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How does the EU incorporate both supranational and intergovernmental features?

• Some observers (Keohane and Hoffman) question the assumption that internationalism and supranationalism are the two extremes of the continuum.
• Are the governments of member states trying to preserve their sovereignty by relating to each other as equals, or are they transferring their sovereignty to a new supranational organisation. In some respects the European remains a pact among independent states, but in other respects the balance of power has shifted to European Institutions.
• According to Wikipedia “The European Union or the EU is an intergovernmental and supranational union of 25 European countries.”
• The Council of Ministers has no equivalent anywhere in the world. Here, the Member States legislate for the Union, set its political objectives, coordinate their national policies and resolve differences between themselves and with other institutions. The Council is a body with the characteristics of both a supranational and intergovernmental organisation, deciding some matters by qualified majority voting, and others by unanimity.

• Supranationalism is a method of decision-making in international organizations, where power is held by independent appointed officials or by representatives elected by the legislatures or people of the member states.
• Member-state governments still have power, but they must share this power with other actors.
• Furthermore, decisions are made by majority votes; hence it is possible for a member-state to be forced by the other member-states to implement a decision against its will.
• The institutions of the EU have the power to make laws and policies that are binding on its member states and in several areas such as agriculture, the environment and competition, where the EU has authority, and EU law is supreme, it overrides national law. When cooperation leads to the transfer of power on this level we “move into the realms of supranationalism” (McCormick)
• “The EU is much more than a standard IO (International Organisation)” (McCormick)
• Rather than being a meeting place for governments and making decisions based on the competing interests of the member nations “[the EU] a supranational organisation rises above the individual interests of its members and makes decisions on the basis of the interest of the whole” (McCormick)
• Many EU decisions are taken at ‘supranational’ level in the sense that they involve the EU institutions, to which EU countries have delegated some decision-making powers. (EU website)

• Intergovernmentalism is a theory of decision-making in international organizations, where power is possessed by the member-states and decisions are made by unanimity.

• Independent appointees of the governments or elected representatives have solely advisory or implementation functions.
• Intergovernmentalism is used by most international organizations today.
• Where governments participate in international cooperation, decision making is described as intergovernmental” (McCormick)
• Membership is voluntary
• he EU lacks the power to raise taxes and thus depends on contributions from members for revenue
• one matters – such as security and defence issues – are decided purely by intergovernmental agreement (i.e. agreement between the governments of the EU countries), and not by QMV. These intergovernmental decisions are taken by ministers meeting in the Council of the European Union, or at the highest level by the prime ministers and/or presidents of the EU countries, meeting as the European Council. (EU website)

European integration leading to a federal Europe?

A federal government is one in which at least 2 levels of government, national and local, exist.

• Each level has a clearly defined and independent functions but neither is supreme

• In a federal system, the government exercises power over both its constituent units and its citizens, and there is a direct relationship between citizens and each level of government.
• Federalism usually requires separately elected national and local governments.
• There is a single currency, a common defence force, a codified constitution and a supreme court
• Federal features of the EU:
• It has a complex system of treaties and laws that are uniformly applicable throughout the EU
• In those policy areas which the member states have agreed to transfer authority to the EU, EU law supersedes national law (But in non-agrees areas national law is still supreme)
• EU laws and treaties are interpreted and protected by the European Court of Justice (ECJ)
• It has a directly elected European Parliament, which has growing powers over legislation. As their powers grow the legislature in the national states is declining.
• Although small in comparison to most national budgets, the EU budget gives the EU institutions some financial independence
• In those areas where it has been given authority, the EU government has authority to negotiates with third parties on behalf of its member states
• The EU has its own currency which has replaced the national currency of most of its member states

• If the EU was confederal the members are sovereign and the central authority is relatively weak, existing solely at the discretion of the members and doing exactly what they allow it to do.
• The EU has several confederal qualities:
• The citizens of the member states do not relate directly to most of the EU institutions. All but the European Parliament derive their authority not from the citizens of the member states, but from the leaders and governments and member states.
• The member states still have their own separate identities. The most important elected political leaders in the EU are still heads of government of the member states who are not directly elected to that position
• There is no generalized European tax system
• There is no European military or defence system
• There is no codified European constitution. Recent attempts to create one were turned down in referendums in Denmark and France.

Subsidiarity and the EU

• Subsidiarity is the idea that matters should be handled by the smallest (or, the lowest) competent authority.
• The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level.
• Subsidiarity is, ideally or in principle, one of the features of federalism.
• It is presently best known as a fundamental principle of European Union law.
• According to this principle, the EU may only act (i.e. make laws) where member states agree that action of individual countries is insufficient. The principle was established in the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht, and is contained within the proposed new Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe.
• Under the principle of subsidiarity, in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence the Union shall act only if and insofar as the objectives of the intended action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, either at central level or at regional and local level, but can rather, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved at Union level.
• Formally, the principle of subsidiarity applies to those areas where the Community does not have exclusive competence, the principle delineating those areas where the Community should and should not act.
• In practice, the concept is frequently used in a more informal manner in discussions as to which competences should be given to the Community, and which retained for the Member States alone.

Is the EU an economic giant but a political dwarf?

Politically Weak

• Although in 1957 the Treaties of Rome were signed promising a common political and economic market, they set up the EEC (European Economic Community), the name of which hints that the main objective was to improve the European Economy.
• In 1991 the Maastricht Treaty was signed creating the European Union, and the first real step to improving the European Union's political function. This important step towards a stronger European political community came 40 years after the setting up of the ECSC to create a stronger European economy, and so it is not surprising that there are worries that 'Europe is an economic superpower but a political dwarf'.
• The recent failure of the proposed European constitution seems to yet again reflect the political weakness of the European Union.
• The French (and consequent Dutch) no vote shows that the European Union is politically unstable.
• The French 'No' vote was considered a "real crisis" (Paul Reynolds, BBC) and even though the European Union consists of many countries, it only took one negative vote on the constitution by the people of one country, for 'the future direction of the European Union [to be thrown] into doubt.' (Paul Reynolds).
• One of the major factors contributing to the political failings of the European Union is the conflicting aims of the member states. Franco-British confrontations over what the European Union should be deter any political developments.
• Britain aims for 'a free trade zone and economic union with little political integration' (Lithuania's Lietuvos Rytas, via BBC), a stance which is supported by various European countries like Lithuania and Latvia. Conversely France aims for a strong political and economic union, according to Caroline Wyatt at the BBC; 'French politicians have long seen the European Union as …a deeply political project'. This vision is strongly supported by Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium.
• These conflicting objectives do little to help the European Union politically, as one side wants a political union and the other doesn't. The result is a week political union with limited powers, and a democratic deficit.

Economically Strong

• The European Union's roots are in the creation of a European common market.
• The first step towards a united Europe was in 1948 when the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) Customs Union was established.
• In 1952 the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community) was created by Benelux, France, Germany and Italy.
• The ECSC, founded with the aim of establishing a common market, had a supranational structure, and it is most likely that the idea that Europe was economically strong and politically weak began here, as industries had powers above that of individual nations' governments.
• The European Union's share of the world's total trade in services is greater by a fifth to that of the United States', and is more than 3 times larger than that of Japan's.
• Also the purchasing power parity (The purchasing power parity measures how much a currency can buy in terms of an international measure, since goods and services have different prices in some countries than in others. purchasing power parity exchange rates are used in international comparisons of standard of living.) of Europe is $10,840 billion which is higher than that of the United States ($10,400 billion), Japan ($3,550 billion), or any country in the world.

Not Economically Strong

• However, many statistics also support the claim that the European Union isn't an economic superpower. If you compare the purchasing power parity per capita of the world's countries, the United States is far ahead of any other country with $37,000. Europe comes third to Canada, but has no distinct lead over Japan, and Germany, France, United Kingdom and Italy aren't much lower.
• Moreover, since 1997 the United States has had a greater GDP than the European Union, and the margin between the two countries grew between 1997 and 2001 by 2.4 trillion euros, an amount which even before 1997 the European Union had never had over the United States.
• If you then compare the GDP per capita in 2001, it is clear that the United States is far richer than the European Union, as the United States has €39,023.5 per capita, and the European Union has a mere €23,360.7 per capita, an amount which is beaten by the United Kingdom's €26,641.6 per capita, and it is true to say that the United Kingdom, although rich, is not considered an economic superpower.
• When one looks into the motives behind the no-votes, 'both in France and the Netherlands, economic weakness was a major factor in popular disillusionment.' (Lord William Wallace, the World Today).
• In France, a founding member of the European Union and a country which is supposed to be extremely pro-European, the constitution was greeted with a strong 'non' campaign. Although there were various reasons for the negative result on the referendum, including rebellion against French President Jacques Chirac, Lord William Wallace claims that the main motive behind the resounding no vote is that the proposed liberalisation of European Union services, which was used to symbolise the threat to employment in a country where 11% are already unemployed, double the amount unemployed in the United Kingdom.
• In the Netherlands, also a founding member of the European Union, 'economic grievances focused around the Dutch contribution to the EU budget, now the highest per head.' (Lord William Wallace)
• Problems over the contribution to the European Union budget have regularly arisen during the lifetime of the European Union. "The Single European Act…. Followed Franco-British confrontation over budget contributions" (Lord William Wallace) and even now the rebate given to the United Kingdom due to our excessive contributions to the budget is a hotly debated topic.

• As previously mentioned France has 11% unemployed. Figures like this are reflected all over Europe. In Germany the national level of unemployment is also 11%, moreover some regions, especially the East, have unemployment levels of over 20%.
• In Italy 'economic problems have just contributed to the collapse of its government' (Ben Richardson, BBC). These are supposed to be the better off West European countries, yet they are economically weak compared with the USA where unemployment is at 5.3% and in Japan where the rate is 4.5%.
• In fact the unemployment rate for the whole European area is a terrible 8.6%.
• According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, GDP growth among the 12 countries that use the Euro as their common currency, was only 2.5% in the last quarter, whereas in America the GDP growth was 3.4%. This begs the question of what will happen when the proposed Eastern European countries join the EU, as these countries are economically weaker than the West.
• From these figures it is hard to believe that Europe could be alleged to be an economic superpower, as 'Europe's economic performance has left much to be desired in recent years' (Pennsylvania University), and it is unlikely that Europe's performance will improve with the joining of Eastern European countries like Turkey, with unemployment rates of 10% plus underemployment rates of 4%, and 18% of the population below the poverty line.

What are the attitudes to, and problems of, enlargement?

Duncan Watts

• Expansion is an important topic because the European Union has to fulfil and reconcile two requirements:
  1. It must unhesitatingly and in accordance with article 237 confirm its openness to new applications
  2. It must take care to strengthen its own structures sufficiently to maintain the momentum of its own integration.
• Germany believes in enlargement , but would like to see the more economically advanced countries such as the Czech Republic and Slovenia come in first
• France has been uneasy about the prospect of having first and second class applicants
• France fears that the strength of the inner core of the Community might be sapped by too wide an expansion which allowed in poorer eastern countries.
• Union policies such as the CAP are likely to be placed under heavy strain with the arrival of new members, which are likely to be a drain on funds.
• Poland’s, the largest of the would-be members, large farming sector could pose the greatest problems for the overstretched EU agricultural and development budget.
• Mitterrand also recognised that in a broader Europe, French influence would be diminished, so that he placed the emphasis of deeper political integration before expansion.
• Britain likes the idea of extending deregulated trading areas, and welcomes the fact that the new democracies see free-market solutions as being British driven. Also enlargement to the east might make it possible to slow the pace of integration in the West.
• Britain believes that enlargement will make concentration on economic rather political issues more likely.
• As there has been difficulty in agreeing what powers the institutions of the Union should be allocated already, the problem is likely to be aggravated in an enlarged grouping.
• Expansion could make QMV becomes even more necessary
• Some would argue that rapid expansion makes it inevitable that the Union will have to develop into a more federal structure at some point in the future. Such an arrangement would provide a central body to take major decisions on a limited range of economic, political and security policies, whilst leaving other matters to be handled on a national level.
• Just as the accession of Greece, Portugal and Spain had an impact on the character of the Community, by increasing the number of less prosperous and more agrarian economies, so too will the addition of further new members have a decisive effect.
• Allowing the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to play their part in the institutions of Europe will encourage them in their attempts at economic and political reform and conducted at an appropriate pace will help to promote stability on the continent. It will also create a larger market for Union produce.
• Not to assist them would mean the emergence on EU borders of an economically depressed and marginalised region, with shrinking markets and mass unemployment. This would do little f

Original content by joker13na.

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