DOCSLIB.ORG

National Parliaments and the Policing of the Subsidiarity Principle

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
National Parliaments and the Policing of the Subsidiarity Principle National Parliaments and the Policing of the Subsidiarity Principle Katarzyna Granat Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Laws of the European University Institute Florence, December 2014 (defence) European University Institute Department of Law National Parliaments and the Policing of the Subsidiarity Principle Katarzyna Granat Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Laws of the European University Institute Examining Board Professor Bruno De Witte, European University Institute (Supervisor) Professor Loïc Azoulai, European University Institute Professor Damian Chalmers, London School of Economics Professor Thomas Christiansen, Maastricht University © Katarzyna Granat, 2014 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author This thesis has been submitted for language correction. 4 Acknowledgments I would like to thank Professor Bruno de Witte for his support during the process of writing the thesis, as well as for his advice and kindness. I started this work under the supervision of Professor Miguel Maduro whom I would like to thank for his guidance and counsel during the earlier stages of the writing process. My thanks are also due to Professor Loïc Azoulai for his inspiration and enthusiastic support for my research. From the Political Science department, I wish to thank Professor Adrienne Héritier who kindly supported me and invited me to work with her on an engaging project. Beyond the fruitful time that I have spent in Florence, I have also benefited from a number of research visits abroad. I am grateful to Professor Damian Chalmers and Professor Jan Komárek for hosting and advising me at the London School of Economics, and to Professor Armin von Bogdandy for welcoming me to the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg. Finally, I wish to thank Judge Marek Safjan and the members of his Cabinet at the European Court of Justice for involving me fully in the life of the Court. This thesis has benefited considerably from innumerable discussions with scholars and experts who have offered comments, criticism, and suggestions. Particular thanks are due to Rainer Arnold, Katrin Auel, Richard Bellamy, Thomas Christiansen, Ian Cooper, Marise Cremona, Federico Fabbrini, Cristina Fasone, Nicola Lupo, Giuseppe Martinico, François- Xavier Millet, Paolo Ponzano, François Randour, Robert Schütze and Takis Tridimas as well as civil servants of the national parliaments who patiently responded to my inquiries. I wish to thank especially Maciej, Boris, Rebecca and Tiago for their friendship during my EUI time and beyond. And I would not be able to accomplish this thesis without all the love, patience, and computer skills of my fiancé Jan-Peter Siedlarek – Danke Dir! This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Maria and Mirosław Granat, to whom I owe everything. 5 Summary This PhD thesis studies the role of national parliaments in the policing of the EU subsidiarity principle. The Treaty of Lisbon enshrines the Early Warning System (EWS) in Protocol No. 2, according to which national parliaments may review Commission proposals for compatibility with the subsidiarity principle expressed in Article 5(3) TEU. On the basis of the number of reasoned opinions submitted, which count as votes, national parliaments may trigger either a ‘yellow’ or an ‘orange’ card, each of which entails different consequences for the Commission draft act in question. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the functioning of the EWS and to explore why national parliaments participate in this mechanism. To achieve this task, this thesis analyses the reasoned opinions issued under the EWS. Hence, this thesis firstly conducts a case study of the Commission proposal on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office which triggered a ‘yellow card’. This example shows that national parliaments tend to conduct a broad scrutiny of Commission proposals, which includes aspects other than the subsidiarity of the proposal: its legal basis, the competence of the EU to act, its proportionality and its substance. This practice of national parliaments is evaluated according to a textual, structural and functional interpretation of the EU Treaties, and as a result, a narrow subsidiarity test is suggested for the purpose of the EWS. Thereafter, the thesis explores the national procedures of ex ante (EWS) and ex post (action before the ECJ) scrutiny. In addition, national debates are studied in order to analyse the relationship between national legislatives and executives, between parliamentary majorities and opposition, as well as the reflection of regional interests. This detailed study of debates also points to the first reasons for the participation of national parliaments in the EWS: the protection of idiosyncratic national interests and the restriction of EU redistributive policies. Further reasons for national parliaments’ participation in the EWS are indicated on the basis of two case studies, dealing with the Monti II regulation (competence), and the Tobacco Products Directive (‘delegated legislation’). These suggest that the EWS is used by national parliaments to increase their impact in the EU legislative process. The last case study of this thesis – the ‘Women on Boards’ proposal – ponders the application of the EWS to ‘genuine’ fundamental rights proposals, showing that the subsidiarity tests at stake here are focused to a much greater extent on a political willingness to protect universal values, rather than on efficiency. The thesis concludes by discussing whether the EWS enhances the EU’s democratic legitimacy and decreases the EU’s competence creep, which were the leading ideas behind the introduction of the Protocol No. 2 mechanism. It is pointed out that, although the impact of national parliaments on EU policy-making is uneasy to measure, some of the criticism of national parliaments is taken on board by the EU legislator. Because the ‘competence creep’ of the EU is rather limited, it also does not demand a great deal of involvement on the part of national parliaments. 6 Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................ 5 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 6 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 15 1 Research question ..................................................................................................... 15 2 Point of Departure from Existing Scholarship ....................................................... 20 3 Method and sources .................................................................................................. 25 4 Structure .................................................................................................................... 27 Chapter 1: National Parliaments and Subsidiarity in the EU Treaties ................ 29 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 29 1 Shaping the role of national Parliaments in the European Union ........................ 30 1.1 The Treaty of Maastricht .................................................................................... 30 1.2 The Treaty of Amsterdam .................................................................................. 31 1.3 The Constitutional Treaty .................................................................................. 32 1.4 The Treaty of Lisbon .......................................................................................... 33 2 Characteristics of the subsidiarity principle .......................................................... 35 2.1. Subsidiarity in EU Treaties ...................................................................................... 37 2.1 Design of the EWS ............................................................................................. 44 2.2 Current practice of the EWS .............................................................................. 48 3 The subsidiarity review from the perspective of EU institutions ......................... 50 3.1 The European Parliament ................................................................................... 51 3.2 The Council ........................................................................................................ 54 3.3 The Committee of the Regions........................................................................... 55 4 The ‘Barroso initiative’ ............................................................................................ 57 5 The EWS in Inter-parliamentary Cooperation ...................................................... 62 5.1 The Conference of Speakers of EU Parliaments ................................................ 64 5.1.1 Interparliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) ........................................................................ 64 5.1.2 IPEX ............................................................................................................................ 65 7 5.2 COSAC .............................................................................................................. 67 5.3 National Parliaments’ Representatives
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Luxembourgish EU Presidency and Financial Services – July-December 2015
    The Luxembourgish EU Presidency and Financial Services – July-December 2015 The Luxembourgish EU Presidency and Financial Services 1 July – 31 December 2015 Kreab Brussels 2 avenue de Tervueren, 1040 Brussels, Belgium www.kreab.com/brussels – @KreabEU 1 The Luxembourgish EU Presidency and Financial Services – July-December 2015 Contents Political Context of the Luxembourgish Presidency 3 Priorities of the Luxembourgish Presidency 4 Key Financial Services Initiatives and Legislative Dossiers 5 Organisation of the Luxembourgish Presidency 12 Annex I – Contact Information 13 Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the European Union 13 Economy and Finance 14 Government of Luxembourg 16 Ministry of Finance of Luxembourg 17 Bank of Luxembourg 18 Financial Regulatory Body of Luxembourg 20 Annex II – CVs of Key Luxembourgish Ministers 21 Annex III – Provisional Calendar 23 Annex IV – Key Council Meetings 25 Annex V – Country Fact Sheet 26 Annex VI – The EU Presidency 28 2 The Luxembourgish EU Presidency and Financial Services – July-December 2015 Political Context of the Luxembourgish Presidency The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg will assume its twelfth Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July 2015. Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in the EU, but it is also the wealthiest per capita. Following Italy and Latvia, Luxembourg is the third in this Presidency Trio, and will be the second full Presidency to work with the new Commission headed by compatriot and former Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. Luxembourg is the seat of several major institutions such as the European Court of Justice, the European Investment Bank, and the Court of Auditors. Attitude toward the EU Luxembourg is one of the six founding members of the European Union and has historically played a key role in its formation.
    [Show full text]
  • European Parliament Resolution of 12 December 2013 on Constitutional Problems of a Multitier Governance in the European Union (2012/2078(INI)) (2016/C 468/25)
    C 468/176 EN Official Journal of the European Union 15.12.2016 Thursday 12 December 2013 P7_TA(2013)0598 Constitutional problems of a multitier governance in the EU European Parliament resolution of 12 December 2013 on constitutional problems of a multitier governance in the European Union (2012/2078(INI)) (2016/C 468/25) The European Parliament, — having regard to the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, — having regard to the Treaty on the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) (1), — having regard to the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (TSCG) (2), — having regard to the ‘six-pack’ (3), — having regard to the ‘two-pack’ (4), — having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (5), — having regard to its position of 12 September 2013 on the proposal for a Council regulation conferring specific tasks on the European Central Bank concerning policies relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions (6), — having regard to the report of 5 December 2012 of the Presidents of the European Council, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the Eurogroup entitled ‘Towards a genuine Economic and Monetary Union’ (7), — having regard to the Commission communication of 28 November 2012 entitled ‘A blueprint for a deep and genuine economic
    [Show full text]
  • Davor Jancic the Barroso Initiative: Window Dressing Or Democracy Boost?
    Davor Jancic The barroso initiative: window dressing or democracy boost? Article (Published version) (Refereed) Original citation: Jancic, Davor (2012) The barroso initiative: window dressing or democracy boost? Utrecht Law Review, 8 (1). pp. 78-91. ISSN 1871-515X © 2012 The Author This version available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/51580/ Available in LSE Research Online: August 2013 LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website. This article is published in a peer-reviewed section of the Utrecht Law Review The Barroso Initiative: Window Dressing or Democracy Boost? Davor Jančić* 1. Introduction: refurbishing EU parliamentary democracy Although historically five years is a negligible period of time, in European integration it can spark impor- tant developments. Such is the case with the so-called Barroso Initiative (the Initiative), named after João Manuel Durão Barroso, incumbent second-term President of the European Commission. The purpose of his Initiative is to reinforce the democratic basis of the Union by involving national parliaments of the Member States more closely in the EU policy-making processes beyond the texts of the founding treaties.
    [Show full text]
  • Spotlight Europe Reforming Economic and Monetary Union: Legislation and Treaty Change
    spotlight europe spotlight europe #2017/01 Reforming Economic and Monetary Union: Legislation and Treaty Change This paper examines the legal mechanisms for reforming EMU — EU legislation, amendments to intergovernmental treaties concluded outside EU law, and EU treaty changes. It provides guidance on how to introduce several needed changes to EMU, suggesting that many reforms can be accomplished à traité constant, but that improving the EU institutional system ultimately requires changing the EU treaties. to strengthen the Eurozone economy and its insti- Federico Fabbrini * tutional set-up. This effort acquires a new meaning since it coincides with the likely trigger that month by th e United Kingdom (UK) of negotiations to leave 1. Introduction the ­­EU. Brexit has already prompted soul-searching The reform of Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union wit­­h in the EU and created the need to think anew (EMU) remains on the agenda of the institutions about Europe’s strategic future. The purpose of this and the member states of the European Union (EU). paper is to contribute to this debate, by analyzing the Several high-level institutional reports on deepening legal wa ys and means to reform EMU — on the un- and completing EMU have been published in the last derstanding that the success of the European integra- few years, and the European Commission is expected tion project also depends on the successful resolution to deliver by March 2017 a white paper mapping how of the Euro-crisis and consolidation of EMU. * Full Professor of European Law, School of Law & Government, Dublin City University spotlight europe #2017/01 There are three legal avenues to reform EMU, complet- National leaders have also endorsed the goal of ing and deepening Europe’s architecture of economic stabilizing EMU.
    [Show full text]
  • The Principle of Subsidiarity and Its Enforcement in the EU Legal Order
    The Principle of Subsidiarity and its Enforcement in the EU Legal Order The Role of National Parliaments in the Early Warning System Katarzyna Granat HART PUBLISHING Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Kemp House , Chawley Park, Cumnor Hill, Oxford , OX2 9PH , UK HART PUBLISHING, the Hart/Stag logo, BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2018 Copyright © Katarzyna Granat , 2018 Katarzyna Granat has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identifi ed as Author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. While every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of this work, no responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any statement in it can be accepted by the authors, editors or publishers. All UK Government legislation and other public sector information used in the work is Crown Copyright © . All House of Lords and House of Commons information used in the work is Parliamentary Copyright © . This information is reused under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 ( http://www. nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 ) except where otherwise stated. All Eur-lex material used in the work is © European Union, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/ , 1998–2018. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
    [Show full text]
  • The European Union in Transition: the Treaty of Nice in Effect; Enlargement in Sight; a Constitution in Doubt
    Fordham International Law Journal Volume 27, Issue 2 2003 Article 1 The European Union in Transition: The Treaty of Nice in Effect; Enlargement in Sight; A Constitution in Doubt Roger J. Goebel∗ ∗ Copyright c 2003 by the authors. Fordham International Law Journal is produced by The Berke- ley Electronic Press (bepress). http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ilj The European Union in Transition: The Treaty of Nice in Effect; Enlargement in Sight; A Constitution in Doubt Roger J. Goebel Abstract This Article is intended to provide an overview of this transitional moment in the history of the European Union. Initially, the Article will briefly review the background of the Treaty of Nice, and the institutional structure modifications for which it provides, which paves the way for enlargement. Next it will describe the final stages of the enlargement process. Finally, the Article will set out the principal institutional innovations and certain other key aspects of the draft Constitution, the most important issues concerning them, and the current impasse. THE EUROPEAN UNION IN TRANSITION: THE TREATY OF NICE IN EFFECT; ENLARGEMENT IN SIGHT; A CONSTITUTION IN DOUBT Rogerj Goebel* INTRODUCTION Once again the European Union' (the "EU" or the "Union") is in a stage of radical evolution. Since the early 1990's, the EU has anticipated an extraordinary increase in its constituent Member States2 through the absorption of a large number of Central European and Mediterranean nations. Since the late 1990's, the Union has been negotiating the precise terms for their entry with a dozen applicant nations and has been providing cooperative assistance to them to prepare for their accession to the Union and in particular, its principal con- stituent part, the European Community.3 As this enlargement of the Union came more clearly in sight, the political leadership and the present Member States, joined by the Commission, con- * Professor and Director of the Center on European Union Law, Fordham Univer- sity School of Law.
    [Show full text]
  • Payments and Market Infrastructure Two Decades After the Start of the European Central Bank Editor: Daniela Russo
    Payments and market infrastructure two decades after the start of the European Central Bank Editor: Daniela Russo July 2021 Contents Foreword 6 Acknowledgements 8 Introduction 9 Prepared by Daniela Russo Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, a 21st century renaissance man 13 Prepared by Daniela Russo and Ignacio Terol Alberto Giovannini and the European Institutions 19 Prepared by John Berrigan, Mario Nava and Daniela Russo Global cooperation 22 Prepared by Daniela Russo and Takeshi Shirakami Part 1 The Eurosystem as operator: TARGET2, T2S and collateral management systems 31 Chapter 1 – TARGET 2 and the birth of the TARGET family 32 Prepared by Jochen Metzger Chapter 2 – TARGET 37 Prepared by Dieter Reichwein Chapter 3 – TARGET2 44 Prepared by Dieter Reichwein Chapter 4 – The Eurosystem collateral management 52 Prepared by Simone Maskens, Daniela Russo and Markus Mayers Chapter 5 – T2S: building the European securities market infrastructure 60 Prepared by Marc Bayle de Jessé Chapter 6 – The governance of TARGET2-Securities 63 Prepared by Cristina Mastropasqua and Flavia Perone Chapter 7 – Instant payments and TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) 72 Prepared by Carlos Conesa Eurosystem-operated market infrastructure: key milestones 77 Part 2 The Eurosystem as a catalyst: retail payments 79 Chapter 1 – The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) revolution: how the vision turned into reality 80 Prepared by Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell Contents 1 Chapter 2 – Legal and regulatory history of EU retail payments 87 Prepared by Maria Chiara Malaguti Chapter 3 –
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 1 the Present and Future of the European Union, Between the Urgent Need for Democracy and Differentiated Integration
    Chapter 1 The present and future of the European Union, between the urgent need for democracy and differentiated integration Mario Telò Introduction The European Union has experienced an unprecedented multi-dimensional and prolonged crisis, a crisis which cannot be understood in isolation from the international context, with major global economic changes to the detriment of the West. Opinions differ as to the overall outcome of the European policies adopted in recent years to tackle the crisis: these policies saved the single currency and allowed for moderate growth, but, combined with many other factors, they exacerbated the crisis of legitimacy. This explains the wave of anti-European sentiment in several Member States and the real danger that the European project will collapse completely. This chapter analyses the contradictory trends at play and examines more closely how to find a way out of this crisis – a way which must be built around the crucial role of the trade union movement, both in tackling Euroscepticism and in relaunching the EU. This drive to strengthen and enhance democracy in the euro area, and to create a stronger European pillar of social rights, will not be successful without new political momentum for the EU led by the most pro-European countries. The argument put forward in this chapter is that this new European project will once again only be possible using a method of differentiated integration. This paper starts with two sections juxtaposing two contradictory sets of data. On the one hand, we see the social and institutional achievements of the past 60 years: despite everything, the EU is the only tool available to the trade union movement which provides any hope of taming and mitigating globalisation (Section 1).
    [Show full text]
  • The European Parliament and Environmental Legislation: the Case of Chemicals
    European Journal of Political Research 36: 119–154, 1999. 119 © 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. The European Parliament and environmental legislation: The case of chemicals GEORGE TSEBELIS & ANASTASSIOS KALANDRAKIS University of California, Los Angeles, USA Abstract. The paper studies the impact of the EP on legislation on chemical pollutants in- troduced under the Cooperation procedure. A series of formal and informal analyses have predicted from significant impact of the EP, to limited impact (only in the second round) to no impact at all. Through the analysis of Parliamentary debates as well as Commission and Parliamentary committee documents, we are able to assess the significance of different amendments, as well as the degree to which they were introduced in the final decision of the Council. Our analysis indicates first that less than 30% of EP amendments are insignificant, while 15% are important or very important; second, that the probability of acceptance of an amendment is the same regardless of its significance. Further analysis indicates two sources of bias of aggregate EP statistics: several amendments are complementary (deal with the same issue in different places of the legal document), and a series of amendments that are rejected as inadmissible (because they violate the legal basis of the document or the germainess require- ment) are included in subsequent pieces of legislation. We calculate the effect of these biases in our sample, and find that official statistics underestimate Parliamentary influence by more than 6 percentage points (49% instead of 56% in our sample). Finally, we compare a series of observed strategic behaviors of different actors (rapporteurs, committees, floor, Commission) to different expectations generated by the literature.
    [Show full text]
  • Marketing Fragment 6 X 10.5.T65
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-58436-4 - The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870-1871 Geoffrey Wawro Index More information Index Albert, Crown Prince of Saxony, 193, Austria-Hungary, 36, 66, 67, 73, 85, 138, 201–2, 206, 209 187–8, 239, 305, 306 Albrecht, Field Marshal Archduke, 67 Austro-Prussian War (1866), 14–15, Alexander II, Tsar of Russia, 11, 238–9, 16–17, 21, 50–1, 53–4, 55, 57–8, 60, 311 93–4, 111, 119–20, 122–3, 136, 150, Alsace-Lorraine, annexation of, 227, 158, 223, 299–300, 301, 307, 308 230, 235, 239, 244, 246, 253, 303–4, 311, 313–14 Baraguay d’Hilliers, Marshal Achille, 68, Alvensleben, General Konstantin von, 148 114–16, 118, 152, 154, 155, 157, 168, Bavarian army in 1870, 83–4, 102, 105–6, 272 127–8, 130–1, 135–6, 217, 218–19, 253, Andlau, Colonel Joseph, 69, 91, 144, 254, 266–7, 286 159, 165, 180, 198, 243 Bazaine, Marshal Achille, 23, 50, 69–70, Arago, Emmanuel, 39, 140 80, 90, 95, 107–8, 120, 228; command Ardant du Picq, Colonel Charles, 154, at Mars-la-Tour, 151, 152, 155, 156, 174, 175, 307–8 157, 159, 160–1, 308; defeatism in armistice negotiations, 233–4, 234–6, Metz, 186, 188, 194–5, 196, 198, 244–7, 253–5, 278–80, 283, 284, 285, 199–200, 201, 242–5, 249–52, 260; 288, 290–2, 293, 294, 296, 298, generalissimo in 1870, 141, 142, 143–4, 299–306 145–6, 147, 148–9, 150; Gravelotte, artillery: changes after 1866, 57–60, 307; 164–6, 170, 173, 175–6, 178–83, 185; in fighting of 1870, 100–1, 105, 112, political intrigues after Sedan, 239–40, 116, 129–30, 136, 154, 155–6, 158–9, 242–6, 249, 310;
    [Show full text]
  • Institutions, Policies and Enlargement of the European Union
    This booklet is published in all the ofiicial EU languages of the European Union: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, ltalian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. European Commission Directorate-General for Education and Culture Publications Unit, rue de la LoiAffetstraat 200, B-1049 Brussels A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2000 lsBN 92-828-8282-9 O European Communities, 2000 Reproduction is authonsed provided the source is acknowledged. Printed in Belgium Pnrrurro oN wHtrE cHLoRtNE-FREE pApER Foreword This publication is an update of the previous edition of 'Glossary: The reform of the European Union in 150 definitions' that was produced in 1997. As indicated by its original title, this glossary was produced in order to help people to gain a better understanding of the challenges facing the European Union at the time of the Intergovemmental Conference that opened in 1996. It was subsequently expanded to cover the fundamentals ofEuropean integration, the operation of the institutions, the policies of the Community and the contributions of the Amsterdam Treaty. The inclusion of the essential aspects of the enlargement process and of Agenda2}O} and, in the future, the results of the Intergovemmental Conference of 2000, confirms the glossary's vocation of follow- ing European current affairs and explaining them to the public. An update of the definitions contained in this publication is available on the SCADPIus site, which can be accessed on the Europa server at the following address : http ://europa.eu.infl scadplus/.
    [Show full text]
  • Flexibility Within the Lisbon Treaty: Trademark Or Empty Promise?
    EIPASCOPE 2008/1 Flexibility within the Lisbon Treaty Flexibility within the Lisbon Treaty: Trademark or Empty Promise? By Funda Tekin and Prof. Dr Wolfgang Wessels1 The concept of flexibility in the European integration process has been discussed in different ways since the 1970s. Some forms may be “upwardly oriented”, representing a driving force rather than a brake on the integration process. Others may weaken integration and have a “downsizing” effect. “Enhanced cooperation”, which was first introduced by the Amsterdam Treaty, aims to provide an attractive alternative to intergovernmental cooperation outside the treaty, and to allow a group of Member States to deepen integration in particular areas without 25 affecting either the interests of others or the overall construction of European integration. The Lisbon Treaty introduces changes at all stages of the cycle: preparatory stage, initiation, authorisation, implementation, accession and termination. The conditions for enhanced cooperation remain restrictive and other forms of flexibility may seem more attractive. Consequently the prospect is for flexibility to be an empty promise rather than a trademark of the new Treaty. Introduction ○○○○○○○○○○○ flexibility are analysed in the light of the decision-making dilemma in which procedures are revised between a The idea of flexibility in the integration process has long sovereignty-led veto reflex and a functional drive for efficiency been the subject of European debate. The best-known (Hofmann and Wessels 2008). Given the restricted
    [Show full text]