IP 325 European Integration

Spring Semester 2011/2012

05.03.2012

90´s - Treaty of Maastricht

• The Treaty on European Union (TEU), signed in Maastricht on 7 February 1992, entered into force on 1 November 1993;

• The Maastricht Treaty created the European Union and led to the creation of the single European currency, the euro;

• The Maastricht Treaty has been amended by later treaties of Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon.

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Treaty of Maastricht - 1

• strengthened the democratic legitimacy of the institutions;

• improved the effectiveness of the institutions;• established economic and monetary union;• developed the Community social dimension;• established a common foreign and security

policy.

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Treaty of Maastricht - 2

The treaty created what was commonly referred to as the pillar structure of the European Union. The treaty established the three pillars of the European Union:

• European Community (EC) pillar, • Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) pillar, • Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) pillar. The first pillar was where the EU's supra-national institutions

(the Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice) had the most power and influence. The other two pillars were essentially more intergovernmental in nature with decisions being made by committees.

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The First Pillar of EU

• The European Communities pillar handles economic, social and environmental policies. It is the only pillar with a legal personality, consisting of the European Community (EC), the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC, until its expiry in 2002), and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).

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Second Pillar

The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) pillar took care of Foreign policy:

• Human Rights, • Democracy, • Foreign Aid and

Security policy:• Common security and defense policy,• EU battlegroups, peacekeeping.

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Third Pillar

• Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC), originally Justice and Home Affairs (JHA):

• Drug trafficking and weapons smuggling• Terrorism• Trafficking in human beings• Organised Crime• Bribery and fraud

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Maastricht criteria

The Maastricht criteria (also known as the convergence criteria) are the criteria for European Union member states to enter the third stage of European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and adopt the euro as their currency. The 4 main criteria are based on Article 121(1) of the European Community Treaty.

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Maastricht criteria – cont. 1

1. Inflation rates: No more than 1.5 percentage points higher than the average of the three best performing (lowest inflation) member states of the EU;2. Annual government deficit: a) The ratio of the annual government deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) must not exceed 3% at the end of the preceding fiscal year. Only exceptional and temporary excesses would be granted.

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Maastricht criteria – cont. 2

• b) ratio of gross government debt to GDP must not exceed 60% at the end of the preceding fiscal year. Even if the target cannot be achieved due to the specific conditions, the ratio must have sufficiently diminished and must be approaching the reference value at a satisfactory pace.

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Maastricht criteria – cont. 3

3. Applicant country should have joined the exchange-rate mechanism (ERM II) under the European Monetary System (EMS) for two consecutive years and should not have devalued its currency during the period;4. Long-term interest rates: The nominal long-term interest rate must not be more than 2 percentage points higher than in the three lowest inflation member states.

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European Citizenship

One of the major innovations established by the Maastricht Treaty is the creation of European citizenship over and above national citizenship. Every citizen who is a national of a Member State is also a citizen of the Union. This citizenship vests new rights in Europeans:

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Rights of the European citizenship

• the right to circulate and reside freely in the Community; • the right to vote and to stand as a candidate for European

and municipal elections in the State in which he or she resides;

• the right to protection by the diplomatic or consular authorities of a Member State other than the citizen's Member State of origin on the territory of a third country in which the state of origin is not represented;

• the right to petition the European Parliament and to submit a complaint to the Ombudsman.

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Single Market and the EEA

Establishing and maintaining a single market were a prominent goal of the EU since its creation by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. This seeks to guarantee the four basic freedoms, which are related to ensure free movement of:•goods •services •capital•people around the EU's internal market.

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European Economic Area• The European Economic Area (EEA) was established on 1

January 1994 following an agreement between the member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Community, later the European Union (EU). Specifically, it allows Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to participate in the EU's Internal Market without a conventional EU membership;

• The EEA Agreement states that when a country becomes a member of the European Union, it shall also apply to become party to the EEA Agreement, thus leading to an enlargement of the EEA.

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EEA – cont.

• The EEA Agreement provides for the inclusion of EU legislation covering the four freedoms— the free movement of goods, services, persons and capital — throughout the 30 EEA States;

• In addition, the Agreement covers cooperation in other important areas such as research and development, education, social policy, the environment, consumer protection, tourism and culture.

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Amsterdam Treaty

• officially the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty of the European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts;

• signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999; it made substantial changes to the Maastricht Treaty, which had been signed in 1992.

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Amsterdam Treaty – cont. 1

Main changes brought about by the Amsterdam Treaty in the areas of:

• freedom, security and justice• the Union and the citizen • effective and coherent external policy• institutional questions.

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Amsterdam Treaty – cont.2– Fundamental rights and non-discrimination;– The gradual establishment of an area of freedom,

security and justice; – Although the Amsterdam Treaty did not provide

for a common defence, it did increase the EU's responsibilities for peacekeeping and humanitarian work, in particular by forging closer links with Western European Union;

– The Schengen Agreements have been incorporated into the legal system of the EU.

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EU time axis19511952Paris Treaty

19541955Modified Brussels Treaty

19571958Treaties of Rome

19651967Merger Treaty

19851985Schengen Treaty

19861987Single European Act

19921993Maastricht Treaty

19971999Amsterdam Treaty

20012003Nice Treaty

20072009Lisbon Treaty

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