July 27: The Institutions of the European Union

READING ASSIGNMENT: The European Parliament, The European Council, The Council Presidency

The European Commission, The Court of Justice, The European Court of Auditors

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Tomorrow…

• “cocktail party phrases” for the reading…

Review: What role do International Organizations play?

• International cooperation– Solve coordination problems (especially in PD settings)– E.g., International financial institutions (IMF, World Bank, ADB)

allow governments to pool resources that they can lend to countries for stability &/or development

• Pursue foreign policy goals– Obfuscate the provision of foreign aid ("dirty work")– E.g., Governments important to Japan receive more loans from

the ADB

• Pursue domestic goals– Commit governments to following a course of action– E.g., IMF programs pressure veto players to adopt unpopular

economic reform policies

Human Rights Agreements under the United Nations?

• International cooperation – Solve coordination problems (especially in PD settings)??

– Tit-for-tat does NOT work here– Mainly about crimes of the state against its own citizens

• Pursue foreign policy goals??– The goal of protecting citizens of OTHER countries?– These have been pursued through human rights clauses in *TRADE AGREEMENTS*

(makes international competition fairer if all workers have the same rights)– This is not the nature of the main UN Human Rights agreements

• CAT, ICCPR, CEDAW

• Human rights agreements hold governments accountable for purely internal activities

• *PURSUE DOMESTIC GOALS*– Commitment mechanism: commit governments to follow a course of action – 2

versions:1. LOCK-IN – genuinely want to lock in human rights protection under potential future regimes

(Moravscik – ECHR)2. RESOLVE – send a signal to your domestic audience about your resolve to remain in office

– Domestic enforcement (Hathaway) – Human rights agreements have little impact on state behavior

United Nations Approach to international cooperation

• Broad membership– shallow commitments at first then deepen

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (1976)

• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (1981)

• Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CAT) (1987)– the only one with UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION

The EU

http://www.youtube.com/user/eutube?blend=6&ob=4#play/user/

076DFAC291E71024/0/8hdL3QcIJSs Take homes?

Take-homes• The EU has taken a narrow approach

• Original agreement was just 6 members

• Deepened slowly with great inertia

• Lots of veto power– Ratification of agreements requires unanimity– Legislation requires Commission initiation + approval of Council

(weighted voting) + (usually) approval of Parliament (Euro-wide ideological parties)

• Progress is set to be slow, but irreversible

• Major commitments

• Now up to 27 members!

European Union Approach to international cooperation

• Narrow membership – deepen commitments first, then broaden membership

• 1951: 6 countries enter into the European Coal and Steel Community– Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West

Germany

• 1957: THE SIX enter into the “Treaties of Rome”– Extends the E. Coal and Steel Community– Creates the European Economic Community (EEC) establishing a

customs union – Creates the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) for

cooperation in developing nuclear energy

• 1967: the "Merger Treaty" creates a single set of institutions for the three communities, collectively called "the European Communities"

• 1973: first enlargement (6+3=9 total members)– Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom (Norway - domestic

referendum rejects membership)

• 1979: the first direct, democratic elections to the European Parliament• 1981: Greece (9+1=10)• 1986: Spain & Portugal (10+2=12)

1985 adopts the same flag as the Council of Europe (originally from 1955)

• 1993: Maastricht Treaty formally establishes THE EUROPEAN UNION

• 1995: Austria, Sweden and Finland join (12+3=15)

• 2002: The EURO!– Note that not all EU members adopted the Euro - only 12 at first– too deep for the others! – Since then we have moved up to 16 countries using the Euro– More on that tomorrow

• 2004: biggest enlargement – Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary (15+10=25)

• 2007: Romania and Bulgaria (25+2=27)

• Currently 27 members

Institutions of the EU

• LEGISLATIVE BRANCH:– The European Parliament– The European Council

• EXECUTIVE BRANCH:– The European Commission

• JUDICIAL BRANCH– The Court of Justice

The European Parliament

• Lower house of the EU’s bicameral legislature

• Directly elected by EU citizens (since 1979) every 5 years

• 736 members – organized in “groups”

• Groups are ideological not national!! (Unique among IOs)– Some groups are formal European-wide political parties (others are

coalitions of smaller European parties, national parties and independent politicians – candidates can be any EU citizen)

• What does it do?

– PASSING EUROPEAN LAWS Jointly with the Council in ***many*** policy areas ("Co-decision")

– Supervises the other EU institutions - in particular the Commission. It has the power to approve or reject the nomination of commissioners, and it has the right to censure the Commission as a whole.

– The power of the purse (with the Council) – authority over the EU budget

– Limitation: can reject or amend legislation but cannot initiate legislation (no "legislative initiative"). This power is reserved for the Commission (the executive branch)

The European Council

• The more powerful of the two legislative chambers (upper house)

• In some areas - agricultural policy - the Council is superior to the Parliament (only required to consult the Parliament)

• Membership: 27 national ministers (the exact minister depends upon the topic being discussed - e.g., agriculture ministers for agriculture policy)

• Responsibilities– Legislation (shares with the Parliament in most areas)– Coordinating the policies of member states– Concluding international agreements– Approving the EU budget (shares with the Parliament)– Common Foreign and Security Policy– Freedom, security and justice (internal affairs)

• Police the borders (so... emphasis on "security"!)

• Decisions are by qualified, weighted majority!– Each member-state has votes weighted by

population

The European Commission

• Responsible for implementing the decisions of Parliament and the Council

• Independent of national governments. Supposed to represent and uphold the interests of the EU as a whole

• A new Commission is appointed every 5 years, within 6 months of the Parliament elections

• 27 members - one from each state. Selection?– The Member State governments agree together on who to designate as the new

Commission President.– The Commission President-designate is then approved by Parliament.– The Commission President-designate, in discussion with the Member State governments,

chooses the other Members of the Commission.– The Council adopts the list of nominees by qualified majority and communicates it to the

European Parliament for approval.– Parliament then interviews each nominee and votes its opinion on the whole team.– Following Parliaments vote of approval, the new Commission is formally appointed by the

Council, acting by qualified majority.

• Responsibilities:– Propose legislation to Parliament and the Council– Manage and implement EU policies and the budget– Enforce European law (jointly with the Court of Justice)– Represent the European Union on the international stage (negotiate

agreements)

Veto players• For legislation

1. Commission must propose2. Council must approve

– Appointed “federally” – by member governments by issue area

3. Parliament must approve (in most areas – “co-decision”)– Elected nationally – by all EU citizens

• According to veto player theory, EU policy stability should be ____ (high or low?)

“HIGH”!

• New policies should be difficult to adopt

• But adopted policies should be difficult to rescind!

• Inherently conservative approach to governing

• Policy “inertia” slow but sustainable deepening

Current Challenge

• Treaty of Lisbon (or Reform Treaty) – Drafted 2007

• Would further centralize power in the EU– Most visible change: the creation of a new EU “president” (not

directly elected, however)– Also: a new EU foreign minister, able to make foreign policy

under his own initiative – Change the qualified majority voting in the European Council– Extend co-decision to Parliament for more areas

• Signed by all members, but NOT yet ratified – ALL MEMBERS MUST RATIFY! (VETO POWER OVER MAJOR CHANGES!!!)

• Some countries ratify through their parliaments

• Ireland must ratify with a national "referendum"– Treaty of Lisbon defeated 53% to 47% (53% voter turnout)– A Second Referendum is set for 2 October 2009…– Still waiting on Czech Rep, Poland, Germany

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6901353.stm

Take-homes• The EU has taken a narrow approach

• Original agreement was just 6 members

• Deepened slowly with great inertia

• Lots of veto power– Ratification of agreements requires unanimity– Legislation requires Commission initiation + approval of Council

(weighted voting) + (usually) approval of Parliamentary (Euro-wide ideological parties)

• Progress is set to be slow, but irreversible

• Major commitments

• Now up to 27 members!

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The Court of Justice• Purpose: to make sure that EU legislation is interpreted and applied

in the same way in all EU countries (so national courts do not give different rulings on the same issue)

• Also makes sure that EU member states & institutions do what the law requires

• Has the power to settle legal disputes between EU member states, EU institutions, businesses, & individuals

• Court is composed of one judge per member state (though it usually sits as a ‘Grand Chamber’ of just 13 judges or in chambers of 5 or 3 judges

• Judges (and advocates) are appointed by joint agreement between the governments of the EU member states

• Each is appointed for a 6 year (renewable) term

The European Court of Auditors

• The Court’s job is to check that EU funds (which come from taxpayers) are properly collected and spent legally, economically and for their intended purpose

• Its aim is to ensure that the taxpayers get maximum value for their money

• It has the right to audit any person or organization handling EU funds.

• The Court has one member from each EU country, appointed by the European Council for a renewable term of six years