The Establishment and Initial Work of the European Parliamentary Assembly After the Rome Treaties
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The establishment and initial work of the European Parliamentary Assembly after the Rome Treaties STUDY EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service Historical Archives Unit PE 635.610 – April 2019 EN The establishment and initial work of the European Parliamentary Assembly after the Rome Treaties The first Community assembly was the ‘Common Assembly’ provided for in the ECSC Treaty, and which operated as part of that Community from 1953 to 1958. The European Parliamentary Assembly was its historic and legal successor, but the establishment of the EEC and Euratom under the 1957 Rome Treaties meant that, as a single body serving the three Communities, it was no longer the seat of democratic representation for an organisation dealing with one sector, namely coal and steel, but of a system of Communities which embraced the entire range of productive activities and trade. In other words, the Community system was now dealing with the European economy as a whole, but there were still three Communities with three Treaties. Two of those Treaties were similar to each other but the third, the ECSC Treaty, was significantly different in terms of distribution of powers. The problem therefore arose of coordination between the three Communities, the solution to which was considerably assisted by the merger of the executive bodies nine years later. It is to the European Parliamentary Assembly’s credit that it immediately seized upon that issue and made it the subject of one of its first reports, which was drawn up and discussed over a relatively short time-scale, given that all Parliamentary proceedings on the matter were concluded within three months. This publication deals essentially with that report, setting it in the context of the broader debate on the nature and future of integration addressed at the sittings of the part- session of March 1958. EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service AUTHOR(S) This paper has been drawn up by the Historical Archives Unit, within the Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (EPRS) of the Secretariat of the European Parliament. It is a reissue of a paper from 2008, entitled ‘The European Parliament - 50 years ago’. The author of the original paper was Franco Piodi, under the coordination of Donato Antona, with picture research by Margret Schelling. ADMINISTRATOR RESPONSIBLE Christian Salm, Historical Archives Unit, EPRS To contact the publisher, please email: [email protected] LINGUISTIC VERSIONS Original: EN Manuscript completed in April 2019. DISCLAIMER AND COPYRIGHT This document is prepared for, and addressed to, the Members and staff of the European Parliament as background material to assist them in their parliamentary work. The content of the document is the sole responsibility of its author(s) and any opinions expressed herein should not be taken to represent an official position of the Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorised, provided the source is acknowledged and the European Parliament is given prior notice and sent a copy. Brussels © European Union, 2019. Photo credits: © European Union / European Communities - European Parliament. PE 635.610 ISBN: 978-92-846-4698-2 DOI:10.2861/801275 CAT: QA-04-19-355-EN-N [email protected] http://www.eprs.ep.parl.union.eu (intranet) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank (internet) http://epthinktank.eu (blog) FOREWORD The European Parliament has a long and rich history. Nevertheless, its role as an important carrier and designer of European integration is often neglected when looking into the past of the European Union (EU) of today. In fact, as recent historical research has shown, the Parliament and its predecessors contributed decisively to building the EU as we now know it. In the 1980s, for example, the European Parliament contributed greatly to shaping the institutional operation of the European Community and developing the Single European Market. This, however, was only possible because highly engaged Members, developing the Parliament’s internal organisation and relations with other institutions, and fine-tuning over decades its role and position in the emerging decision- and policy-making system at European level. In fact, even in the deliberations and negotiations leading to the Rome Treaties in 1957, the original Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) had a major impact on the Treaties’ development. Once the Rome Treaties were in force, the new European Parliamentary Assembly did not lose any time in discussing issues such as the seat of the institutions, the role of the permanent representatives, relations with Member States, the democratic deficit, and how to coordinate between the three new Communities, namely the ECSC, the European Economic Community (EEC), and Euratom. As a result, the Assembly held various debates and adopted a series of reports providing solutions to these issues. The present publication deals with these debates and reports. It is a re-publication of a study written in 2008 as part of the celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of the first meeting, in March 1958, of the European Parliamentary Assembly – the body which was to become today’s European Parliament. Based on a variety of historical documents from the Parliament’s Historical Archives based in Luxembourg, it gives a fascinating insight into the institution’s early life. With a view to this year’s European elections and challenges to come for the new Parliament to be constitutionalised, it seems appropriate to recall the Parliament’s past work and contributions in building the European Union of today, as described in this paper. Lucinia Bal Historical Archives of the European Parliament European Parliamentary Research Service April 2019 Table of contents CHAPTER ONE – THE NEW PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY 7 1. Essential features ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 7 2. Powers .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 3. Relations between the institutions and with the national parliaments .................................................................. 8 a) Relations with the High Authority and the Commission ....................................................................................... 8 b) Relations with the Council .......................................................................................................................................................... 9 c) Relations with the national parliaments ............................................................................................................................ 10 4. The Assembly’s internal budget ...................................................................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER TWO – INTERNAL ORGANISATION 13 1. Groups and Committees ....................................................................................................................................................................... 13 2. Rules of Procedure: main issues addressed .............................................................................................................................. 13 a) Political groups ................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 b) Report on the sittings: the ‘Rainbow’ .................................................................................................................................... 14 c) Meeting places: the issue of the seat emerges ............................................................................................................. 15 d) Calendar of sessions ........................................................................................................................................................................ 15 e) Sanction against the Council of Ministers: a suggestion rejected .................................................................... 15 f) Allocation of seating in the plenary chamber by group ......................................................................................... 15 g) Introduction of substitute Assembly members: a proposal rejected ............................................................. 16 3. Organisation chart and budget ........................................................................................................................................................ 16 CHAPTER THREE – THE FIRST POLITICAL DEBATE 21 1. The inaugural sitting ................................................................................................................................................................................ 21 2. European integration ............................................................................................................................................................................. 21 3. Relations between the institutions: control of the Assembly, safeguarding the integration process and avoiding the risk of a democratic deficit..........................................................................................................................