IEU summary

Most western European countries used to be unstable. Politically but foremost economically,
because major powers just went to war. US and soviet were still major powers while the rest of
Europe was weak. The two devastating wars led to 3 key priorities:

 Economic reconstruction
 Stop nuclear threat
 And limit the dangers of nationalism

Everyone was willing to work together. Most western European countries needed to work together.
European countries decided to pull their resources, meaning that they would become dependent on
each other. They would be interdependent. Those resources were coal and steal, the most important
resources contributing to a countries economic well and the main resources in warfare.

Many new incentives were set up after WWII

 Council of Europe
 UN
 NATO
 Marshall plan
 European coal & steal community

Even though the UK was not part of the founding countries, Winston Churchill did call for European
corporation, a ‘’united states of Europe’’. The UK did not join because they didn’t want to but
because they were focused on international corporation beyond Europe. France was also not too
fond on the UK joining.

6 founding countries: the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and Germany

9th of May 1950 -> Europe day, Schuman plan, Schuman was a French politician. On the 9 th of May
Schuman presented the Schuman declaration -> European countries working together, it was a
proposal, European countries should act now for their common interest. At the core of this proposal
was the pulling of coal and steal.  countries should give away their sovereignty to a supranational
authority to help build a new European space.

European coal & steal community (ECSC) 1952

 High authority (commission)

 Common assembly (parliament)
 Special council (council of ministers)
 Court of justice

Coal & steal community was established by the treaty of Paris (1951)

Eu is not acting in military; EU does not have a military. Eu is not acting in health care, not a
centralized E health care. National authority can regulate their won taxes, EU is not interfering with
it.

Establishing a military is the only thing that failed of the Paris treaty
Treaty of Rome: signed in 1957, foundational treaty of the EU. Here the European communities were
established which refers to the European economic community EEC, and the European atomic energy
community EURATOM. It established how the EU functions

The single European act: 1968, tried to complete what the treaty of Rome started, tried to complete
the internal market. And gave the EU more power, more areas in which they could act.

Treaty of Maastricht: 1992, the treaty on the European union. EU was called European union
because of this treaty. It established a pillar system. Three pillars, the first was the communities as
they were, second was justice and home affairs (police), and last was foreign affairs and security.
Pillars were abolished later. TEU created a new structure of the EU, part of it is still in place.

Treaty of Amsterdam: 1997, made changes to the treaty of Maastricht, was time for new MS to join

Treaty of nice: 2001, meant to prepare new MS for joining

2005, EU tried to become more state like, international organizations have treaties or charters not
constitutions. EU wanted to have a single text with everything in it, but this constitution failed. This
was rejected by referenda of citizens of France and the Netherlands. These Referenda led the
national governments to reject the constitution.

Treaty of Lisbon; 2007, the most important because it lays down what the EU is now, how it
functions. Is a revised version of the treaty of Rome. (Rome established the foundations,
communities) Lisbon renamed it to treaty on the functioning of the EU based on Rome TFEU

Important treaties are TFEU, TEU together they are part of EU law

Treaties are legal basis for future rules

The EU has 27 MS, 19 countries are in the Eurozone, Croatia was the last country to join.

 Lecture 2
EU used to be called ECSC, European communities, European economic communities

The commission used to be called high authority. Treaty of Paris established the ECSC and the high
authority was part of it.

Jean Monnet was the first president of the commission. They managed to keep the power of the high
authority down by establishing the special council.

EEC and EURATOM used to have their own commissions which is why there was the merger
treaty/treaty of brussels, in 1967 it merged the commissions of EURATOM, EEC and ECSC together.
There was now 1 commission for all the European communities.

The high authority was meant to be supranational. IGO’s become the forum for the promotion of
common interests of the states rather than pursuing their own interest; these states transfer their
power to the institutions that work for the EU’s interest. So the commission can be called
supranational or it tries to be. Since the Lisbon treaty is the commission representing the EU as a
whole.

The commission is located in Brussels, Belgium

The commission is called the bureaucratic-executive arm of the EU.

They monitor if MS implement legislation.

The commission creates the law but does not decide on them. That is the council and the parliament.
But the commission can propose legislation.

Powers:

 Right of initiative  propose legislation

 Monitors implementation  of legislation
 Managing EU budget  writing and implementing
 Representing the EU in external relations

The structure:

1. The commission president

2. College of commissioners
3. 27 commissioners (includes president)
4. Directorates general (DG’s), and services, they are departments with a specific focus, who
work for the commission
5. Secretariat-general

The commission president is Ursula von der Leyen, the president is supposed to give political
guidance and direction to the commission, and the EU as a whole. The president has different tasks:

 Lay down guidelines for commissions work

 Distribute policy portfolios to commissioners
 Convening and chairing meetings
 Answer questions before the parliament
 Represent commission towards other EU institutions and MS’s

The president is elected for a 5 year renewable term, the European council nominates the president
and it has to be approved by simple majority in the EP. The commission reflects the election results
of the EP, that means that the major political groups of the EP, they could forward their
‘’spitzenkandidaten’’, their top candidates and then the European council nominates them.

As the president you’re not representing a political view.

The president leads the college of commissioners, they consist of 27 commissioners for a 5 year
renewable term, they are nominated by the European council and confirmed by a majority vote in
the EP.

The MS’s make a list, the president of the commission chooses who does what, then they submit it to
the European council, representing the member states who approve it, and then officially nominating
them and sending it to the EP.

Commissioners represent EU interests, there is 1 per MS, each have a portfolio  their area of focus.

Vice presidents are commissioners with a little more power and responsibility

In short:

High authority  merger treaty  commission of communities  European commission

Structure: president, 27 commissioners, supported by DG’s and secretariat-general

Powers: initiation, implementation, EU budget, external relations

  Lecture 3
The European council has some influence over the legal process, gives input to the commission but it
is not involved in this legislative process in the institutional triangle

The council of ministers: IGO

With the creation of ECSC, so was the creation of the special council of ministers, this is the
forerunner of the council officially it is called the council of the European union. The situation could
be seen as a bicameral system, the lower chamber being the EP and the upper chamber being like a
senate which would be the council. The council does more policy making than law making.

Some MS wanted a intergovernmental institution, they wanted governments to be represented.

Intergovernmental means it is the government representatives taking the decisions together based
on their national interests, instead of these countries transferring their power to a higher authority
whose acting for the common good of the EU. They limit the power of the high authority

There wer 3 councils, ECSC EEC ans EURATOM, also merged with the merger treaty of 1967 into the
council of ministers.

Structure:

1. On top are the ministers themselves

2. Below them are the COREPER’s
3. And below that is the working groups

The council of ministers, the ministers are devided into different policy fields with the national
ministers in that area. The policy fields are called configurations. The most important ones are

 General affairs
 Foreign affairs

General affairs, they make sure that the work of different configurations are consistent and coherent
with each other. Does follow ups after the meetings of the European council.

Foreign affairs, it forms the EU’s external relations this is on the guidance of the European council.
This configuration is led by the high representative (Joseph borrel). This is the only configuration with
a permanent chair the others rotate.

Other configurations are: economic and financial affairs, agricultural and fisheries, justice and home
affairs, employment social policy, health and consumer affairs, competitiveness, transport and
telecom energy, environment, education youth culture and sport

All of the council meetings are chaired by the presidency.

Below the ministers is the COREPER, committee of permanent representatives. It is kind of a embassy
to the EU, are in brussels. They are ambassadors to the EU, a lot of the council work is done here.

Working groups or pr, prepare the work (work for the COREPER) coreper might make decisions,
working groups are civil servants experts working within the permanent representations, around 250
working groups with different focuses.

They are also supported by the secretariat.

Working groups look at the legislative proposal from the commission first. Most decisions are made
in the working groups as part of the council.

So working groups review the commissions proposal first, they may compromise this and negotiate,
then pass the proposal on to the COREPER to make the most important decisions, embasadors
compromise further or negotiate that couldn’t be decided on a lower level and if the COREPER can’t
decide it goes up to the ministerial levels and the ministers have to resolve the issues.

Council presidency:

6 month rotating precedency by MS, has precedency trios  18 months

The president chairs the meetings

They get to define directions and priorities of the council in those 6 months  power of agenda
setting

Main functions:

The council decides on legislation with EP

1. Legislative, main law making body of the EU together with EP

2. Adopts the EU budget together with EP
3. Economic policy, coordinate economic policies of MS
4. Foreign policy, defines and implements the EU’s common foreign and security policy
5. International agreements, concludes international agreements on behalf of the EU

Decision making:

Qualified majority voting:

55% of MS vote in favor. Those MS represent 65% of EU population

Blocking minority: at least 4 MS vote against and more than 35% of population

The european council

This is more of an informal institution, not officially part of the law making. More of a ‘’meeting
forum’’ for leaders of MS. Not established with the ECSC, 1974, council set up, meeting place, forum
for discussion for leaders. They make broad strategic decisions.

It only has been getting legal recognition as an institution with the Lisbon treaty (2009). It is the
highest level of political cooperation in the EU because the ‘’highest’’ people are there. But they
don’t have legislative power. They are deciding on the bigger picture of what the eu does, which
direction they want the eu to go in.

 27 heads of government
 Summits (meetings) 4 times a year
 They nominate EU positions, but have no legislative function
 Most intergovernmental institution of the EU
 They decide by consensus  nobody says no
  The council has a president, Charles Michel, elected for a 2,5 year renewable term, he is the
ex prime minister of Belgium, elected by QMV European council, position created by Lisbon
treaty. He chairs meetings and ensure consensus and cohesion and reports to the EP

 Lecture 4

The parliament is the only institution where its members are directly elected by the people, it is
different from a regular parliament because it can’t initiate legislation the commission does. The
parliament are representatives of the people. However people don’t show up for voting because they
don’t feel a connection to the EP

The EP used to be called common assembly as part of the ECSC, the first president was Robert
schuman. It is a supranational institution its power grew from a consultative actor to a co-legislator.

The first elections were in 1979

There has been a new redistribution of seats because of Brexit. They had 75 seats, they gave 27 seats
to parties, and left 46 seats open for new joining countries, there used to be 751 MEP now there are
705 MEP’s. 751 is the absolute max of MEP’s

The main location is brussels. The buildings in Luxembourg act as a secretariat. And the MEP’s go to
Strasbourg once a month to vote, they go there for a week.

The building the EP uses used to be used by the council of Europe. They work in brussels mostly

705 MEP’s + president, they are ther for 5 year term. Countries have 6 to 96 MEP’s, based on their
size and population

They are supposed to be representing society.

Decisions are taken by supreme majority (present members) or a absolute majority (all MEPs, need
353 out of 705)

People vote for MEP’s and a party that exists at a national level.

They co-decide with council , debate and amend, in Strasbourg they adopt ‘’final position of the
european parliament’’. It is a paper that says we approve, or rejection of the proposal.

MEP’s are devided into political groups that also exist at a national level. So when you go to vote for
a political party that also exists are a national level and for them to be representing at the EU-level.
Those political parties are devided into groups/political groups. They are grouped based on their
affinity, there are 7 groups.

 The Europeans peoples party, EPP, biggest party, centre right, Christian democrats
 Social and democracies, S&D, progressive, left, socialist
 Renew Europe, RN, liberal democrats, main centre group
 Greens-European free alliance
 European united left-nordic green left, NGl, Left, socialist, communist roots
 European conservatives & reformists, ECR, tend to be Christian, they want to reform Europe
 Identity&democracy, right, nationalists, anti-Europe
 Non inscrits/nonattachted, if a party does not fit in, then they are in this ‘’group’’
The president is Roberta metsola, 2,5 year renewable term, chairs debates during plenary, term of 5
years is shared so each gets 2,5 years. They also sign off on legislation & budget, represents the EP

MEP’s work not alone, they work with committee’s where they are supported.

Ther are 22 permanent committee’s which you can see as ‘focus areas’’, foreign affairs, international
trade, budget, etc. the committee’s draw up amend and adopt legislative proposals and own-
initiative reports. They have debates in brussels. With the reports they also have a rapporteur, which
is a MEP responsible for the report, they try and build a consensus with the other groups to see how
legislation can eb amended and hope for approval

Parliament power:

 Legislative function
 Budgetary power
 Power over other institutions, use pressure and control over other institutions

 Lecture 5

The ordinary legislative procedure: commission proposes, EP and the council decide, ordinary
because it is the most common form. The council and EP have equal powers.

Eu legislation is always based on EU treaties= primary legislation. Primary legislation is a legal basis
for secondary legislation (binding legislation),

 They can make regulations, for all MS

 Directives, can be for all but also for groups, broad
 Decisions, very specific, focused on 1 MS, company, etc.

If legislation is adopted  commission monitors compliance, can bring MS to court with violation or
incorrect/late implementation.

Court of justice of the EU protects and interprets EU law. CJEU is located in Luxembourg

Eu-law stands above national law, if national law contradicts woth EU law, EU law is supreme.

A legal individual can go to court and get your rights enforced, and you can go to a national court. mS
is not providing compensation, but according to EU law you are supposed to get it. Then you go to
the national court, and say my MS is not doing this and then you get your rights enforced. This
legislation is called direct effect.

Court of justice was set up with ECSC, set up in Luxembourg city, the scope got bigger, since EU got
more fields where they can interfere with. The court was so busy that they created th court of first
instance  general court. They now take all the cases first and if it is super important it gets passed
up to the higher chamber of judges.

General court takes less complicated cases.

27 judges, because there are 27 MS, MS send a judge of their choice, they stay thee for 6 year
renewable term.

They have a president for a 3 year renewable term who is elected by the judges.
Judges are independent from MS, defend EU common interests

27 judges are supported by 11 advocates-general AGs, they also stay for 6 years or more, but they
give more opinions, they review cases and then give their opinions to judges so they make non
binding recommendations.

Higher chamber is supported by the general court, also has members from MS but instead of 1 every
MS can send 2, so there are 54 members.

CJEU is a supreme legal body on EU-law

 Interprets EU-law  clarify the meaning of EU law

 Enforces EU law  validation of implementation, MS gets taken to court

What can the CJEU do?

 Preliminary ruling: request by national courts interpret an act of EU law

 Direct actions:
o Actions for failure to act (eu failing to act)
o Enforce action  infringement procedure: commission taking MS to court for failing
to fulfill obligation
o Action for annulment: appeal to get EU act cancelled

 Lecture 6
To help the institutions other specialized bodies have been created, the main taksa of these
specialized bodies is to implement and mange the policies on behalf of the commission ot the EU as a
whole.

Central European bank, Frankfurt

President: Christine lagarde

Largest and most significant financial institution of the EU, officially created in 1998

It manages the euro; ensure price stability; set interest rates

Roots in ECSC, it existed before the eurozone; there are 19 countries in the eurozone.

European court of auditors

The financial watchdog of the EU

Checks if EU funds are used properly. Located in Luxembourg, it has no judicial power but they can
pressure EU to spend money more effectively. There are 27 independent members.

Europol, the Hague

It is a criminal intelligence, European police officers, EU-wide system of operational information

exchange, it is not about taking action but exchanging important information. No executive but a
power network of information about criminals
Eurojust, the Hague

It relates to justice, it focuses on justice cooperation which means investigations and prosecutions
often investigation in specific cases, when a case relates to multiple MS. ‘’joint investigation teams’’

Advisory bodies  represent society

European economic & social committee

Advisory committee, promotes civil society involvement in EU, represents trade unions, employers,
framers, consumers, it advises EC, EP, council

Committee of the regions

Advisory committee, promotes local governments involvement in EU. Represents cities; regions;
local/regional authorities, advises on new EU-laws