The Petersberg Declaration is a pivotal element in the determination to develop the Western European Union (WEU) as the EU's defence component and as a means of strengthening the European pillar of the Atlantic Alliance (NATO). The three parts of the declaration define the guidelines for the future development of the WEU.
WEU Member States declare their readiness to make available military units from the whole spectrum of their conventional armed forces for military tasks conducted under the authority of WEU. The different types of military tasks which WEU might undertake were defined: apart from contributing to the common defence in accordance with Article 5 of the Washington Treaty and Article V of the modified Brussels Treaty, military units of WEU Member States could be employed for:
When the Treaty of Amsterdam enters into force, these "Petersberg tasks" will be specifically included in a new Article J.7 of the Treaty on European Union, which will replace the present Article J.4.
The Petersberg Declaration also states that WEU is prepared to support, on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with its own procedures, the effective implementation of conflict-prevention and crisis-management measures, including peacekeeping activities of the CSCE (now OSCE) or the United Nations Security Council.
At the same time, the Declaration supports a solid transatlantic partnership and stresses the importance of implementing the Declaration on WEU (No 30) annexed to the Maastricht Treaty.
The third part of the Declaration relates to the enlargement of the WEU: in it the Member States define the rights and obligations of other European states belonging to the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance as future members, observers or associate members.
The right of petition is the right which every citizen of the European Union enjoys, individually or in association with other citizens, to submit a request to or table a grievance before the European Parliament on any subject which falls within the spheres of activity of the Community and concerns him or her directly (Articles 8d and 138d of the Treaty establishing the European Community).
Parliament's Committee on Petitions considers whether such requests are admissible. Where it sees fit, it may put a question to the Ombudsman. When drawing up an opinion on a petition deemed to be admissible, it may ask the European Commission to provide it with documents or information.
When the Treaty of Amsterdam enters into force, a new paragraph will be added to Article 8d stating that every citizen of the Union may write to any of the institutions, including the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee, or the Ombudsman, in any of the official Union languages (including Irish) and receive an answer written in the same language.
Community jargon refers to the three pillars of the Treaty on European Union, which are:
The Treaty of Amsterdam provides for some of the fields covered by the third pillar to be transferred to the first pillar. Once the new Treaty enters into force, Title VI of the Treaty on European Union will contain only provisions on police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
The idea of setting up a Planning and Early Warning Unit under the common foreign and security policy stems from the belief that if the CFSP is to be effective, it will require earlier and more far-reaching analysis of external developments in the long, medium and short term. The decisions taken under the CFSP must therefore be underpinned by more reliable briefings, which are available to all the Member States of the Union.
In a declaration to the Final Act, the Intergovernmental Conference agreed that the Planning and Early Warning Unit would be set up in the General Secretariat of the Council and placed under the responsibility of its Secretary-General. The staff of the Unit will be drawn from the General Secretariat of the Council, the Member States, the Commission and the Western European Union (WEU).
Title VI of the Treaty on European Union (at present "Justice and home affairs" or the "third pillar") will be completely transformed by the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam and the establishment of an area of freedom, security and justice. The Title will be renamed "Police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters" and its objective will be to prevent and combat the following problems:
The new Title provides for closer cooperation between police forces, customs and judicial authorities, both directly and through the European Police Office (Europol), and, where necessary, the approximation of rules on criminal matters in the Member States.
While the Council will continue to play the leading role under this pillar, some of the instruments at its disposal will change. The common position and the convention will remain, but the joint action will be replaced by two new instruments: the decision and the framework decision.
Furthermore, the Schengen Agreement and Convention and related provisions (referred to collectively as the Schengen acquis) will be incorporated into the European Union framework.
The Madrid European Council (15-16 December 1995) described the European Union's agenda for the end of the century as laying the foundations for the Europe of the future, a large community enjoying the benefits of freedom, prosperity and stability. In practical terms this meant:
The Political Committee consists of political directors from the Member States' foreign ministries. It monitors the international situation in fields covered by the common foreign and security policy and helps determine policy by issuing opinions for the Council. It also supervises the implementation of agreed policies, without prejudice to the powers of the presidency and the Commission.
The Presidency of the Union is held in turn on a six-monthly basis by each Member State. A stint in the Presidency is a duty and a contribution that each Member State makes to the proper functioning of the Community institutions. At present, a Member State holds the Presidency every seven and a half years.
When it comes into force, the Treaty of Amsterdam will strengthen the role and position of the Commission President. Under the new Treaty, the Governments of the Member States will designate by common accord the person they intend to appoint as President - a choice which will have to be approved by the European Parliament. The Governments of the Member States will then designate the persons they intend to appoint as Members of the Commission, in agreement with the new President.
The President will lay down the broad policy lines to be followed by the Commission in carrying out its tasks. He will also decide on the allocation of portfolios among the Commissioners and any reshuffling of portfolios during the Commission's term of office.
In a declaration on the organisation and functioning of the Commission annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community, the Intergovernmental Conference recommends that, for the sake of consistency, responsibility for external relations be assigned to a Vice-President (at present it is divided between five individuals).
The concept of public service is a twofold one: it embraces both bodies providing services and the general-interest services they provide. Public-service obligations may be imposed by the public authorities on the body providing a service (airlines, road or rail carriers, energy producers and so on), either nationally or regionally. Incidentally, the concept of the public service and the concept of the public sector (including the civil service) are often, wrongly, confused; they differ in terms of function, status, ownership and "clientele".
The idea behind a public service charter is that there should be an instrument setting out the basic rights and principles governing the provision of services to the public. Such principles would include: