European Union Law Structure - Essay Example

EUROPEAN UNION LAW Introduction Since the failure of the Constitution of the European Union in May 2005 which came from the refusal by several countries led by the example of France, the debate over the status of the "European group of countries" has never been so fierce. Josephine Steiner states that "an express "federal" goal was dropped from the final draft of The Treaty of European Union; nevertheless, there can be no doubt that The Union constitutes, at the very least, an embryonic federation". Sionaidh Douglas-Scott also said that "the ... concept of federalism does not feel quite right as an explanation of the EU which. ... is too sui generis, too complex, too multidimensional to fit into any such categorization". In the following essay, we will try to discuss and analyze these statements with reference to Treaties, case law of the European Court of Justice and contemporary political and academic opinion, in order to understand how the European Union is organized. I. Different structures for a nation To fully understand how the European Union is organized, we will briefly present different nation structures and describe the way they operate within their respective countries. 1. Unitary One of the most obvious examples of a unitary state is United Kingdom. Also called a constitutional monarchy, UK is governed as one single unit. The Government is led by a Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers who enforce executive power on behalf of the Queen. The political power of UK government can transfer political powers to lower levels, regionally or locally elected assemblies, governors or mayors but the central government retains the principal right to recall such delegated power (Wikipedia Unitary State and United Kingdom) 2. Federal State A federal State is composed of different self-governing regions often called states which are united by a federal government. The self-governing status of the states is constitutionally entrenched and can not be altered by a decision made by the central government. Even though the sovereignty of each state is constitutionally granted, a federal state is not only a group of independent states. The states do not have any power in terms of foreign policy for example which is the burden of the central government. A federal State comes from an initial agreement to come together in order to solve mutual problems or provide for mutual defense as it was the case for United States with the Articles of Confederation in 1781. (Wikipedia, Federal State) The United States are naturally the best example of a federal State. While each of the States has its own written constitution and different laws, the federal government composed of the Congress, the President and the Supreme Court. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, the protection of human rights, welfare and education. (Wikipedia Unites States) 3. Supranational State A Supranational State is an entity where power is held by independent appointed officials or by representatives elected by the legislatures or people of member states. All the member states still have power but they must share this power with other actors. Furthermore, decisions are made by majority votes in consequence it is possible for a member state to be forced by other member states to implement a decision against its will. (Wikipedia Supranationalism) In the following part of our essay, we will try to analyze The European Union through different perspective in order to approach our findings with one type of state that we have described in the previous paragraphs. II. How is the European Union composed The father of the European Union is the European coal and Steel Community (ESCS) which was created in 1951 following a proposition by the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman which he made in 1950 in a speech inspired by Jean Monnet. Composed of six members, Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, France and the Netherlands, the ESCS placed the power to take decision about the coal and steel industry in the hands of an independent body called the "High Authority". (Europa The History of the European Union) In this premise of the European Union, obviously the ESCS was a supranational union because of the power that the "High Authority" had. Nevertheless due to the success of the ESCS, members did not limit the powers of the Community to the coal and steel industry and integrated other sectors of the economy leading to the signing of the Treaties of Rome, creating the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) and the European Economic Community (ECC) in 1957, the latter aiming to remove trade barriers and form a common market. (Historiasiglo20 The History of the European Union The Treaties of Rome) In 1967 the institutions of the three communities were merged and there was from that point only a single Commission, a single Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. In 1992, the Treaty of Maastricht made a step forward a new organization of the member states of the ECC and their roles and responsibilities by creating the European Union (EU). It meant that one citizen from one UE country could travel and work freely in another EU country and on January 1st 1993 all trade barriers were removed, decision aiming towards a single market. (Foreign and Commonwealth Office Introduction to the EU) Furthermore economic and political integration between the member states of the European Union means that these countries have to take joint decisions on many matters. So they have developed common policies in a very wide range of fields - from agriculture to culture, from consumer affairs to competition, from the environment and energy to transport and trade. (Europa The History of the European Union) Obviously the historical background of the European Union and its organization today leads to the belief that the EU is actually a supranational union. However, if all evidences point to that direction, it is necessary that we have a close look on the different arguments that are exposing other explanations for that union. III. The debate over the European Union The principle of subsidiarity introduced in the Treaty of Maastricht is opposite to the idea of Supranationalism. On the contrary, the principle, in the European Union, delegates the exercise of the existing competencies to the member states which should be applied at the lowest levels of power. It is a main characteristic of federalism. However, in the case of the European Union in theory it is slightly different from the usual definition. Though the competencies must be exercised at lower levels, the central authority could perform the tasks which are proven impossible to perform on a lower level. (Ott and Inglis Handbook on European Enlargement). This delegation of the competencies to the central authority also points to the idea of a supranational state in which, barely any power is left to the member states. In an article by Chris Atkinson Keeping it Realpolitik we could read the following passage describing through the example of Community law what Atkinson names a "federal agenda for Europe": Yet when the UK joined in 1972, the EEC had already existed for fifteen years. Membership required acceptance of the body of Community law that had been accumulated in the interim8. This law included established decisions of the Court of Justice which declared the supremacy of European law in the face of conflicting national legislation9 and the ability of individuals to extract rights from Community law which they could enforce before their national courts 10. The preamble to the EC Treatyll has always contained a commitment to"an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe". These are clearly constitutional principles which are consistent with a federal agenda for Europe. In the same article he asks: "Were the economic advantages of EU membership worth the loss of some sovereign power", clearly pointing out the federalist role of the European Union. However Josephine Steiner clearly states that "an express "federal" goal was dropped from the final draft of The Treaty of European Union, nevertheless, there can be no doubt that The Union constitutes, at the very least, an embryonic federation" The suggestion of Steiner is: even without an express federal goal, isn't it possible to describe the European Union as shifting to a federal union Apparently, the EU made an attempt by trying to implement a common Constitution to all the member States. Unfortunately for the federalists, the Constitution was rejected by a minority of countries. But the approval of this constitution should have been total in order to be implemented in the European Union. That is clearly showing the irony of the situation and the visible lack of federalism within the EU. The total approval of the Constitution by all member state either by legislatures vote or by referendum failed - the refusal was mainly led by France - prevented the implementation of the document that shown the way to a federal state. In the Constitution was clearly written that changing any article of the document should be first requested by a member state which will ask all member states if they accept to move to a vote regarding the possible change. If all member states accept, therefore it is possible for all the member states to study the case and then vote for or against. Conclusion In our introduction we quoted Sionaidh Douglas-Scott:"the ... concept of federalism does not feel quite right as an explanation of the EU which. ... is too sui generis, too complex, too multidimensional to fit into any such categorization" After reviewing the history of Europe and different notions such as subsidiarity, sovereignty, the Constitution of the European Union it is clear that we can fully understand what Douglas-Scott meant. It is evident that The European Union is far too complex to be labeled with one of the three types of nations that we described in the first part of this essay. On the contrary it can be seen as an assembling of these different schemes. Regarding monetary affairs, agricultural, trade and environmental policy the European Union is a federal union where the central authority has the power over these fields. In the matter of social and economic policy, consumer protection and home affairs, each member state is sovereign. Therefore the European Union for these issues would be a sum of unitary states which in a certain point of view could be seen as a confederation. And finally the EU could be considered as a supranational union while addressing foreign affairs. In this situation, the reasons why the European Constitution was rejected by some member states are obvious. If the European Union itself, as an organization, can not be described by one single term, how can the European Constitution succeed in binding the Europeans together Bibliography Atkinson C. Keeping it Realpolitik University of Greenwich School of Humanities Law Journal 2005 "Federal State" Wikipedia. 2005 Wikipedia. Service 13 Nov 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_state "Introduction to the EU" Foreign and Commonwealth Office http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Frontpagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029391701 Ott A. and Inglis K. Handbook on European Enlargement T-M-C Asser Press, The Hague, the Netherlands. 2002 "Supranationalism" Wikipedia. 2005 Wikipedia. Service 13 Nov 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supranational "The History of the European Union" Europa 2005 http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/index_en.htm "The History of the European Union The Treaties of Rome" Historiasiglo20 http://www.historiasiglo20.org/europe/traroma.htm "Unitary State" Wikipedia. 2005 Wikipedia. Service 13 Nov 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_state "United Kingdom" Wikipedia. 2005 Wikipedia. Service 13 Nov 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom "United States" Wikipedia. 2005 Wikipedia. Service 13 Nov 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States Read More