Mia
Probst
1st year class notes : PEU
Overview
1. Lecture 1: introduction to the course, historical context
2. Lecture 2 : history of European integration pt II, 1960s-present
3. Lecture 3 : the European commission
4. Lecture 4 : the council of the European Union
5. Lecture 5 : the European council
6. Lecture 6 : the European parliament
7. Lecture 7 : decision making process
8. Lecture 8 : EU external policies
9. Lecture 9 : the economic and monetary union and the euro crisis
10. Lecture 10 : migration, asylum and the 2015-16 crisis
11. Lecture 11 : theorizing European integration
,lecture 1 (04/04): intro to the course, historical context
1. introduction
why should we care abt eu?
- increase employment opportunities after graduation
- understand the politics of technocracy (= government by experts) → insight how it
works & fight vs populist challenges
- pursue an intellectual fascination w a polity in the making => supranational aspects
that make it + than pol org
“an unidentified pol object”
- confronted w unprecedented nb of crisis (refugees, ukraine, crimea, eco crisis…) →
shows that EU fragile, & how can it respond in effective fashion & how it can rule
eurospeak → dialect in own right
ex of EU lingo
2. the historical context of european integration
rationale: if know origins of EU → explains complexity
● war & peace in (western) europe
aftermath 2ww = 70y of lasting peace
- before= common to go to war w each other
- made war in europe in EU impossible
2012 = nobel peace prize
EU => peace project for europe BUT founding powers were still colo powers (so not a peace
project for the world)
⇒ project focused on W europe
● 1st half of the 20th century
➔ political and ideological divisions in europe
sharp and fluid inter-state relations
- treaty of versailles (1919) →
punish germany for starting ww
- LON (1919)
,left europe devastated
- eco devastation: massive war debts, infrastructural damage
- pol weakness: newly established pol systems, loss of empires
- the continent was quickly divided in 2 w western europe facing a new menace to the
east
- consciousness that versailles approach did not resolve the “german pb”
⇒ factors combined to produce a situation where there was a willingness on the part of
many decision makers to explore next orders
● ww2 changed pol climate
factors that changed
- emphasis on combating nationalism
ex: creation of council of europe
inspired by idealistic ideas, aims were vague
- the new political map of europe
- new borders, division into west and east through the iron curtain, US support
for liberal democratic systems
- new international power balance
- start CD: europe in between US & USSR
- the german pb: how to prevent another approach
- adopt a conciliatory approach
● diffs between the western european states
although they has much in common post www2, major diffs between west euro states & v diff
aims
- 6 founding members of the EU:
- benelux (counterbalance)
- west germany (rehabilitated into europe)
- FR (contain germany & cooperate w new german gov)
- italy (rehabilitated in europe)
⇒ no state participated in the integration process for idealistic reasons: hard headed
national calculations always prevailed
UK decided not to join in beginning => saw themselves as winners
Milwards = integration helped “rescue” the european nation-state
⇒ work together to become a power w common project
, 3. notable institutional devs
no general agreement on what to be done = hence multiple orgs
- OEEC april 1948 → transformed into OECD in 1971 (= established to administer
funds granted by marshall plan)
- council of europe => idealistic of human peace now international rights may 1949
- NATO 1949
- euro coal and steel community 1951 treaty of paris ⇒ foundation of EU as we
know it today
- euro defense cooperation (not ratified) & western european union created in 1954
● the ECSC/treaty of paris/1951
idea put forward in the Schuman declaration (1950)
envisaged duration: 50y
ambition to create a free trade area
why coal and steel
- at the time some of the basic materials of any industrialized society
- key materials to make arms and wage war => was an area of dispute & by pooling no
pb
- lay foundations of common market = if depend one another prevent war
→ euro commission
→ has inde powers
from member states
=> 1st supranational
instit
→ still exists
→ not directly
elected
→ essential for legal
disputes between member states
● architects of euro integration
Jean Monnet = main deviser schuman plan & president of high authority
Robert Schuman = presenter of schuman delaction
● other initiatives
the European defense community (1950)
- goal to establish an euro army under pol institutions of united europe
- similar institutional structure as the ECSC → supranational org
- rejected by french national assembly in 54
Probst
1st year class notes : PEU
Overview
1. Lecture 1: introduction to the course, historical context
2. Lecture 2 : history of European integration pt II, 1960s-present
3. Lecture 3 : the European commission
4. Lecture 4 : the council of the European Union
5. Lecture 5 : the European council
6. Lecture 6 : the European parliament
7. Lecture 7 : decision making process
8. Lecture 8 : EU external policies
9. Lecture 9 : the economic and monetary union and the euro crisis
10. Lecture 10 : migration, asylum and the 2015-16 crisis
11. Lecture 11 : theorizing European integration
,lecture 1 (04/04): intro to the course, historical context
1. introduction
why should we care abt eu?
- increase employment opportunities after graduation
- understand the politics of technocracy (= government by experts) → insight how it
works & fight vs populist challenges
- pursue an intellectual fascination w a polity in the making => supranational aspects
that make it + than pol org
“an unidentified pol object”
- confronted w unprecedented nb of crisis (refugees, ukraine, crimea, eco crisis…) →
shows that EU fragile, & how can it respond in effective fashion & how it can rule
eurospeak → dialect in own right
ex of EU lingo
2. the historical context of european integration
rationale: if know origins of EU → explains complexity
● war & peace in (western) europe
aftermath 2ww = 70y of lasting peace
- before= common to go to war w each other
- made war in europe in EU impossible
2012 = nobel peace prize
EU => peace project for europe BUT founding powers were still colo powers (so not a peace
project for the world)
⇒ project focused on W europe
● 1st half of the 20th century
➔ political and ideological divisions in europe
sharp and fluid inter-state relations
- treaty of versailles (1919) →
punish germany for starting ww
- LON (1919)
,left europe devastated
- eco devastation: massive war debts, infrastructural damage
- pol weakness: newly established pol systems, loss of empires
- the continent was quickly divided in 2 w western europe facing a new menace to the
east
- consciousness that versailles approach did not resolve the “german pb”
⇒ factors combined to produce a situation where there was a willingness on the part of
many decision makers to explore next orders
● ww2 changed pol climate
factors that changed
- emphasis on combating nationalism
ex: creation of council of europe
inspired by idealistic ideas, aims were vague
- the new political map of europe
- new borders, division into west and east through the iron curtain, US support
for liberal democratic systems
- new international power balance
- start CD: europe in between US & USSR
- the german pb: how to prevent another approach
- adopt a conciliatory approach
● diffs between the western european states
although they has much in common post www2, major diffs between west euro states & v diff
aims
- 6 founding members of the EU:
- benelux (counterbalance)
- west germany (rehabilitated into europe)
- FR (contain germany & cooperate w new german gov)
- italy (rehabilitated in europe)
⇒ no state participated in the integration process for idealistic reasons: hard headed
national calculations always prevailed
UK decided not to join in beginning => saw themselves as winners
Milwards = integration helped “rescue” the european nation-state
⇒ work together to become a power w common project
, 3. notable institutional devs
no general agreement on what to be done = hence multiple orgs
- OEEC april 1948 → transformed into OECD in 1971 (= established to administer
funds granted by marshall plan)
- council of europe => idealistic of human peace now international rights may 1949
- NATO 1949
- euro coal and steel community 1951 treaty of paris ⇒ foundation of EU as we
know it today
- euro defense cooperation (not ratified) & western european union created in 1954
● the ECSC/treaty of paris/1951
idea put forward in the Schuman declaration (1950)
envisaged duration: 50y
ambition to create a free trade area
why coal and steel
- at the time some of the basic materials of any industrialized society
- key materials to make arms and wage war => was an area of dispute & by pooling no
pb
- lay foundations of common market = if depend one another prevent war
→ euro commission
→ has inde powers
from member states
=> 1st supranational
instit
→ still exists
→ not directly
elected
→ essential for legal
disputes between member states
● architects of euro integration
Jean Monnet = main deviser schuman plan & president of high authority
Robert Schuman = presenter of schuman delaction
● other initiatives
the European defense community (1950)
- goal to establish an euro army under pol institutions of united europe
- similar institutional structure as the ECSC → supranational org
- rejected by french national assembly in 54
