COD, QMV, ECOSOC, CoR) and recommendations
(Comm., Council: QMV), counsel (European Training
Foundation), CEDEFOP

 Community instruments, programs, and standards: Erasmus,

Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci, Tempus, Europass, European CV,
European credit transfer system, Youth for Europe

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 Culture

 Legal basis: Article 151 and 87(3)(d) of the EC Treaty (since

Maastricht)

 Objective: the flowering of the cultures of Member States

and brining common heritage to the fore

 Improvement of the knowledge and dissemination of the culture

and history of Europe, conservation, cultural exchanges, artistic
and literary creation

 Community bodies: incentive measures (Comm., Coincil,

Parl.: COD, UNA, CoR) and recommendations (Commission,
Council)

 Community instruments and programmes: Culture 2000,

European Capital of Culture, European Month of Culture, … 37
 Budget

 Article 268-280 of the EC Treaty

 Objective: to finance Union policies

 Community bodies: passing the annual and the multiannual

budget (Commission, Council, Parliament: BUDGET, AS),
Oversight and auditing (Commission, Court of Auditors, Council,
Parliament)

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 Enlargement

 Legal basis: Article 49 of the EC Treaty and the conclusions

of the1993 Copenhagen European Council

 Community bodies: oversight and avis (Commission),

negotiations and decisions (Intergovernmental Conference of
Member States, Council: UNA), oversight and assent
(Parliament)

 Community instruments and programmes: pre-accession funds

(ISPA, Phare, Sapard), association agreements, …

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 Test question

With regard to regional policy, Agenda 2000 does not aim to

do which of the following?

a) Improve the effectiveness of structural policy instruments.

b) Ensure that structural policy plays a continuing role in the

Union’s future enlargement.

c) Redirect cohesion spending from depressed regions to

urban regeneration.

d) Maintain the budget for economic and social cohesion.

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