Summary Introduction to EU

Introduction To EU Law


Contents
WEEK 1........................................................................................................................................................................ 2
WEEK 2...................................................................................................................................................................... 10
WEEK 3...................................................................................................................................................................... 13
WEEK 4...................................................................................................................................................................... 17
Lecture 5:................................................................................................................................................................... 24
WEEK 6...................................................................................................................................................................... 29




1

,WEEK 1
Topic – Origins and Development of The EU

THE EU IN 2021

Member States (27): Austria, Italy, Belgium, Latvia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Croatia, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Malta,
Czechia, Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Portugal, Finland, Romania, France, Slovakia, Germany, Slovenia,
Greece, Spain, Hungary, Ireland, Sweden

Euro zone (19): Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain

Candidate countries (5): Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey

Potential candidate countries (2): Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo

https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries_en

Post-WWII – Multilateralism

After WWII: desire for lasting peace → international co-operation → Multilateralism:

1945: UN (United Nations)

1945: IMF (International Monetary Fund)

1947: GATT Treaty (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)

1947: Marshall Plan (US funded European Recovery Program,

channeled through the OEEC - see below)

1948: OEEC (Organisation for European Economic Co-operation; in

1960 changed into OECD, Organisation for Economic

Co-operation and Development)

1949: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

1949 (1954): Treaty of Brussels (WEU, Western European Union)

1949: Council of Europe =>European Convention on Human Rights,

1953

Pay attention! Do not get confused!

Council of Europe (Strasbourg) ≠ European Union (Bruxelles, Luxembourg, Strasbourg)

The EU Treaties

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) (1952; ended in 2002)

EEC (Rome, 1957; originally called EEC Treaty, after Maastricht called EC Treaty) 1957: Rome Treaties

 EAEC (Euratom) Treaty (Rome, 1957)
 Merger Treaty (1965)
 Budgetary Treaties (1970 and 1975)
 Single European Act (1986)
TEU (Maastricht Treaty, 1992)

 Treaty of Amsterdam (1997)
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,  Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (2001) (see art. 6(1) TEU)
 Treaty of Nice (2001)
Treaty of Lisbon (2007) – Treaty on the EU (TEU) and Treaty of the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)

‘Jean Monnet method’ → ‘Small steps approach’: From the internal market to foreign policy and immigration,
one of the main characteristics of the EU is its gradual and sectoral integration. In sum, thanks to its treaties
reforms, the EU, as we know it today, has gone through different stages of development

Supranationalism vs intergovernmentalism
in international organizations

Different forms of integration between states:

Intergovernmentalism

 focus on protection State power, national interests
 States are the key actors
 decisions require unanimity
 decisions rarely enforceable, and if so only between States, not their citizens
Supranationalism

 supranational institutions are the key actors
 States have transferred (some of) their powers in the areas concerned to a higher level
 decision-making at a higher level than State level, overriding national rules
 decisions do not require unanimity
 decisions are enforceable
An international organization → can be intergovernmental or supranational, or display both intergovernmental
and supranational elements.

Pay attention! The EU is not the only supranational organization!

Supranationalism vs intergovernmentalism
in the EU




The first European Community: ECS

1950: Schuman (and Monnet): Schuman Plan, linking French and German coal and steel industries, under the
control of a supranational body

1952: European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), six Member States (MS)

Four institutions:

 High Authority (executive)
 Assembly (parliament)
 Council (of Ministers, representing the MS)
 Court of Justice
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, High Authority: body of nine independent appointees of the six MS, able to adopt binding decisions – the
supranational factor




Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950

“(…) The pooling of coal and steel production should immediately provide for the setting up of common
foundations for economic development as a first step in the federation of Europe, and will change the destinies of
those regions which have long been devoted to the manufacture of munitions of war, of which they have been the
most constant victims.

The solidarity in production thus established will make it plain that any war between France and Germany
becomes not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible. The setting up of this powerful productive unit (…)
will lay a true foundation for their economic unification”

Why was the EU awarded the Noble Peace Prize, in 2012?

From the report of the Nobel Committee:

“After the decimation of the Second World War, reconciliation between Germany and France was an important
step towards fostering peace in Europe. The two countries - which by then had fought three wars within the space
of 70 years - built the European Coal and Steel Community together with four other countries in 1952. This
organization became the foundation for an ever-broader cooperation within what has been known since 1993 as
the European Union (EU). In this time of economic and social unrest, the Committee wished to reward the EU's
successful struggle for peace, reconciliation and for democracy and human rights”.

EEC and Euratom Treaties

1957: Rome Treaties

1. European Economic Community (EEC)

2. European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom)

So: from now on no longer ‘community’ (the ECSC) but (three) ‘communities’

Predominant EEC Treaty objective: common market → Internal Market Law (See Year 2)

Specific sub-objectives EEC Treaty:

customs union

abolition of customs duties

common external customs tariff

“four freedoms” (goods, workers, services, capital)

competition policy against private market barriers/cartels

close regulation as regards state intervention

regulation of MS’ fiscal regimes on goods, preventing discrimination

common commercial policy as regards trade relations with third states

co-ordination national economic and monetary policies

Other, more general and political, objectives:

more stability (=>no more war – still relevant!)

higher standard of living

closer relations between the MS (=>no more war)
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