Analysis of the Integration Process (I): Overview
An overall view of the integration process 1951-2005 - developments and problems
Here is a brief overview of an integration process that has been going on for around 60 years, starting with the ECSC in 1951 and stretching all the way to the failed referendums in France and the Netherlands in the middle of 2005.The illustrations have been designed to give you a taste of what you can expect and to provide a common thread running through Basic Course 2 and 3.
Our intention, above all, is to keep a firm eye on two aspects, namely the way in which the contractual basis has developed, which has formed the basis for the continual expansion of the areas in which the EU is active. The main question, however, is „how did this happen?“. After all, we all know that nation states are extremely reluctant when it comes to relinquishing powers. Moreover, when it comes to the expansion of the EU and incorporating more members, Basic Course 5 in particular will set out to discover the reasons behind the decision taken by the EU and, indeed, the new member states with regards to expansion and new membership.
The first illustration covers the period from the foundation of the ECSC in 1951 to the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1999 and demonstrates that a long period of time was always needed before it was possible to agree on far-reaching changes. The period from the foundation of the EEC to the first major treaty revision, the Single European Act in 1987, for example took almost 20 years. During the 1990s, however, the speed of change appears to accelerate.
Hardly had the Treaty of Nice 2003 come into force than the next constitution proposal for the European convention was being put forward, containing more new fundamental changes. Once again developments gained new momentum! This period was also marked by the hugely symbolic introduction of the Euro to replace the national currencies in the 12 states taking part in monetary union and by the landmark decision to expand the EU by another ten members on the 1st of May 2004.
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The third illustration takes us into 2004. It was during this period that the EU witnessed the membership of 10 Central and Eastern European countries, as well as Malta and Cyprus. These new members introduced a period of serious change for the EU which is set to continue into the future. Indeed, these developments are addressed in detail at the end of Basic Course 3 and also during Basic Course 5.
As can be seen from the illustration, the first direct EP elections took place in June 2004. These elections included the ten new members of the EU. Shortly after these elections accession (membership) negotiations were finalized with Bulgaria and almost finalized with Rumania. In addition to this, the EU made a decision in 2005 to enter into accession negotiations with Croatia and Turkey.
In October of the same year the EU's new constitution was signed in the historical location of Rome, where, in 1957, the Treaties that gave birth to the EEC were signed. Now the new EU Constitution had to be adopted by all member states either through the parliamentary method and/or through the referendum method where the adoption of the Constitution is submitted to citizens for them to vote for or against it. This meant that the Constitution had a very high hurdle to jump before it could enter into force.
And finally in November the new Commission under the leadership of Barroso took up office and - connected to this - the institutional changes related to the Treaty of Nice came into force, which included reducing the size of the Commission and a new weighting of votes in the Council.
All in all, then, the impression given by all these developments is one of enormous momentum in the process towards European integration. Indeed, this is particularly true when considering developments during the first two decades where around 20 years passed between one treaty change and the next!
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All this, however, was to change abruptly in 2005, a year that was characterized by two developments that were closely linked: The first of these was the temporary breakdown of the constitutional process, which was triggered by the no vote in France and the Netherlands on adopting a European constitution. This led to a crisis and a temporary halt to progress. What this meant, however, was that for the time being at least the EU would have to make do with an institutional framework - the provisions set down in the Treaty of Nice - that were insufficient for a Union made up of 25 and soon 27 member states. The significance of these developments also became apparent during the all-important European financing negotiations for the period 2007 to 2013. These negotiations were held mid way through 2005 and were unsuccessful in reaching an agreement.
Moreover, the no votes from these two referendums served in increasing the level of scepticism
vis-à-vis further EU expansion. The warnings coming out of the EU addressed to Bulgaria and Rumania that membership of the EU might be delayed became increasingly loud. Even the negotiations planned to start with Turkey in October were very much in doubt right up until the last minutes because of internal EU wrangling. In the end, however, negotiations did get underway together with the beginning of talks with Croatia.
And so it is that the EU is once again going through a crisis. And it is set against this background that it becomes more and more interesting to find out how past crises in the EU were resolved. Indeed, analysing just how these were solved drawing on the explanations provided at the start of Basic Course 2 might just shed a light on how things will develop in the future.
[Autor: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schumann]
