GLE Unit 7 Summary

Developments, Legal Foundations and Dynamic of European Integration

A. Process of European Integration

1. Aim of European Integration

- meant to guarantee lasting peace
- through economic integration based on supranational law, characteristics of EU Integration and
EU Law

2. Historic Developments of EUI

Background
- Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) created in 1948 -> later OECD (1960)
- North Atlantic Treaty 1948 -> NATO
- Council of Europe 1949 -> European Convention on Human Rights was adopted, European
Court of Human Rights was created
- unanimity and separate transposition in domestic law is needed

Foundation of European Communities

- Schuman-Plan: take action immediately on one limited but decisive point -> coal industry in
France: decrease national in uence and create a common high authority
-> creation of ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community): BL, FR, G, IT, LB and NL founded
- new supernational authority which was later renamed to European Commission
- Incremental: other states could participate, steps based on common market (steps already
anticipated
- use momentum to establish European Defence Community and European Political Community
-> European Economic Community (EEC) and European Atomic Energy Community (EAE) treaties
were signed
- Core Task of EEC: establish a Customs Union
- European Free Trade Area (EFTA): UK, SL, SW, PT, NW, DM, A founding nations
- Luxembourg Accords in 1966: Resolve Empty Chair Crisis

Further Developments
- White Paper 1985: legislative measures to complete common market
- Single European Act 1986 (revising original EEC treaty): Foundation of many later treaties
- Maastricht Treaty 1993: EU was founded as a common institutional roof for 3 pillars
- First Pillar: ECSC, EEC and Euratom -> supranational
- Second and third pillar comprised: CFSP and JHA -> more intergovernmental
-> Economic Monetary Union (EMU)

- Treaty of Amsterdam 1999: Important JHA areas moved to rst pillar („communitising“); CFSP
renamed to PJCC
- Treaty of Nice 2001: changes to allow EU to enlarge, ECSC Treaty
- Constitutional Treaty 2001: simplify used structure and underline constitutional signi cance (did
not enter into force)

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 - Lisbon Treaty 2007: EU became successor of EEC; EAC still exists; EC -> TFEU
- EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: areas where majority voting extended, Europeans Citizen
Initiative introduced -> rights strengthened considerably

Enlargements
- since 1973 22 more countries
- Further conditions for application in Copenhagen Criteria 1993:
- political: democracy, rule of law, human right and protection of minorities
- economical: functioning market economy, ability to cope with competition and market
forces
- administrative and institutional capacity: able to take on obligations of membership, able
to evolve body of common rights

EU Institutions
- European Parliament
- European Council
- Council
- European Commission
- Court of Justice
- European Central Bank
- Court of Auditors

The European Council

- de nes general political directions and priorities -> cannot exercise legislative functions
- Heads of State or Gov. Of the member states + their president and the president of the
commission
- Meets at least twice every six months
- Decisions by consensus, unless majority voting is set by treaties
- Council elects president for 2 1/2 years
The Council
- „Council of Ministers“: legislative and budgetary functions with EP + policy making and
coordinating functions
- One representative of each state
- Acts by quali ed majority (55% of at least 15 states with states population > 65% of entire
EU)
- Coreper (Committee of permanent rep.) prepares work for council; created as counterweight to
super national features

European Parliament
- exercises functions of political control and consultation (treaties)
- Elects president of commission
- Composed of representatives of unions citizens (751 max.)
- Regressively proportional (6 min.)
- No state has more than 96 seats
- Elected for 5 years
- „Ordinary legislative procedure“: EP and Council are equal

European Commission
- fully independent
- Main functions: Motor of Integration, Guardian of EU Law and Monopoly of Initiative





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 - promoting union’s general interest (motor of integration)

- EU legislative act requires Commission proposal (monopoly of initiative)
- application of EU Law (Guardian of EU Law); complaints before COJ, sanctions

- one member of each state

- President lays down guidelines, decides on internal organization and appoints Vice-President
- Candidate is proposed to EP by EC
- Other members selected on basis of suggestions

Court of Justice of the EU

- includes Court of Justice and General Court
- One judge from each member state assisted by 11 advocates
- Ensure that EU Law is obeyed
- Appointed by governments for 6 years
- ECJ exclusively authorized to review legality of Institution’s Acts
- Also regarded as motor of integration (shaped fundamental principles of EU Law)

3. The Sources of EU Law

Sources of Primary Law

- EU Primary Law is created directly by member states -> constitution of the EU

- Comprises TEU and TFEU:
- TEU: general provisions (withdrawal, external relations and CFSP)
- TFEU: functioning of EU (rules on markets, environmental and consumer policies)
- also de nes competencies of EU

EU Competencies
- EU capacity to act restricted by principle of conferral: remain within boundaries of treaties
- Principle of Subsidiarity and Proportionality further restrict
- Subsidiarity: only act if objectives cannot be achieved on national or regional level
- Proportionality: only do what’s necessary

- categories of EU Competency laid down in TFEU:

-> exclusive, shared competencies
- exclusive: EU can adopt acts on its own (monetary policy in EURO countries)
- shared: EU adopts acts together with member state (general type of competency: internal
markets, agriculture and sheries etc.)
- EU can carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement protection of human health,
culture, tourism etc.
- Implied Powers: more powerful for functioning of internal markets

Secondary and Tertiary Law

Form of Legal Acts

- binding and non-binding
- Regulations, directives and decisions
- Recommendations and opinions
- Regulations: general application, binding in the entire tier and directly applicable in every
member state -> everyone within the scope of this regulation has to obey
- Directives: binding, but each state can decide on forms of implementation










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 - deadlines, used where there’s no need for uniformity
- state-liability

- Decisions: binding in their entirety (speci ed and non-speci ed decisions)

- Recommendations and Opinions: recommendations can be adopted by council, commissioner and
ECB, opinions by all Institutions

- binding legal acts are either legislative or non-legislative:

Legislative: always secondary law, adopted with ordinary legislative procedure (decision by
qualitative majority) or special legislative procedure (adopted by EP + Council or Latter + EP)
Non-Legislative: adopted within legislative procedure, based on primary law or legislative acts

Hierarchy of Legal Acts

- secondary law must comply with primary law (same for tertiary, if not challenged before CJEU)
- Tertiary law always based on legislative secondary law
-> two forms:
Delegated Legal Acts
Implementing Legal Acts
- EU Law is normally not implemented by EU itself, only in exceptions: elds of competition and
external trade
- Normally implemented by member states

4. Judicial Protection in the EU

- Infringement Proceedings:
-
if commissioner considers a state to have failed obligation -> before CJEU
-
if state violates EU Law it has to comply with judgement of court
-
if once again not ful lled -> before CJEU again, penalties may be given
-
state failed to notify that measures that transposed directives were taken -> accelerated
procedure
- Annual Actions:
- CJEU reviews legality of acts, act of council, of commissioner, ECB if they failed to produce
the intended results
- whether legislative acts comply with EU Law
- Preliminary Preference Procedure:
- on national level
- if questions arise where national courts are not eligible to answer, matter will be referred
to CJEU
- national court renders nal judgement
- CJEU determines how law has to be interpreted

5. Dynamics of EU-Integration - EU Law as supranational Law

Background
- lawyers refer to the fundamental principles (format and substantive constitution) of EU for
transformation as well as political and economical progress
- Formal Principles: Direct e ect on EU Law, supremacy and preliminary preference procedure
- Far-reaching powers of todays institutions as main driver
- Substantive principles (mutual recognition)

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 Van-Gend Ruling: Direct e ect
- reverses principles of international and national constitutional law -> revolutionizing interplay
between those two
- EC Treaty creates mutual obligations between states
- EU extended the „Direct E ect“ concept to other areas like general principles, decisions etc.

Supremacy of EU Law
- „level playing eld“ EU law is applied equally in all states -> prohibited to invoke national law
against EUL
- Far-reaching
Direct E ect, Supremacy and Preliminary Preferences
- Interlinking consequences from DE and Supremacy with PPP
- direct e ect makes it „law of the land“
- Supremacy makes it „higher law of the land“
- Two Remedys of PPP: states become familiarized, and are not alone when ghting against their
government

Supranationality
- EUL constitutes supranational law as opposed to traditional international law
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