Negotiating Treaty Reform in the European Union: The Role of the European Commission

1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Maastricht Treaty ◽  
Technical Expertise ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Union ◽  
Close Cooperation ◽  
Treaty Reform ◽  
The Impact ◽  
High Politics

AbstractIn this article we seek to show that treaty reform is best seen as a process, and that we are witnessing a process of constitutionalization. We challenge the distinction between day-to-day politics and the high politics of treaty reform, demonstrating that high politics approaches are unable to take the significant role of non-governmental actors into consideration. While the European Commission's impact on the Maastricht Treaty was fairly limited, particularly concerning Political Union issues, we conclude that the Commission's impact on the Amstrerdam Treaty has been considerable. In fact, such an impact is not surprising given the Commission's technical expertise and its close cooperation with both the Council Secretariat and the Presidency of the Council. It is only if the impact of non-governmental actors, such as the Commission (and the Council Secretariat), is assumed to be negligible and therefore left unexamined that our findings are surprising. In this way, the article contributes to criticism of intergovernmental approaches to European integration.

scholarly journals The Evolution of the Role of the National Parliaments in the Treaties of the Europian Union

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Pranvera Beqiraj (Mihani)
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Maastricht Treaty ◽  
Lisbon Treaty ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Parliaments ◽  
Single European Act ◽  
Union Governance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Treaty Of Amsterdam

This paper elaborates the evolving role of national parliaments in the different stages of the European integration process. The Review begins with the first stage (the foundation of the European Union) where national parliaments showed no or little interest in the matters of Community, and then the impact of Single European Act, following the first changes in the Maastricht Treaty, through the two Declarations attached to it and then the Protocol to the Treaty of Amsterdam. Finally the paper focuses on the changes and innovations presented in the Lisbon Treaty which will enhance the role of national parliaments in the European Union governance. For this purpose, the paper analyzes chronologically the rights that national parliaments had before the Lisbon Treaty and the new role of national parliaments after the Lisbon Treaty came into force.

INTEGRATING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO EUROPEAN POLICYMAKING: THE ROLE OF IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

2007 ◽  
Vol 09 (02) ◽  
pp. 141-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENNIFER FRANZ ◽  
COLIN KIRKPATRICK
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Policy Proposals

Since the adoption of the EU's first Sustainable Development Strategy in 2001, the European Commission has been committed to undertaking impact assessments of its major policy proposals, covering the potential positive and negative economic, social and environmental effects both inside and outside the European Union. This paper provides as evaluation of a sample of the Commission's recent EC Impact Assessments, focusing on the extent to which the goal of sustainable development has been integrated into the impact assessment analysis.

Brexit and Private International Law

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Salibová
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Private International Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Applicable Law ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
English Law ◽  
Energy Community ◽  
The Impact

My contribution deals with the issue concerning the question arising on the applicable law in and after the transition period set in the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community. The aim of this contribution is to analyze how the English and European laws simultaneously influence one another. This analyzation will lead to the prognosis of the impact Brexit will have on the applicable English law before English courts and the courts of the states of the European Union. The main key question is the role of lex fori in English law. Will English law tend to return to common law rules post-Brexit, and prefer the lex fori?

3. Law-making: authority and process

2019 ◽  
pp. 27-72
Author(s):  
Martin Partington
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Legal Principle ◽  
Legislative Procedure ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Law Making

This chapter considers how law is made in the UK, who makes it, and the constitutional principles which give them the authority for making it and imposing it on society. There is a detailed account of the legislative procedure of the UK Parliament, and the different types of legislation enacted by Parliament. The role of the senior courts in the development of legal principle is also considered. Finally, the law-making functions of key institutions of the European Union and the Council of Europe are considered. The impact of Brexit is also considered.

Will the Sparks Fly? The Role of the European Union in the Liberalisation of the Electricity Industry

2000 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 239-277
Author(s):  
Angus Johnston
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Electricity Industry ◽  
Electricity Supply ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Market Opening ◽  
Complex Combination ◽  
Economic Climate ◽  
The Impact

The impact of the increasing liberalisation of the energy sector in general and electricity supply in particular is hard to deny. Yet just a few short years ago, such developments were almost unthinkable. A complex combination of factors has led to an increasingly favourable political and economic climate for market opening and competition. However, the benefits of these developments remain distinctly unevenly spread throughout Europe, while the potential difficulties that an unchecked liberalisation process can cause are slowly coming to the fore. The challenge faced by the European Union in this sector is to promote these developments while remaining alive to their potential social and environmental consequences.

scholarly journals Spain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Skorupska
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
State Government ◽  
State Level ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Autonomous Communities ◽  
Government Relations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

One objective of this chapter is to characterize the activities between Spanish communities and Chinese provinces and cities – their intensity, scope, advantages and obstacles that they face. The question relates to a broader perspective – the bilateral state government relations and the EU-China cooperation: is there any correlation between the relations at the state level and the regional level? Moreover, one of the ultimate goals of the whole project is to analyse the impact of the EU-China relations on paradiplomacy. Do the autonomous communities see any role of the EU in their activities with Chinese partners? Do they need any support from the European Union to have more intense or effective cooperation with this Asian partner?

Regionalist Parties and the European Union

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuele Massetti ◽  
Arjan H. Schakel
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Political System ◽  
Maastricht Treaty ◽  
Multilevel Governance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Eu

Regionalist parties are political actors that emphasize distinct ethno-territorial identities and interests vis-à-vis those of the entire state, advocating some forms of territorially based self-government in a view to protect, give voice to, and enhance those identities and interests. The tense relationships that these political actors often have with the central institutions leads them, in the European Union (EU) context, to identify the EU as a potential ally in their struggle against the state. Indeed, the EU system of multilevel governance, in which regional governments have obtained a considerable role, is also the result of a combined effect of regionalist parties’ pressure on member states from below and the process of European integration creating a favorable political framework from above. This putative alliance was celebrated, during the 1980s and 1990s, with the Maastricht Treaty representing a pivotal moment for the launch of the vision of a “Europe of the Regions.” However, the EU constitutional reforms of the 2000s (from the Treaty of Nice to the Treaty of Lisbon) fell rather short vis-à-vis regionalist claims, revealing the “illusionary character” of the “Europe of the Regions” idea. Since then, attempts to achieve “Independence in Europe” (through “internal enlargement”) have intensified in regions governed by strong and radical regionalist parties, such as in Catalonia and Scotland. These secessionist attempts have added further strain to an already under-stress EU political system. Indeed, far from acting as an ally of regionalist forces, the EU appears to have straddled between the role of a neutral observer and a supporter of member states’ territorial integrity.

11 The Role of National Parliaments in the Making of European Law

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 217-231
Author(s):  
Timothy Pratt
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Maastricht Treaty ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Parliaments ◽  
Treaty Of Amsterdam ◽  
First Time

While the Community Treaties provided the institutional framework for the European Community, much of what now makes up the constitution of the European Union was not provided for in those Treaties, but evolved within that framework. This is certainly true of the role of national parliaments. There is nothing about the role of national parliaments in any of the Treaties concluded prior to the Maastricht Treaty, and even then the references appear not in the body of the Treaty, but only in two Declarations annexed to it, one on the role of national parliaments in the European Union and the other on the Conference of the Parliaments. While the former states that it is important to encourage greater involvement of national parliaments in the activities of the European Union, it gives no indication of what that involvement should be. The Treaty of Amsterdam goes a step further. It includes a protocol on the role of national parliaments. This is important in that, for the first time, it gives substantive treaty recognition to their involvement in European Union activities. But, while it is markedly more supportive than the Maastricht Declarations, it does not confer any specific powers on national parliaments, nor does it attempt to define their functions.

3. Law-making: authority and process

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Partington
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Legal Principle ◽  
Legislative Procedure ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Law Making

This chapter considers how law is made in the UK, who makes it, and the constitutional principles which give them the authority for making it and imposing it on society. There is a detailed account of the legislative procedure of the UK, and the different types of legislation that it enacts in Parliament. The role of the senior courts in the development of legal principle is also considered. Finally, the law-making functions of key institutions of the European Union are discussed, including the Council of Europe and the European courts. The impact of Brexit is also considered.

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