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WORKING PAPER the European Parliament and The Directorate-General for Research WORKING PAPER The European Parliament and the Euratom Treaty: past, present and future Energy and Research Series ENER 114 EN This publication is only available in English. For further information on DGIV Energy Series publications please address: http://www.europarl.eu.int/studies. Publisher: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT L-2929 Luxembourg Authors: Part One: Dr Mervyn O’ Driscoll, University College Cork Part Two: Gordon Lake, Directorate-General for Research (with the assistance of Berthold Rittberger, Robert Schuman Scholar) Strategy paper two: Prof. Juliet Lodge, University of Leeds Responsible: Gordon Lake Directorate-General for Research Division for Industry, Research, Energy, Environment and STOA E-Mail: [email protected] The opinions expressed in this working paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorised, provided the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy. Manuscript completed in December 2001 Directorate-General for Research WORKING PAPER The European Parliament and the Euratom Treaty: past, present and future Energy and Research Series ENER 114 EN 2-2002 The EP and the Euratom Treaty: past, present and future PREFACE In the 1950s, three European Communities were created by a series of international legal instruments: the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) by the Treaty of Paris, 1952; the European Economic Community (EEC, now EC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC - usually referred to as ‘Euratom’), both in Rome in 1957. The ECSC Treaty expires in 2002. The other two are of limitless duration. The EEC (now EC) Treaty has been much amended, by, inter alia, the Single European Act (1987), and the Maastricht Treaty (1993), which created the European Union, comprising the existing European Communities, plus two other ‘pillars’ concerning co-operation in justice and home affairs, and a common foreign and security policy. The most recent amendments have been introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam, which came into force in 1999. The Treaty of Nice, which makes further amendments, has not yet come into force. The Euratom Treaty has never been amended as to substance. The provisions of the Euratom Treaty Believing that civil nuclear power was the key energy technology of the future, the founding fathers of the European Communities shared a functionalist belief that by obliging collaboration over the development of this technology between the Member States, via the Euratom Treaty, then political integration would more likely follow. The Treaty aimed to give considerable centralised powers to the Commission responsible for its implementation. Thus, the Euratom Supplies Agency would own and control the supply of all fissile materials in the Community, and the Commission would control the distribution of patent rights and production licences for a series of reactor designs and fuel cycle technologies to be developed by the Joint Nuclear Research Centre (JNRC). Provisions for research (Article 7) and international agreements (Article 101) were important features of the Treaty: research was required to establish nuclear capability, and international agreements were required to gain access to fissile materials and technologies. (The USA, for example, was and is the major supplier of enriched uranium, and had a virtual monopoly of the supply of the highly enriched uranium required for research reactors). The basic purpose and structure of the Euratom Treaty are set out in its first two articles: ‘The tasks of the Community Article 1 By this Treaty the HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES establish among themselves a EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY (EURATOM). It shall be the task of the Community to contribute to the raising of the standard of living in the Member States and to the development of relations with the other countries by creating the conditions necessary for the speedy establishment and growth of nuclear industries. Article 2 In order to perform its task, the Community shall, as provided in this Treaty: i PE 313.072 The EP and the Euratom Treaty: past, present and future a. promote research and ensure the dissemination of technical information; b. establish uniform safety standards to protect the health of workers and of the general public and ensure that they are applied; c. facilitate investment and ensure, particularly by encouraging ventures on the part of undertakings, the establishment of the basic installations necessary for the development of nuclear energy in the Community; d. ensure that all users in the Community receive a regular and equitable supply of ores and nuclear fuels; e. make certain, by appropriate supervision, that nuclear materials are not diverted to purposes other than those for which they are intended; f. exercise the right of ownership conferred upon it with respect to special fissile materials; g. ensure wide commercial outlets and access to the best technical facilities by the creation of a common market in specialised materials and equipment, by the free movement of capital for investment in the field of nuclear energy and by freedom of employment for specialists within the Community; h. establish with other countries and international organizations such relations as will foster progress in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy’. Control by democratically elected Parliaments was not exactly a significant feature of the nuclear sector in the 1950s. All the nuclear weapon States developed their military technology in secret, free from scrutiny by their national Parliaments. Moreover the link between the development of civil nuclear technology and the military technology was so close that the same culture of secrecy also pervaded the civil nuclear sector (and to a certain extent still does). Parliaments were not involved in the key decisions relating to development of either the military or the civil technologies, or in the international agreements which lubricated them. Thus it comes as no surprise that monitoring and control by the European "Assembly" (now officially "Parliament" since the adoption of the European Single Act) was not a strong feature of the Euratom Treaty, although, ironically, it can be plausibly argued that it is precisely in these areas that the public most feels the need for rigorous democratic scrutiny, control and accountability. The current role of the European Parliament in the Euratom Treaty The most obvious problem concerns the lack of any requirement for the Council to formally consult the European Parliament on a whole range of issues relating to different articles of the Euratom Treaty, even though the Parliament is the co-budgetary authority for all expenditure based on this Treaty. In contrast, consultation of the unelected Economic and Social Committee (ESC) and the unelected (advisory) Scientific and Technical Committee (which is nominated by the Member States) is usually required. Since 1957, as mentioned above, there have been substantial changes and modifications to the EEC (now EC) Treaty, via the Single European Act, the Maastricht Treaty, and now the Treaty of Amsterdam. These changes have, inter alia, steadily increased the role, power, and influence of the European Parliament, by the introduction of co-decision, and the assent procedure for international agreements. But no such changes have been made to the Euratom Treaty: apart from minor adjustments, it remains essentially unamended. The Member States, sometimes aided and abetted by the Commission, appear to use only parts of the Treaty, and they only use those when it suits them. Parliamentary efforts to reform or revise the Euratom Treaty Dissatisfaction with the institutional ‘imbalance’ enshrined in the Euratom Treaty compared to the provisions laid down in the TEC is one of the major reasons why the European Parliament ii PE 313.072 The EP and the Euratom Treaty: past, present and future has repeatedly called for revision of the Euratom Treaty. In contrast to the Euratom Treaty, the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) provides for substantial parliamentary involvement in the legislative process (with the co-decision procedure endowing Parliament with the right to co-legislate in an ever growing number of areas), or in the conclusion of international agreements (assent procedure). None of these procedural rights apply to Parliament in the realm of nuclear energy or related issues covered by the Euratom Treaty. The European Parliament, and in particular its Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy (and previously its Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy) has continuously demanded that the Member States should revise certain provisions of the Euratom Treaty. The Treaty’s ‘democratic deficit’, i.e. the lack of parliamentary involvement in the decision-making process, has been a subject of particular concern. This concern is considered particularly relevant with regard to Chapters I (‘Promotion of Research’) and Chapter 10 (‘External Relations’) of the Euratom Treaty, the latter having also been vigorously pursued by Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Furthermore, the European Parliament has repeatedly drawn attention to those Treaty provisions which it regards as seriously out-dated, either because they were never implemented, or because their material content no longer corresponds to present realities. Did any activity on
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