2. The constitutional base of the Union

This chapter discusses the Treaties which together represent the primary law of the European Union; its constitutional base. These include the Single European Act 1986; the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty) 1993; the Treaty of Amsterdam (signed June 1997, entered into force 1 May 1999); the Nice Treaty (adopted December 2001, entered into force 1 February 2003); and the Treaty of Lisbon (signed December 2007, entered into force 1 December 2009).

The Triumph of New Labour

This chapter covers the three consecutive election victories recorded by ‘New’ Labour, under Tony Blair, and assesses the reasons for the party’s remarkable run of success after almost two decades in opposition. The key events of the 1992–7 parliament are recorded, showing how John Major’s Conservatives lost their reputation for economic competence shortly after the 1992 contest and never recovered from the blow of ‘Black Wednesday’. The chapter shows that the Conservatives were also seriously divided in the wake of the Maastricht Treaty (1992), and their prospects were impaired by allegations of ‘sleaze’. By contrast, Labour under Blair seemed fresh and relatively united. Apart from recounting the party’s successful campaigns in 1997, 2001, and 2005, the chapter also examines the reasons for the eventual decline of New Labour, in particular the feud between Blair and his Chancellor, Gordon Brown, but also the decision to support the USA in its war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq (beginning in 2003). As a consequence of these troubles, New Labour’s landslide margin of victory in 1997 and 2001 was reduced significantly in 2005, despite the continuing unpopularity of the Conservatives. The anti-war Liberal Democrats emerged as a serious threat on Labour’s left. Changes in voting behaviour are also noted, in particular the continuing decline of social class as a factor in electoral outcomes.

Authoritarian Liberalism Writ Large: the Spectre of a ‘German Europe’

<Online Only>This chapter explores how inter-state relations after Lisbon represented a fudge; the Lisbon Treaty maintaining much of the substance of the failed constitutional project, but without the constitutional symbolism. It traces how, through the euro crisis, this fudge became unsustainable: the issue of sovereignty could no longer be held in suspension, increasingly exercised outside the EU legal framework, as new informal formations took centre stage, notably the ‘Troika’ and the Eurogroup, which exercised both de facto power and de jure authority. They did so in such a way as to avoid the formal constraints of the Maastricht Treaty, but maintain its ordoliberal spirit. The chapter goes on to consider how sovereignty, in practice, was increasingly drained of any content, its loss appearing as the quid pro quo for accepting financial assistance. The chapter concludes by examining how all of this put the issue of German hegemony back on the agenda, suggesting a regional authoritarian liberalism writ large, more coercive and less consensual than in the foundational era, but ultimately underpinned by an ideological Europeanism.</Online Only>

The unknown agents of European cooperation, and their future

Since the Maastricht Treaty, the EU has created 37 agencies and bodies covering nearly every aspect of our daily lives. However, agencies have always played a supporting role, serving national interests as well as those of Brussels, and their pivotal role in bringing those interests together is often overlooked. As agencies have increasingly been used as a solution for addressing the challenges facing Europe, their relationship with the European Commission, the Member States and EU citizens also needs to evolve as a model for European cooperation. A few guiding principles are relevant for this purpose, and have already been set out in a performance audit entitled “Future of EU agencies – Potential for more flexibility and cooperation” for which I had the pleasure to serve as the reporting Member to the European Parliament.

Ein verpasster Verfassungsmoment

In the crisis of 1989/90, the negotiations on the Maastricht Treaty offered ideal conditions for a European constitutional moment. But the public debate remained fragmented and focused on national interests — not least because of intergovernmental procedures, which gave more news value to the diplomatic context than to the constitutional content of the reform. With a detailed examination of the German, French and British press debates on this issue, this book provides empirical insights into a key phase of EU integration. Moreover, it offers analytical re-conceptualisation of the conditions of a European public sphere and of the relationship between political procedures and discourse structures.

W oczekiwaniu na wykonanie art. 23 TFUE i art. 35 TUE – wciąż niepełne prawo obywateli Unii Europejskiej do opieki dyplomatycznej i konsularnej

<p>In 1992, with the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty, a new institution, namely EU citizenship, was created. The treaty introduced a qualitative change in the sphere of political and legal position of citizens of the Member States, who gained in these spheres a number of new powers. One of them is the right to diplomatic and consular protection. The analysis of these two rights leads to a conclusion about the great discrepancy that exists between treaty guarantees and the effective exercise of this right. The Member States did not agree with third countries on this subject, which is a requirement of international law. Secondary law also allows only a partial exercise of the treaty’s right to care in the territory of third countries. It has been reduced only to consular assistance and is still narrowly understood. The treaty law of EU citizens remains therefore at a very early stage of development.</p>

Have the European Funds been able to reduce the differences in the level of unemployment between the countries of the Euro area? A reflection on the past, present and future of European programs

One of the fundamental objectives of the Maastricht Treaty is the sustainable development of the European Union (EU) countries. Since its entry into force, large investments have been approved to finance convergence programs. The aim of this article is to determine if the investments made to date have managed to reduce the differences in unemployment rates among the EU countries. The Theil index has been calculated on the unemployment figures of the countries of the Eurozone during the period 2008-2019.

The EU’s Economic Governance: Development in the Context of Modern Challenges

The article explores the key milestones in the evolution of the economic governance system in the EU in the context of the current challenges facing the European economy. The European single currency is one of the most significant and tangible achievements of a United Europe, and is therefore not just a monetary project. It provides a basis for economies of the Member States to become more integrated with a view to supporting greater stability and prosperity. The architecture of the Economic and Monetary Union, established by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, is unique whereas it combines a single monetary policy that pursues the objective of price stability with decentralized fiscal and economic policies under the responsibility of Member States. In light of those considerations, the Treaty requires Member States to regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern and to coordinate them within the Council that is, at the intergovernmental level. Since the early 1990s, when the Maastricht Treaty laid the foundations of the single currency area, the EU has developed a very comprehensive and detailed framework for economic and fiscal surveillance. The framework is laid down in a range of secondary legislation, as well as in other documents that provide more details and transparency on how surveillance is carried out in practice. The framework has evolved in waves over time, with changes introduced in response to the emergence of new economic challenges, as well as based on the lessons gained in the implementation of the surveillance framework. In 1997, the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) was established so as to strengthen the monitoring and coordination of national fiscal and economic policies to permanently enforce the deficit and debt limits established by the Maastricht Treaty for all Member States. In the early 2000s, adherence to the nominal deficit targets of the SGP proved difficult for some Member States in a recessionary environment. That is why the SGP was reformed to allow for greater consideration of economic conditions. In response to the vulnerabilities exposed by the economic and financial crisis that hit the EU and the euro area after 2007, the EU took a series of measures to strengthen its economic governance and surveillance framework. They are relevant for all Member States, but have a number of specific features for those that use the euro. The revamped macroeconomic and budgetary surveillance were integrated into the European Semester, a common timeline for the coordination of economic and employment policies at EU level, and which was established in the same context. Thus, the EU’s economic governance has strengthened and improved over time, evolving in the context of historical events. Its future will depend, in particular, on which scenario for further development the EU ultimately chooses.