Decision-Making in the European Union Lecture PDF

DECISION-MAKING IN THE EUROPEAN UNION Dr. Ozlem Terzi [email protected] What does the EU law consist of? Primary EU Law. The Founding (International) Treaties: Treaty of Rome, SEA, Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon Treaties, Accession Treaties, the Withdrawal Agreement ( i...

DECISION-MAKING IN THE EUROPEAN UNION Dr. Ozlem Terzi [email protected] What does the EU law consist of? Primary EU Law. The Founding (International) Treaties: Treaty of Rome, SEA, Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon Treaties, Accession Treaties, the Withdrawal Agreement ( if any), Association Agreements, Trade agreements, UNCLOS, ECHR, other treaties that the EU is a party to. Secondary EU Law (legislation created by EU Institutions). All binding and non-binding decisions taken by the EU institutions. Secondary EU law cannot be contrary to primary EU law. Together: acquis communautaire. All new Member States have to accept it in its entirety (no opt-outs) The pillar structure beneath the system Created by Maastricht Treaty, abolished by the Lisbon Treaty Underlying rationale remains The institutions In the EMU (First pillar), The European Commission is the main initiator of legislation. The Council and the EP decide together (co-decision), today named as the ordinary legislative procedure (OLP) This was not always so: Treaty of Rome: the EP is consulted, and the Council decides by QMV. Acceptance of International Treaties by EU/EC: EP (assent/consent)+national procedures for ratification (parliamentary ratification or referendum) CJEU has final jurisdiction over all legislation. 4 main procedures in decision making: (Community method- 1 pillar) st Chronologically Treaty of Rome: Consent and consultation Court of Justice ruling on Isoglucose Single European Act: Cooperation procedure (EP forces Council to have unanimity) Maastricht Treaty: Co-decision (EP can block a decision), all procedures co-exist. Reconciliation Committee: Legislative text written by the Council and EP together. Treaty of Lisbon Co-decision is the rule (OLP)+ assent 5 types of legislation for secondary EU law Regulation, directly binding on MS, no extra national legislation required. Directive, binding, but the MS need to legislate a national law/legal act to reach the delineated aim in the Directive. Decisions binding e.g. Court decisions Opinion- non-binding, e.g. opinions of Commission on candidate countries, political weight. Recommendation (non-binding), some resolutions of the EP In CFSP (2nd pillar) and AFSJ (3rd pillar) The MS cannot be taken to the Court. Commission may have shared right of initiative. The MS are the main initiators. The EP has a right to be informed and can ask questions. But has no legislative powers. The main decision maker is the Council. FAC in CFSP and Council of JHA in AFSJ or the European Council. Limited QMV. Unanimity or consensus Open method of Cooperation (OMC) Flexibility to Community method in EMU issues. Used especially with respect to social policy, employment and related fiscal issues, education, youth and training. The MS do not want to legally commit, but agree on desired outcomes, targets, benchmarks and report on measures and progress taken. Voluntary and intergovernmental cooperation. first created in 2000 Democratic deficit Permissive consensus (EU as elite driven technocratic project). Weakness of EP, strength of the Commission or Council. Comitology, Council committees (of MS) that oversee what the Commission is doing. the citizens initiative Citizens initiative: Launched in 2012 as a democratic instrument, To set the agenda from the bottom-up citizens can ask the Commission to pursue a legislative action on a topic. It has to be in the competence area of the EU. So far, not well used. National parliaments Role of national parliaments outlined with the treaty of Lisbon. There is to be relationship between EP and national parliaments Also, national parliaments scrutinize proposed EU legislation they especially control whether the principle of subsidiarity is respected, requires 8 national parliaments to stop a commission proposal. National parliaments vote on mixed international treaties (apart from trade) signed by the EU. Criticism: enough time is not given for checking all the proposed legislation. The principle of subsidiarity Introduced by the Maastricht Treaty Principle from German Constitutional law Laws should be made at the level closest to the citizen. Only with respect to concerns of efficiency and scope should the federal government legislate. All the rest should be done at the level of the constituting states.