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Politics Notes European Union Notes

Eu Notes

Updated Eu Notes Notes

European Union Notes

European Union

Approximately 61 pages

This package contains: comprehensive exam notes on all aspects of the EU and three essays titled 'What accounts for the EU’s repeated decision to engage in Treaty change?', 'Can the European Commission still be characterised as a "motor of integration"?', and 'What accounts for the EU’s difficulty/inability to tackle crises? Answer with reference to two or more crises.' The note document includes: (1) political background, content and evaluation of all treaty reforms (e.g. The Maastricht Treaty, ...

The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our European Union Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

A timeline of all treaty reforms

Treaty of Paris (Signed: 18 April 1951; Entered into force: 23 July 1952; Expired: 23 July 2002)

Purpose of the treaty is to establish the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) between France, West Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg). The mission of ECSC is to prevent military conflict by means of economic integration. This was made explicit in the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950.

Content

  • System of production quotas or import restriction

  • Set consumption priorities

  • Allocation of coal and steel to the MS

  • Restrictions on export to third countries

  • Social and labour policy provisions to ensure competition.

  • High Authority

    • two was the max no. of members a state can send to the High Authority. In practice, France, Germany and Italy sent two members, and Benelux sent one.

    • term of members restricted to six years

    • Art. 9 of the Treaty stipulates that the members of the High Authority exercise their functions in the interest of the community

  • Council

    • consulted by the High Authority

    • voting in the Council follows a system of weighted votes. Not only the support of the majority of the govts is needed, but also the support of one of the MS producing at least 20% of the total value of the community's coal and steel output i.e. Germany and France.

  • Common Assembly of ECSC 78 representatives, weighted according to the size of the MS.

    • the Treaty conferred upon the Assembly the right tot cast a motion of censure, which, if supported by 2/3 of the delegates present, can force the High Authority to resign en bloc.

  • Court

    • consisted of 7 members, appointed by agreement among the MS

    • main purpose is to monitor that the High Authority does not overstep its treaty-based mandate

Explaining the success of ECSC using liberal intergovernmentalism

  • Key actors

    • most academics studying the ECSC adopted a state-centric 'diplomatic history' perspective e.g. William Hitchcock and Alan Milward. The French Planning Commissariat, led by Monnet, is attributed an important role in policy formulation

    • criticism—Wolfram Kaiser: 'national actors and collective interests stand no realistic chance of influencing the policy-making process significantly unless they are well connected across borders in transnational political networks'

  • Forming preferences

    • The Schuman Plan was an excellent opportunity for Germany to become an equal member among the European states. For Adenauer, the prime political priority was to remove the Ruhr Authority and to weaken the Occupation Statute.

    • in contrast to the Germans and the French, the macroeconomic objectives of the ECSC were more important, esp given that Belgium and Luxembourg had steel accounting for 1/5 of their total exports.

    • criticism—Kaiser believes that the intergovernmentalist model overlooks the importance of ideas in early integration. His emphasis was particularly on the transitional cooperation between Christian Democrats who occupied key positions in the govts of the founding states.

  • Choosing institutions

    • according to Mark Pollack, the creation of the High Authority was underpinned by a functionalist logic for delegation. It was also a way for MS to check the power of other MS.

The European Defence Community Treaty (failed)

  • It consists of all the same institutions, except the High Authority is called the Commissariat.

  • Its purpose is to establish a European army as well as a defence alliance. Art. 2 establishes the principle of mutual assistance in case of an attack on one of its member states.

  • Armed forces of the EDC were uniformly armed, equipped and paid. All MS need to transfer sovereignty over their armed to the common European army. The Treaty also makes provisions for a common budget based on national contribution.

  • It failed to be ratified

Explaining the failure of the EDC using liberal intergovernmentalism

  • Key actors

    • figures like Monnet, Schuman and Alphand took the initiative. However, when, in 1951, the Pleven Plan was transformed into the EDC Treaty, no political majority, bureaucratic elite, or interest group coalition drove the transformation

  • Forming preferences

    • For the French economy, there were hopes that the French aircraft, electronics and heavy weaponry industries could grow under EDC. However, the French steel and textile, light weaponry and military transport vehicles industries were opposed because they feared German and Italian competition. France also feared an immediate, unconditional rearmament of Germany

    • for the Germans, they hoped that it will be a chance to rearm, so that they can regain equality.

    • both French and German military officials did not approve of the Pleven Plan.

    • However, events such as Stalin's death and the end of Korean War, both in 1953, offered the prospect of détente. The EDC immediately lost appeal.

Why did Britain stay out

  • in Churchill's three spheres of influence: the Commonwealth, Anglo-American partnership, and Europe, Europe was the least important.

  • The ECSC was presented as a fait accompli, and French govt set a 24-h ultimatum of Britain to decide whether to accept or not. In the end, an Anglo-ECSC Treaty of Association was signed in Dec 1954, establishing a non-supranational common market for coal and steel.

  • At the time, European exports amounted to only 5% of total steel exports. Whereas trade with Commonwealth made up about 50% of Britain's total imports and exports.

  • Under American pressure, Britain committed to maintaining forces in Western Europe and placing a British armoured division under EDC command.

Treaties of Rome (Signed: 25 March 1957; Entered into force: 1 January 1958)

France: Guy Mollet & Christian Pineau / Germany: Konrad Adenauer; Paul Henri Spaak (Belgian)

The European Economic Community Treaty

Purpose: to create the European Economic Community.

  • established the four freedoms.

  • common customs tariff

  • common agricultural policy

  • common transport policy

  • competition policies, state aid essentially...

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