UK Membership in the European Union - Essay Example

Membership of the European Union is not the only challenge to the traditional view of the supremacy of the UK Parliament, but it is the only one thatseriously undermines that traditional view” Discuss Our world since its origination has been a ‘hotbed’ of activity. Activity in the sense, we humans have been showing activeness both mentally and physically, which have transformed our globe from a primitive one to an advanced one. Advancement is visible in all spheres of our life, as well as in the ‘sphere’, we live. And, that advancement is also seen in one of the important activities of the ‘sphere’, the activity of politics. That is, before the establishment of towns and cities, the concentration of people were in villages, where they lived a way of life, governed by local politics. With the evolution of humans and territories, political setup, which ruled a village, also evolved and new political setups or governance came into being, to rule cities, provinces or states and importantly countries. One of the political setups or governance that is visible all over the world, particularly in democratic countries is the Parliament. Parliament is the governing body which is endowed with the power of law-making and also functions as the forum for discussion and solution of peoples’ problems. “The term ‘Parliament’ is usually associated with the British system of parliamentary government, a system which has influenced the development of representative assemblies in many parts of the world” (Sapara). So, this paper will focus on the “Mother of Parliaments”, the United Kingdom Parliament, and will analyze its supremacy and importantly the issues that have crept in, to challenge that supremacy. Supremacy of the UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body for United Kingdom and also its overseas territories. It only confers powers to all the other political bodies of United Kingdom, who all form an important part of governance. The UK parliament is of bicameral mode, with an upper house, the House of Lords, and a lower house, the House of Commons. “By constitutional convention, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister, are members of the House of Commons or, less often, the House of Lords, and are thereby accountable to the respective branches of the legislature” (wikipedia). So, in addition to conferring the power, the parliament makes them accountable for their actions, when they govern the people and take care of the public issues. Apart from these powers or functions, UK Parliament’s main function is making and passing laws or acts. “One of Parliaments main roles is debating and passing laws” (About parliament). All the actions of the government carried out by the Prime Minister, his/hers cabinet of ministers, civil servants, Defence forces etc, etc are all governed by the laws passed by the UK Parliament. So, these are the factors which are giving the UK parliament the supremacy factor. But, the supremacy is being challenged by other external issues, with which UK became voluntarily associated. That is, some actions of external bodies like European Union (UK holds membership of it) and its court is undermining the powers as well as the laws issued by the UK Parliament. So, mainly due to its European Union membership, UK Parliament has faced and is also facing a lot of challenges in the form issues like the Factortame case and the EC Act 1972. Actually, these issues along with the membership issues are only threatening the supremacy of the parliament. But, among these various issues, the European Union membership issue appears to be the only challenge to the supremacy of UK Parliament, as it is the initiating factor for a whole gamut of problems or issues. Factortame case The Factortame case, mainly initiated by the UK’s European Union membership, is a legal case involving the UK Parliament and the European Court of Justice, and which in a way confirmed the supremacy of European Union laws over the English laws. “Factortame was unquestionably the most important constitutional case of the 20th century and Her Majesty’s government argued that it was not just a “constitutional enormity” but the most significant legal development since the Bill of Rights in 1689” (Cooper). The case involved Factortame, a Spanish fishing company and its directors, who appealed in the UK courts, for the removal certain restrictions imposed by the UK government on the bases of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988. That is, a section of the Shipping Act prevented the Factortame from using the foreign ships, which are actually registered as British ships, for the fishing purpose in UK waters. In the court, Factortame argued that they should be allowed to fish under the law of the European Economic Community (EEC). When the case came to the High court, the court ruled in favour of Factortame against the Merchant Shipping Act, thereby challenging the UK Parliament. “The courts in the Factortame case clearly decided to change their approach, but by pretending that they were simply and loyally enforcing the will of Parliament, they avoided having to explain what lay behind this change” (Fenwick and Phillipson). But, when the judgment was petitioned in the Court of Appeal, the Court protected the parliament by overturning the High court’s ruling on the “basis that the constitution did not give any court the right to suspend Acts of Parliament, and this was confirmed by the House of Lords” (wikipedia). But, Factortame took the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which in June 1990, ruled that national courts could disapply legislation that contravened EU law. Consequently, the House of Lords this time ruled in support of Factortame, which meant that the Merchant Shipping Act, 1988 passed by the UK parliament was struck down in favour of a foreign company. This clearly undermined the identity or image of the UK parliament which is considered the supreme law-making body. So, with the English court (the High court) as well as the European court preventing the operation of a crucial law passed by the Parliament, the supremacy of the parliament was put into doubt. EC Act 1972 or European Communities Act (1972) EC Act passed in 1972 at the time of England’s entry into the European Union also reduces the supremacy of the UK Parliament by “providing for the incorporation of European Community law into the domestic legal order of the United Kingdom” (wikipedia). That is, when UK became a member of the European Community, it involuntarily accepted that it will limit its Parliament’s sovereignty and power, and became a part of a bigger community with common powers and “pooled sovereignty”. “The European Communities Act 1972 gave the force of law in the United Kingdom to existing Community legislation and obliged the UK Government to incorporate into domestic law future legislative acts of the Communities” (parliament.uk). By passing this law, it accepted that whenever a domestic law contravenes with the European law, the parliament should amend the law in line with the European law. “…it must also amend domestic law whenever it conflicts with Community law” (Boutia). Also, when new laws are passed, parliament should take care that it does not breach or infringe on the European laws. So, here again, Parliament’s power in formulating laws is being limited. That is, EC Act 1972 by asking the already passed acts to be amended in a pro-European way, and also by asking for the introduction of new acts in the same pro-European way, belittles or minimizes the role of UK Parliament. And, along with the Factortame case, this act only gives prominence to the European Union and laws, by undermining the supremacy of the UK Parliament. Membership of European Union All the above discussed problems like the Factortame case, the bad effects of EC Act 1972 and thereby the undermining of UK Parliament’s supremacy is all due to one act, the accession of United Kingdom into the European Union in 1972. That is, when UK signed the Treaty of Accession with the formative European committee of six nations at Brussels in 1972, and then ratified that treaty in 1973, it entered the phase of subdue ness to the European Union’s laws. Then, by also signing various other treaties, ratifying and accepting its new laws and constitution (except, treaties related to the common currency), it started to undermine its Parliament. “Since 1972 The Queen has illegally signed five of the six EU Treaties… The five treaties define and build the EU as an unelected dictatorship... The sixth EU treaty will complete the abolition of Britain as a nation” (eutruth). So, new treaties brought in new laws that brought in new problems, which most of the times ended in the favour of the European Union, thereby undermining the UK Parliament further. That is, only after the UK became the member of the European Union that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) situated at Luxemburg started to assert its power over the United Kingdom’s judiciary as well as over the Parliament. “Under the terms of our EC membership, the European Court of Justice has the final say in interpreting treaties and legislation. It can require Member States to take "any necessary measures" to comply with its judgements… can enforce any Treaty provisions as binding on the UK, with potentially unlimited fines for non-compliance” (new alliance). This power of the European court over the UK Parliament was clearly visible in the above discussed Factortame case, when the statute of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988, passed by the UK Parliament was struck down by the ECJ. Likewise, UK because of it becoming a member of European Union only, passed the European Communities Act of 1972 (EC Act 1972). But, that law overrode many of the laws enacted by the UK Parliament, as ECJ annulled any UK law which is inconsistent with the EC Treaties, thereby proving that the European Union’s laws and its constitution is supreme than the parliament of the United Kingdom. So, in the overall analysis, it appears that the United Kingdom’s decision to align with the European Union is the only one reason that has seriously undermined the supremacy of the Parliament Bibliography About parliament. Making laws. Retrieved November 15, 2007 from http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws.cfm Boutia, F. C. (1996). Revolution? The effect of the European Communities Act 1972 and The Human Rights Act 1998 on the UK’s Constitutional Order. University of London. Cooper, T. Factortame. Retrieved November 14, 2007 from http://www.tcssol.com/clients-08-factortame.html eutruth. Do you know the truth about the EU? Retrieved November 14, 2007 from http://eutruth.org.uk/ Fenwick, H and Phillipson, G. (2003). Text, Cases & Materials on Public Law & Human Rights. Routledge Cavendish. New alliance. Supreme Court. Retrieved November 15, 2007 from http://www.iits.dircon.co.uk/newalliance/eccourt.htm parliament.uk. EU Legislation and Scrutiny Procedures. Retrieved November 13, 2007 from www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/l11.pdf Sapara, N.K. Bringing Parliament nearer to the People: Communicating Parliament. Retrieved November 13, 2007 from http://aplapindia2005.nic.in/keynotesapra.htm wikipedia. Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved November 15, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom wikipedia. Factortame case. Retrieved November 15, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factortame_case wikipedia. European Communities Act 1972 (UK). Retrieved November 13, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Communities_Act_1972_(UK) Read More