Citizenship of the Union is dependent on holding the nationality of one of the Member States. In other words, anyone who is a national of a Member State is considered to be a citizen of the Union. In addition to the rights and duties laid down in the Treaty establishing the European Community, Union citizenship confers four special rights:
The introduction of the notion of Union citizenship does not, of course, replace national citizenship: it is in addition to it. This gives the ordinary citizen a deeper and more tangible sense of belonging to the Union.
Civil protection, energy and tourism are the subject of a Declaration attached to the Treaty establishing the European Community.
In a report the Commission notes that, because of the absence of specific legal bases, the European Union has adopted a number of measures in these three areas on the basis of Article 235. In future the introduction of appropriate provisions into the Treaty might ensure the continuity and consistency of Community action by improving its legibility. Each of the three sectors has special features, however, which must not be ignored:
The Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) brought into sharp relief the question of the clarity of the treaties because of the nature of the Community legal structure, which is the result of a succession of amendments to the treaties. The need to simplify the treaty to make it more comprehensible for the ordinary citizen has been discussed.
The Treaty on European Union added a new structure amending and supplementing the existing ones and leaving a question mark hanging over certain provisions of the earlier treaties which it neither took over nor formally repealed.
The Commission does not want the difficulty of reading and understanding the founding texts of the Union to create a gulf between the Union and the public and has accordingly proposed that they be edited and consolidated.
In a joint declaration attached to the Treaty of Amsterdam, it was decided that work on consolidating all the Treaties (including the Treaty on European Union) should be continued as speedily as possible so as to incorporate the amendments to previous Treaties made by the Treaty of Amsterdam. The main object of the exercise is to produce legal texts that are clear and comprehensible to everyone. The results will have no legal value.
At the same time the articles of the Treaties will be renumbered to make them easier to consult.
This refers to the distinction made between Union expenditure of which the underlying principle and the amount are legally determined by the treaties, secondary legislation, conventions, international treaties or private contracts ("compulsory" expenditure) and expenditure for which the budgetary authority is free to decide the amount as it sees fit ("non-compulsory" expenditure). The question of whether expenditure is to be considered compulsory or non-compulsory generates friction between the two arms of the budgetary authority - the Council and the European Parliament - as Parliament has the final say in determining the amount of expenditure only where it is non-compulsory. As agricultural expenditure is considered compulsory, the result is that more than 50% of the Community budget is outside Parliament's control.
Closer cooperation is a concept which will be written into the Treaty on European Union with the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam. The aim of such a form of cooperation is to enable a limited number of Member States which are willing and able to advance further, to deepen European integration within the single institutional framework of the Union.
Closer cooperation must meet a number of conditions. In particular it must:
Under the Treaty establishing the European Community, closer cooperation will be authorised by the Council, acting by a qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament.
The procedure referred to in Article 189b (codecision) was introduced by the Treaty on European Union. It gives Parliament the power to adopt instruments jointly, as a last resort, with the Council. In practice, it has strengthened Parliament's legislative powers in the following fields: the free movement of workers, right of establishment, services, the internal market, education (incentive measures), health (incentive measures), consumer policy, trans-European networks (guidelines), environment (general action programme), culture (incentive measures) and research (framework programme).
In its 1996 report on the scope of the codecision procedure, the Commission proposed that the procedure referred to in Article 189b be extended to all the Community's legislative activity.
With the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the codecision procedure will be simplified to make it quicker, more effective and more transparent. Moreover, it will be extended to new areas such as social exclusion, public health and the fight against fraud affecting the European Community's financial interests.
Collective defence is the term used to describe Europe's participation in defence under the Treaties of Brussels (Article V) and Washington (Article 5), which stipulate that the signatory States are required, in the event of aggression, to provide assistance for the restoration of security.
Since 1949 the organisation set up by the Washington Treaty (NATO) has been the principal guarantor of security in western Europe, whereas Western European Union (WEU) has simply been ticking over for nearly thirty years. It should be noted, however, that WEU is the only strictly European organisation to have established an automatic collective defence obligation. With the development of a European defence identity, WEU today is destined to play a bigger role.
The Committee of the Regions, which was set up by the Maastricht Treaty, consists of 222 representatives of local and regional authorities appointed by the Council, on proposals from the Member States, for four years. It is consulted by the Council or the Commission in areas affecting regional interests such as education, youth, culture, health and social and economic cohesion. It may also issue opinions on its own initiative.
Once the Treaty of Amsterdam has entered into force, the Committee of the Regions will have to be consulted on a wider range of fields - the environment, the Social Fund, vocational training, cross-border cooperation and transport. The new Treaty also provides for the Committee to be consulted by the European Parliament.
These terms (the word "comitology" is occasionally encountered) refer to the use of committees in cases where the Commission has powers to implement a Council act, conferred on it by the act itself. After the Council has adopted an act providing for Commission implementing measures, a committee is set up to assist the Commission, made up of representatives of the Member States and chaired by the Commission. Committees may be of three types: regulatory, management and advisory. This system makes the decision-making process more efficient by allowing the Council not to get bogged down in technical considerations. For example, many committees have been set up in connection with the common agricultural policy.
The system is governed essentially by the Council Decision of 13 July 1987 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission. In a declaration attached to the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Intergovernmental Conference calls on the Commission to submit to the Council by the end of 1998 a proposal to amend this Decision, the procedures governing the creation and operation of these committees being somewhat complex and lacking in transparency.
Note that other committees have been set up by the Commission to exercise its own powers arising directly from the Treaties (e.g. the Article 113 Committee which assists the Commission in trade negotiations with one of more States or international organisations). These committees do not come under the system described above, but are governed by their own rules. However, they are also made up of experts appointed by the Member States and are chaired by the Commission.
The aims of the common agricultural policy, for which the Community is solely responsible, are set out in Article 39 of the Treaty establishing the European Community and involve in particular the common organisation of the agricultural markets. It is one of the most important Union policies (agricultural expenditure accounts for over 50% of the Community budget). Decisions are taken by qualified majority in the Council following consultation of the European Parliament.
With an eye to enlargement discussions have started on the possible reforms of the present CAP. Agenda 2000 - the policy document presented by the Commission in July 1997 - sets out practical measures to reform the CAP. Discussion is only just getting under way on this issue which is of crucial importance for the future of the European Union.
The Community has exclusive powers in relation to the common commercial policy (Article 113 of the Treaty establishing the European Community). The policy has allowed a customs union to be established between the Member States of the Community and is based on uniform principles, particularly in regard to changes in tariff rates, the conclusion of tariff and trade agreements with non-member countries, import and export policy, etc. Decisions are taken by qualified majority in the Council.
With the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, Article 113 will be amended to allow the Council, acting by unanimous vote, to extend the scope of the common commercial policy to international negotiations and agreements on services and intellectual property.
The European Union's common foreign and security policy includes the eventual framing of a common defence policy which might in time lead to a common defence. On defence matters, the European Union requests Western European Union (WEU) to elaborate and implement decisions and actions which have defence implications (Article J.4 of the Treaty on European Union).
The common defence policy is one element of a security policy in the broadest sense of the term. Its aim is to reduce the risks which threaten the common values and fundamental interests of the Union and its Member States, to help preserve and strengthen peace in accordance with the United Nations Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, the Washington Treaty (NATO) and the amended Brussels Treaty (WEU).
An important innovation will be made with the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, when a reference to the so-called Petersberg tasks (humanitarian and rescue tasks, peace-keeping tasks and the use of combat forces in crisis management) will be written into the Treaty on European Union. Article J.4 will be replaced by a new Article J.7.
The common foreign and security policy is established and governed by Title V of the Treaty on European Union. It replaced European Political Cooperation (EPC) and provides for the eventual framing of a common defence policy which might in time lead to a common defence.
The objectives of the second pillar of the Union are set out in Article J.1; specific legal instruments are used (joint action, common position) which have to be adopted unanimously in the Council. Once the Treaty of Amsterdam has entered into force, the Union will have a new instrument at its disposal - the common strategy, which is referred to in a new Article J.2.
The common position in the context of the common foreign and security policy is designed to make cooperation more systematic and improve its coordination. The Member States are required to comply with and uphold such positions which have been adopted unanimously at Council meetings.
The common strategy is a new instrument which will be introduced under the common foreign and security policy when the Treaty of Amsterdam enters into force.
Under the new Article J.3, the European Council will define the principles and general guidelines for the common foreign and security policy and decide on common strategies to be implemented by the Union in fields where the Member States have important interests in common.
In practical terms, the common strategy will set out its aims and duration, and the means to be made available by the Union and the Member States. Common strategies will be implemented by the Council, in particular by adopting joint actions and common positions. The Council will have the power to recommend common strategies to the European Council.
The aim of the common transport policy is to lay down common rules applicable to international transport to or from the territory of a Member State or passing across the territory of one or more Member States. It is also concerned with laying down the conditions under which non-resident carriers may operate transport services within a Member State and, lastly, it includes measures to improve transport safety.
Different decision-making procedures apply depending on the matter in hand. In the case of land transport (rail, road or inland waterway) the Council:
Where the measures relate to sea and air transport, the Council:
After the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, which provides for the simplification of legislative procedures, all decisions in the transport field will be taken under the codecision procedure (Article 189b).
Transferring a matter which, in the institutional framework of the Union, is dealt with using the intergovernmental method (second and third pillars) to the Community method (first pillar). The Community method is based on the idea that the general interest of Union citizens is best defended when the Community institutions play their full role in the decision-making process, with due regard for the subsidiarity principle.
When the Treaty of Amsterdam enters into force, matters relating to the free movement of persons, which are at present covered by justice and home affairs cooperation (third pillar), will be "communitised" and hence dealt with under the Community method.
Article K.9 creates the possibility of making the Community provisions (qualified majority provided for in Article 100c) applicable to certain sectors of Title VI of the Treaty on European Union. This procedure, known as the "bridge", requires unanimity in the Council and ratification by each Member State in accordance with its national constitutional requirements.
This bridge will continue to exist after the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, so that any matters covered by the new Article K.1 (Title VI) may be transferred to the new Title IIIa of the Treaty establishing the European Community. As in the past, any decision to bring such matters within the Community framework will have to be taken by the Council, acting unanimously, and ratified by each Member State.
Strictly speaking, Community law consists of the founding Treaties (primary source of law) and the provisions of instruments enacted by the Community institutions by virtue of them (secondary legislation).
In a broader sense, Community law encompasses all the rules of the Community legal order, including general principles of law, the case law of the Court of Justice, law flowing from the Community's external relations and supplementary law contained in conventions and similar agreements concluded between the Member States to give effect to Treaty provisions.
The term Community legal instruments refers to the instruments available to the Community institutions to carry out their tasks under the Treaty establishing the European Community with due respect for the subsidiarity principle. They are:
The Community method is the expression used for the institutional operating mode set up in the first pillar of the European Union. It proceeds from an integration logic with due respect for the subsidiarity principle, and has the following salient features:
It contrasts with the intergovernmental method of operation used in the second and third pillars, which proceeds from an intergovernmental logic of cooperation and has the following salient features:
The European Commission's 1994 White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment contains guidelines for a policy of global competitiveness. The policy encompasses four objectives which have lost none of their topicality today:
When the Treaty of Amsterdam enters into force, a new title on employment will be incorporated in the Treaty establishing the European Community, which will take account of the objectives set in the White Paper.
The question of the composition of the Commission was the subject of much discussion at the Intergovernmental Conference, although no immediate decision was taken. The object is to determine the optimum number of Commissioners in order to guarantee the legitimacy, collective responsibility and efficiency of an institution whose purpose is to represent the general interest and whose Members are completely independent.
The discussion about the composition of the Commission is closely linked to the question of collective responsibility, a term used to describe a particular feature of the Commission structure whereby positions adopted by the Commission reflect the views of the Commission as a whole, not those of individual members. With the prospect of future enlargements, there are fears that a large increase in the number of Commissioners will lead to nationalisation of the office at the expense of collective responsibility. Conversely, should the number be limited, the fear is that some nationalities will not be represented among the Commissioners.
A Protocol on the institutions will be annexed to the Treaty on European Union with the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam. It states that when the Union is next enlarged, the Commission will comprise one Commissioner of each nationality, provided that the weighting of votes in the Council has been modified in a manner acceptable to all the Member States. One year before the membership of the European Union exceeds twenty, a new intergovernmental conference will have to be convened to carry out a comprehensive review of the composition and functioning of the institutions. If the European Union is to operate properly with more than twenty members, its present procedures will have to be entirely reorganised.
This concept involves a Europe structured out of subsets of states which have achieved different levels of integration. It is not confined just to the integration structure of the European Union, and the idea has been expanded upon by a number of prominent figures. Some of them talk of "the circle of shared law" (the Union's Member States), the "adjacent circle" (the countries outside the Union waiting to join it) and "more select circles" for the purpose of greater cooperation (the currency circle, the defence circle and so on).
Under the codecision procedure between Council and Parliament, a Conciliation Committee may be set up as provided in Article 189b(4) of the Treaty on European Union. The Committee consists of the members of the Council or their representatives and an equal number of representatives of Parliament, and is referred to in the event of any disagreement between the two institutions on the outcome of a codecision procedure, for the purpose of reaching agreement on a text acceptable to both sides.
The draft of any joint text must then be adopted within six weeks by qualified majority in the Council and by an absolute majority of the members of Parliament. Should one of the two institutions reject the proposal, it is deemed not to have been adopted.
The Treaty on European Union has completely overhauled the procedure for appointing the Commission, introducing confirmation of the appointments. There are now two separate procedures, the first concerning the President and the second the entire Commission.
To begin with the governments of the Member States nominate by common accord, after consulting the European Parliament, the person they intend to appoint as President of the Commission. Then, in consultation with the nominee for President, the Member States nominate the other persons they intend to appoint as Members. The whole body is then subject to a vote of approval by the European Parliament and finally appointed by the governments of the Member States. This procedure was applied for the first time at the beginning of the present term of office. It has the twofold advantage of enhancing the Commission's legitimacy and the dialogue between the two institutions.
Formal or official consolidation of legislation involves adopting a new legal instrument, published in the Official Journal (L series), which incorporates and repeals the instruments being consolidated (basic instrument + amending instrument(s)) without altering their substance. It can be:
There is a special procedure for unofficial, purely declaratory consolidation of legislation and simplification of legal instruments. The incorporation of subsequent amendments into the body of a basic act does not entail the adoption of a new instrument. It is simply a clarification exercise conducted by the Commission. The resulting text, which has no formal legal effect, can, where appropriate, be published in the Official Journal (C Series) without citations or recitals.
Under this procedure the Council must consult the European Parliament and take its views into account. However, it is not bound by Parliament's position but only by the obligation to consult it. The procedure applies in particular to the common agricultural policy.
The Council may draw up conventions and recommend them to the Member States for adoption. Conventions based on Article K.3 differ from those based on Article 220 of the EC Treaty mainly in that they are concluded by the Council and may cover a wider range of matters (all those referred to in Article K.1). They may stipulate that the Court of Justice has jurisdiction to interpret their provisions and to rule on any disputes regarding their application. The jurisdiction of the Court is therefore subject to the prior agreement of the signatory States.
The Treaty of Amsterdam will amend the rules on justice and home affairs. As a result, conventions will be concerned only with police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters and be adopted on the basis of the new Article K.6. The European Parliament will be consulted on such conventions and the Court of Justice will have jurisdiction to interpret them.
To ensure that the sustainable convergence required for the achievement of economic and monetary union (EMU) comes about, the Treaty sets five convergence criteria which must be met by each Member State before it can take part in the third stage of EMU. Checks on whether the criteria are being met are carried out on the basis of reports by the Commission and the European Monetary Institute (EMI). The criteria are as follows:
The object of the convergence criteria is to ensure that economic development within EMU is balanced and does not give rise to any tensions between the Member States. Note in this connection that the criteria relating to government deficit and government debt must continue to be met after the third stage of EMU has entered into force on 1 January 1999. To this end a stability pact was adopted at the Amsterdam European Council.
The procedure referred to in Article 189c (cooperation) was introduced by the Single European Act. It gave Parliament greater influence over the legislative process by means of a "double reading" of Commission proposals. Since the entry into force of the Treaty on European Union it has applied in particular to the following areas: transport, non-discrimination, implementation of Article 104 (funds of the European Central Bank or the central banks of the Member States), the Social Fund, vocational training, trans-European networks, economic and social cohesion, research, environment, development cooperation, health and safety of workers (Article 118a), the Social Policy Agreement, etc.
With the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the scope of the cooperation procedure will be considerably reduced in favour of the codecision procedure (Article 189b of the Treaty establishing the European Community). The cooperation procedure will henceforth cover only certain aspects of economic and monetary union.
The Treaty of Amsterdam introduces the concept of a coordinated strategy for employment which follows on from the integrated strategy for employment launched at the Essen European Council in December 1994.
At Essen the European Council asked the Member States to draw up multiannual programmes for employment (MAPs) and provide the Commission with reports on their implementation. These reports describe the main measures taken by the governments to apply their multiannual programmes over the last twelve months, assess the impact of these measures on employment - in certain cases - and announce major changes or new initiatives in this field.
The "Essen strategy" was refined by the European Council in Madrid (December 1995) and Dublin (December 1996), on both occasions on the basis of a joint report by the Commission and the Council summarising the reports on the implementation of the MAPs. At Florence (June 1996) and Amsterdam (June 1997), the European Council received a more succinct interim joint report.
With the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, a new title on employment will be written into the Treaty establishing the European Community, introducing the concepts of a coordinated strategy and guidelines for employment. In practical terms, there will be two main innovations:
The Amsterdam European Council decided that the relevant provisions of the new title on employment should be put into effect immediately, even before the new Treaty enters into force.
Coreper, the French acronym by which the Permanent Representatives Committee is known, consists of the Member States' Permanent Representatives (Ambassadors) and is responsible, at a stage involving preliminary negotiations, for assisting the Council of the European Union in dealing with the items on its agenda (proposals and drafts of instruments put forward by the Commission). It occupies a pivotal position in the Community decision-making system, in which it is at one and the same time a forum for dialogue (among the Permanent Representatives and between them and their respective national capitals) and a body which exercises political control (by laying down guidelines for, and supervising, the work of the expert groups). It is in fact divided in two to enable it to deal with all the tasks it has to carry out:
The smooth running of the Council is dependent on the standard of the work done in Coreper.
Coreu is an EU network for communication between the Member States with a view to cooperation in the fields of foreign policy.
The Council of the Union (Council, sometimes referred to as the Council of Ministers) is the European Union's main decision-making institution. It consists of the ministers of the fifteen Member States responsible for the matters on the agenda: foreign affairs, farming, industry, transport or whatever. Despite the existence of these different ministerial compositions depending on the matter in hand, the Council is nonetheless a single institution.
Each country in the Union in turn holds the chair for six months. Decisions are prepared by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States (Coreper), assisted by working parties of national government officials. The Council is assisted by its General Secretariat.
Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Secretary-General will act as High Representative for the common foreign and security policy. He will be assisted by a Deputy Secretary-General, who will be appointed by unanimous decision of the Council and be responsible for running the Council's General Secretariat.
Qualified majority voting in the Council will apply to most of the new provisions (incentive measures in employment and social policy, public health and fraud prevention) and in the adoption of the framework programme on research. Some observers feel that qualified majority voting should have been extended further to avoid the risk of stalemate which is always present when decisions are taken unanimously. Given the prospect of the enlargement of the Union, Belgium, France and Italy considered that extension of the qualified majority was a matter of crucial importance and made a declaration to that effect which is attached to the Final Act of the Intergovernmental Conference. The debate will be relaunched during a new intergovernmental conference to be convened at least one year before the membership of the Union exceeds twenty in order to carry out a comprehensive review of the composition and functioning of the institutions.
The Court of Auditors is composed of fifteen members appointed for six years by unanimous decision of the Council of the European Union after consulting the European Parliament. It audits Union revenue and expenditure to make sure it is lawful and proper and ensures that financial management is sound. The Treaty on European Union raised it to full institution status.
Once the Treaty of Amsterdam has entered into force, the Court of Auditors will also have the power to report any irregularities to the European Parliament and the Council, and its audit responsibilities will been extended to Community funds managed by outside bodies and by the European Investment Bank.
The Court of Justice of the European Communities is made up of fifteen judges assisted by nine advocates-general appointed for six years by agreement among the Member States. It has two principal functions: to check whether instruments of the European institutions and of governments are compatible with the Treaties, and, at the request of a national court, to pronounce on the interpretation or the validity of provisions contained in Community law.
The Court is assisted by a Court of First Instance, which has special responsibility for dealing with administrative disputes in the European institutions and disputes arising from the competition rules.