Juridical Aspects of the

European Construction
Course No. 5

Community Law System

Primary Community law/native:
Founding Treaties (ECSC, EEC, EURATOM, TEU)
Amendment Treaties which modify and/or complete
the founding Treaties (SEA, Treaty of Amsterdam,
Treaty of Nice, Reform Treaty - Lisbon)
Accession agreements

Secondary Community law/derived:

Regulations, directives, decisions,
recommendations/opinions

Jurisprudence of the European Courts

Paris Treaty:
European Steal and Coal Community

Signed: 18th of April 1951

Entered in force: 1952
Expired: 23rd of July 2002 (duration of 50 years)
Signing Countries: Germany, France, Italy, Luxemburg,
Belgium, the Netherlands (The Six; the Common High
Authority was presided by Jean Monnet)
This plan of economic integration looked for developing
the approach between France and Germany, moving
definitively away the haunt of war in Europe =>peace
between France and Germany.
Jean Monnet

"Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be
built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.
The coming together of the nations of Europe requires the elimination of the
age-old opposition of France and Germany. Any action taken must in the
first
place
concern
these
two
countries.
With this aim in view, the French Government proposes that action be taken
immediately
on
one
limited
but
decisive
point.
It proposes that Franco-German production of coal and steel as a whole be
placed under a common High Authority, within the framework of an
organisation open to the participation of the other countries of Europe.
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 (...)"
Schuman Declaration
9th of May 1950

Robert Schuman
(French Foreign Minister)

The Rome Treaties:

CEE and EURATOM
Historical background:
The foreign ministers of the Six, presided over by the
Belgian Paul Henri Spaak, met in a Conference in
Messina (Italy) in 1955: the agreements they reached
there meant a definitive step in the European
construction leading to

signing the Treaties of Rome (25th of March

1957) by the Six
in force since 1958

Treaties of Rome

European Economic
Community
(CEE)

European Atomic
Energy Community
(EURATOM)

Objectives:
- Integration of the common economy
- Creating of a common market
- Establishing of the 4 freedoms (goods, services, capitals and
workers)
- Elimination of any national discrimination

Key issues in implementing the

Rome Treaties
What was needed?
increased importance of the

- Legal basis
- Legislative harmonization

European
Court of
Justice

Theoretical implications of the CEE

Treaty
Alongside the common market, also an European social
society arises: the State is no longer sovereign subject
on its territory, because the common market operates at
a supranational dimension.
Community law is over the national law
CEE covers more areas than ECSC
International background:
UK refused to join the CEE, based on their maritime power and
did not want to give up the power over to the Communities
institutions. Result: creation of European Free Trade Agreement
(EFTA) in 1959 as a rival for CEE.

ECONOMIC OBJECTIVES

MEANS

KEY PRINCIPLES

How?
1. Harmonious development of
economic activities
2. Continuous and equilibrated
expansion
3. Increase in stability
4. Accelerated growth of the
living standard

Loyalty to the
Community
Nondiscrimination
related
to
citizenship
Enlargement
of
competencies,
only related to the
functioning of the
common market

INSTITUTIONAL
FRAMEWORK

Common institutions

Supreme judiciary control

The Commission: the guardian

of the Treaty

EU Budget

COMMON MARKET

Customs union

HARMONIZATION OF ECONOMIC
POLICIES

Rules concerning decision

making

Common commercial policy

Common competition policy

Common agricultural policy

Common transportation policy

Free movement of goods

Free movement of persons
Free movement of services
Free movement of capitals

Other instruments (weak)

Harmonization of economic
and fiscal regulations

Figure 1: The Economic Structure of the Treaty of

Rome,

Pelkmans J, 2008

Merger Treaty

Signed: 8th of April 1965

In force since: 1st of July 1967
in Brussels
Objective:
establishing of unique structures for the 3
European Communities (ECSC, CEE,
EURATOM): Council of Ministers
(decisional) and European Commission
(executive)

Schengen Agreement
Signed in Schengen (Luxemburg) on 14th of June 1986
Signing countries: Germany, France, Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxemburg
Gradual elimination of the border control of the common
borders and introducing the free movement for all their
citizen.
Other countries joined: Italy (1990), Spain and Portugal
(1991), Greece (1992), Austria (1995), Sweden, Finland,
Denmark (1996), Iceland, Norway.
21st of December 2007 9 CEECs joined
Today: 25 member states

Map of the Schengen Agreement

Countries:
Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland

Single European Act

17th of February 1986

In force since 1st of July 1987
was the first major revision of the Treaty of Rome
Objective for the European Community: establishing a
Single Market by 31st of December 1992 and as a means
of achieving this adopted a more collaborative legislative
process
Extended the competencies of the Communities
Institutions (the European Parliament had a real say in
legislating) and introduced cooperation procedure and
extended the qualified majority vote in the decisionmaking process

ECONOMIC OBJECTIVES

MEANS

KEY PRINCIPLES

INSTITUTIONAL
FRAMEWORK

How?
The previous ones

The previous ones

The previous
ones

European Council

COMMON MARKET

The previous
ones

Definition of
common market:
space without
frontiers, the
guarantee of
liberties

HARMONIZATION OF ECONOMIC
POLICIES

The previous
ones

Mutual recognition
as regular principle

Research &
technical
development
environment

Qualified majority vote

for measures concerning
the internal market

More important role for

the European
Parliament
Economic &
social cohesion
Structural funds

Figure 2: Addition of the Single European Act to the Treaty

of Rome,

Pelkmans J, 2008

SME
Health & safety
at the workplace

Treaty on European Union (TEU)

signed on 7th of February 1992 in Maastricht (the Netherlands)

entered into force on 1st of November 1993
It created the EUROPEAN UNION

3 pillars: Economic Community (EC) with supranational institutions, Common Foreign and
Security Policy (CFSP), Justice and Home affairs (JHA) intergovernmental cooperation

Established the convergence criteria for the EMU (art. 121):

Inflation rate:

Government finance:

applicant countries should have joined the exchange-rate mechanism (ERM II) under the European
Monetary System for 2 consecutive years

Long-term interest rates:

government deficit to GDP must not exceed 3%, government debt to GDP must not exceed 60%

Exchange Rate:

no more than 1.5 percentage points higher than the average of the three best performing (lowest
inflation) member states of the EU.

the nominal long-term interest rate must not be more than 2 percentage points higher than in the three
lowest inflation member states.

Led to the creation of the single European currency: the Euro

Treaty of Amsterdam

signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999

Problem: The prospect of adding ten or more members lent new urgency to calls for reform
of EU institutions. The Union was already too large to function with essentially the same set
of institutions that had been devised in the 1950s
The Treaty of Amsterdam amended the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaty of Rome.
The aim of the negotiations was clear: to create the political and institutional conditions
to enable the European Union to meet the challenges of the future such as the rapid
evolution of the international situation, the globalization of the economy and its impact
on jobs, the fight against terrorism, international crime and drug trafficking, ecological
problems and threats to public health
Accomplishments?
Freedom, security and justice
to protect fundamental rights within the European Union, such as equality between men and
women, non-discrimination and data privacy
The Union and the citizen
Improvements areas directly affecting the rights,
interests, and well-being of individual citizens
Effective and coherent external policy
the challenges and practicalities of extending the scope of the common commercial policy to
include international agreements on services and intellectual property rights

ECONOMIC OBJECTIVES

MEANS

KEY PRINCIPLES

How?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

8.

The previous
ones

Harmonious, equilibrated and

lasting development of economic
activities
High level of employment and
social protection
Equality between men and women
Lasting and non-inflationary
growth
High level of competitiveness and
the convergence of economic
performances
High level of protection and
improvement of the quality of the
environment
Increase in the living standards
and in the quality of life
Economic and social cohesion
among member states

INSTITUTIONAL
FRAMEWORK
The previous
ones
Rules concerning the decision
making:

Special protocol
regarding the
subsidiarity and
proportionality

-More QMV
-More power for the European
Parliament

Tighter cooperation or
flexibility, under very strict
conditions in the EC Pillar;
fewer conditions in other
Pillars
The stability and growth pact

COMMON MARKET

Gradual transition to
(entirely) free movement
of persons complex
relationship to Schengen
and conditionings

The
previous
ones

HARMONIZATION OF
ECONOMIC POLICIES

The social
protocol
inserted in the
EC Treaty

The
previous
ones

EMU
The previous
ones

Coordinated
strategy for
employment

Voluntary ERM-2

Figure 3: The Economic Structure of the Treaty of Amsterdam,

Pelkmans, J. 2008

Treaty of Nice
was signed on 26 February 2001 and came into
force on 1 February 2003 BUT it was first
rejected (June 2001, by Irlenad).
It amended the TEU
The Treaty of Nice reformed the institutional
structure of the European Union to withstand
eastward expansion, a task which was originally
intended to have been done by the Amsterdam
Treaty, but failed to be addressed at the time.

 Institutions:
European Commission:
1 Commissioner/country = 27 Commissioners

Council of Ministers (votes)

European Parliament (members) to 732

The Treaty of Nice provides for new rules on

closer co-operation, the rules introduced in the
Treaty of Amsterdam being viewed as
unworkable, and hence these rules have not yet
been used.
The Treaty also contained provisions to deal
with the financial consequences of the expiry of
the Treaty of Paris (ECSC)

Treaty for an European Union

Constitution (TEC)
Signed on 29th of October 2004
Rejected in France and the Netherlands in 2005
TEC was designed to replace the Treaty of
Rome on EEC and the Treaty of Maastricht
(EU), EURATOM remains into force
The Charter for fundamental rights was to be
introduced =>EU could join European Court for
Human Rights (ECHR)
Development of the European defense and
introduced a clause of solidarity for all member
states against a possible attack

Reform Treaty (Lisbon)

Signed: 13th of December 2007

Into force: 3rd of November 2009
Purpose: amendment of the EUs functioning Treaties
Main changes:

Legal personality of the EU

Three pillars MERGED
Charta of the Fundamental Rights:
Clearer separation and definition of competences of the EU and
Member States
President of the Union, elected for 2,5 years
High Representative of the Union on Common Foreign and Security
Policy = foreign Minister of the EU
Reducing the number of Commissioners: 2/3 of the member states
Modified the voting procedure of the Council and introducing the double
majority (55% of the Member States and 65% of the EU population)

EU OBJECTIVES

MEANS

KEY PRINCIPLES

INSTITUTIONAL
FRAMEWORK

How?
The Union's aim is to promote peace, its values
and the well-being of its peoples.
The Union shall offer its citizens an area of
freedom, security and justice without internal
frontiers, in which the free movement of persons is
ensured.
The Union shall establish an internal market.
It shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic
diversity, and shall ensure that Europe's cultural
heritage is safeguarded and enhanced.
The Union shall establish an economic and
monetary union whose currency is the euro.
In its relations with the wider world, the Union
shall uphold and promote its values and interests
and contribute to the protection of its citizens

The previous
ones

Definition and formalization

of principle of conferral,
subsidiarity, proportionality,
supremacy of EU law
Clearer separation of
competences

Values: respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy,

equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights,
including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.
These values are common to the Member States in a
society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance,
justice, solidarity and equality between women and men
prevail

COMMON MARKET

Gradual transition to
(entirely) free movement
of persons complex
relationship to Schengen
and conditionings

The
previous
ones

The
previous
ones

-More QMV and double majority

-More power for the European
Parliament
-Co-decision extended
-New roles for national parliaments
+
External representation of EU:
President of EU, High
representative
+
Citizenship and citizens
participation to democratic life and
decision making

Provisions for countries

whose currency is Euro

HARMONIZATION
OF ECONOMIC
POLICIES

The previous
one

EMU
The previous ones
(Amsterdam)
Specific provisions for
countries with derogation

Figure 5: The Economic Structure of the Lisbon Treaty

Highlights!!

each Treaty underlines key moments in the EU

evolution
signing countries: from The Six to 27 member
states
EU evolution meant enlargement and deepening
of the integration process (from a FTA6 to an
EU27 and EMU17)
Each Treaty tried to face the two main
challenges: enlargement and integration process

Timeline of the EU Treaties

ECSC (founding)
EEC, EURATOM (founding)

1951
1957

1965
Merger Treaty

TEU (founding)

1986
1992
1997
2001
2007

Schengen Agreement
SEA (amending)
Treaty of Amsterdam (amending)
Treaty of Nice (amending)
Reform Treaty (amending)

Q&A