Perspectives of Federalization of European Union: Comparative Federalism Towards Federal Europe
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Masaryk University Faculty of Social Studies Department of International Relations and European Studies Master Thesis Perspectives of federalization of European Union: Comparative federalism towards federal Europe Nemanja Todorović, BBA Supervisor: Prof. PhDr. Vít Hloušek, Ph.D. UČO: 390396 Study Field: PL – EUP Year of Enrolment: 2012 Brno, 2014 I hereby declare that this thesis I submit for assessment is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others save to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Date: 15. December 2014 Signature: 2 This Master’s Thesis is dedicated to the memory of my mother 3 Acknowledgments This thesis would not have been possible without the support of many individuals. My sincere thanks go to my supervisor Prof. PhDr. Vít Hloušek, Ph.D. for his guidance and support during the thesis writing process as well as for his invaluable advice and support throughout my whole Master’s Program. Also I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to PhDr. Petr Suchy, Ph.D. because of his devotion to make me better person. A special word of appreciation also goes to Mgr. Jolana Navrátilová for helping all the time, together with all staff members at Masaryk University. Also special thanks to teachers and staff members form University of Konstanz. At the end, I would like to thank my parents and my sister for supporting me to study at Masaryk University. 4 Abstract The European Union is often described as „emerging federation“, but small amount of scientist compare European Union with some other European federal model. The objective of this master’s thesis is to survey the applicability of federal theory and practice in the case of the European Union. The master’s thesis will examine the implications both of the federal concept and of comparative experience of federal political systems - Federal Republic of Germany and the Swiss Confederation. This master’s thesis will try to answer several important questions dealing comparative approach to European Union structure. The most important question will give us answer on defining European Union as federation. This master’s thesis contributes to the comparative approach of European Union and stress importance of using solutions which already exist in the European continent for finding better solution for more democratic governance of the European Union. Legitimacy problems of the European Union cannot be addressed without taking in account all lessons learned from other two European federal models. Key words: federalism, federation, Germany, Switzerland, European Union, comparative study 5 Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 8 1. Origins of federalism in thought .................................................................................. 11 2. The concepts of federalism, the federal political system and the federation .................. 15 2.1. Federalism ............................................................................................................ 16 2.2. Federal political system ......................................................................................... 17 2.3. Federation ............................................................................................................. 18 2.3.1. Types of federal states .................................................................................... 20 3. Methodology ............................................................................................................... 25 3.1. Case study in political science ............................................................................... 26 3.2. Comparative method ............................................................................................. 29 3.2.1. Comparative approach to the European Union................................................ 33 4. European Union .......................................................................................................... 37 4.1. Idea of federal Europe ........................................................................................... 38 4.1.1. Federalist idea in the European treaties .......................................................... 42 4.1.2. Federalism as a theory in the context of the European Union .......................... 46 4.2. Institutional structure of European Federalism ...................................................... 49 4.3. Federal-like or “hidden federation” ....................................................................... 52 5. Federal experience of Germany and Switzerland ......................................................... 56 5.1. Federal Republic of Germany................................................................................ 56 5.2. Swiss Confederation ............................................................................................. 60 5.3. Comparison of Swiss and German models of federation ........................................ 63 6. Comparative analysis................................................................................................... 69 7. Lessons from federal experience for the European Union ............................................ 83 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 89 References .......................................................................................................................... 92 6 Determined to lay the foundations of an ever-closer union among the peoples of Europe1... 1 Treaty establishing a European Economic Community (EEC), also known as the Treaty of Rome. Quote from translation of the original text, signed March 25, 1957. 7 Introduction Political scientists disagree that whether the European Union should be open to the comparative method. This is because the European Union is, for some of scholars, unique and no comparable to other federal or confederal polities. Most scholars on political sciences say that the European Union and some European federal states have something in common – they are totally unique failing outside of categories we know from other comparative categories from the rest of the world. They need to be subject of unique research which will look on them on their own way. This is almost a rule for all federations in Europe, and federal-like states – Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, United Kingdom, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Russian Federation. On the other side, most scholars of the European Union realise that the European Union is “a sui generis polity that does not fit existing categories and requires a new vocabulary, including terms such as multilevel governance, variable geometry, condominium, consortium” or, in Jacques Delors2 words, an “unidentified political object” (Schmitter 1996). At the end of this master’s thesis, even a new category for the European Union will be introduced – “hidden federation”. This master’s thesis does not deal with non-federal unitary that a majority of countries in Europe belongs to. Several European countries are federations. The origins of some of them dates back from early modern history (Switzerland and Germany), others become federations later. Some federations are dissolved – U.S.S.R., Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, and some have more complex models like Belgium and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The oldest federation in the world which still exists - the United States of America is a role model for many scholars when they examine federations. For purposes of this comparison the United States of America will not be set out in this master's theses, but of course they will be considered as an important historical and theoretical federal state in the first parts of the 2 Jacques Lucien Jean Delors (1925) is a French economist and politician, the eighth President of the European Commission. 8 thesis. In this thesis, for the purposes of comparison, Switzerland and Germany will be used as models for European style federal states. The objective of this master’s thesis is to survey the applicability of federal theory and practice in the case of the European Union. The master’s thesis will examine the implications both of the federal concept and of comparative experience of federal political systems - Federal Republic of Germany and the Swiss Confederation. This examination of different types of federal models can help us to conclude which type can be proposed for application by the European Union. This master’s thesis will examine the institutional possibilities for the European Union, and give some proposals for more democratic government of the Union in federal terms. This work will try to answer several important questions dealing comparative approach to European Union structure: What European federations, Germany and Switzerland, have in common and what are differences between them? Can we define the European Union as federation? What are hidden characteristic of the European Union which are federal like? What are similarities between the European Union and German or Swiss model of federation? What European Union miss to become real federation according to a definition of federation? The paper is therefore divided into seven chapters: (1) Origins of federalism in thought; (2) The concepts of federalism, federal political system and federation; (3) Methodology; (3) European Union; (3)