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EU Glossary: G-P
This refers to the idea of a non-uniform method of integration which allows Member States to select policies as if from a menu and involve themselves fully in those policies. This stands in contrast to the original aims by which all member states move at the same speed toward a common set of objectives. After the Amsterdam Treaty came into force, the use of these instruments was put on a more formal footing with the introduction of the concept of "closer cooperation" in the Treaty on European Union (Title VII) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (Article 11). The Treaty of Nice did away with some of these barriers. The idea of graduated integration can be found under many headings including "Europe a la carte", "Europe of variable geometry", "Europe of concentric circles" and "multi-speed Europe". Guidelines are acts of law issued by Community bodies. The European Council or Commission binds member states by law to implement the objectives laid out in the guidelines and to change their own national laws accordingly within a set timescale. In a European Union context, the term harmonization means coordinating the legal and administrative regulations of the member states to tackle anomalies in the internal market. The principle of harmonization is very time consuming, standing in contrast to the principle of mutual recognition. Indeed, the principle of mutual recognition has been accepted by the European Court of Justice, forming a major building block for achieving the internal market project.
Following the debate on whether to appoint a "Mr/Ms CFSP", a new position of High Representative for the common foreign and security policy has now been created by the Treaty of Amsterdam. The new position is held by the Secretary-General of the Council, whose task is to assist the Presidency of the Union in matters relating to the common foreign and security policy. The High Representative also helps in formulating, preparing and implementing policy decisions by the Council. He or she may conduct political dialogue with third parties, on the Council's behalf and at the request of the Presidency. Responsibility for running the Council's General Secretariat now rests with the Deputy Secretary-General. The term integration is usually taken to mean the process of gradual convergence to form an eventual whole. As far as political integration is concerned, it is taken to mean the process and/or result of a process to converge political entities (i.e. states) to form an overriding whole. The term European integration is taken to mean the union of member states in the European Union. The terms intergovernmental and supranational are taken to mean differing types of cooperation at an international politics level in general and at a European integration level in particular. While intergovernmental cooperation reflects more traditional relationships that do not demand governments surrender any sovereignty, supranational structures represent the surrendering of sovereign rights. These two terms mark out a continuum and reflect the strained relations that exist on the road to European integration. A paradigmatic example of intergovernmental cooperation is the Council of Europe; the first supranational European organisation was the ECSC.
This is the term used to describe negotiations between the Member States' governments with a view to amending the Treaties. An IGC is of major importance as regards European integration, where changes in the institutional and legal structure - or simply in the content of the Treaties - have always been the outcome of intergovernmental conferences (e.g. Single European Act and Treaty on European Union). There have been several Intergovernmental Conferences in the history of the European Community, the last of which began on 29 March 1996 and ended at the Amsterdam European Council on 16 and 17 June 1997. A draft Treaty was adopted following the Conference which came into force in all the Member States on 1 May 1999. As the Treaty of Amsterdam did not introduce all the requisite institutional reforms to guarantee the efficiency of the institutions' work after enlargement, the European Council made provision, at the Cologne summit (3-4 June 1999), for a new IGC in 2000. Its task was to reach agreement, by the end of the year, on the issues not resolved in the Treaty of Amsterdam: the size and composition of the Commission, the weighting of votes in the Council, the possible extension of qualified majority voting in the Council and other institutional matters relating to these questions, within the framework of implementing the Amsterdam Treaty. The European Parliament is closely associated with all the work of the IGC in the following manner: two observers from Parliament attend preparatory work meetings and each IGC meeting at ministerial level is preceded by a discussion with the President of Parliament. The internal market is an economic area without internal restrictions in which the four fundamental freedoms can be realized, that is, the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital. The Community’s internal market project ("Europe 1992") was initiated during the 80s, took centre stage during the first large treaty revision (Single European Act 1986/87) and is the main reason for the end of stagnation and the huge movement towards integration at the end of the 80s and beginning of the 90s. Indeed, these changes also led to two other large treaty changes in the form of Maastricht (1991/93) and Amsterdam 81997/99) Internet: http://europa.eu.int/pol/singl/index_en.htm International Monetary Fund; Internet: http://www.imf.org Cooperation on justice and home affairs was institutionalised under Title VI of the EU Treaty (also known as the "third pillar"). The aim of this cooperation was to give practical effect to the principle of the free movement of persons. It covered the following:
Various instruments were created as a means of taking action in this sphere: the joint action, the joint position and the convention. Although significant progress has been made, the overall record of cooperation in this field has been criticised. Consensus has been reached on the need to introduce more effective provisions in order to strengthen the cooperation structures and incorporate into the Community framework the areas mentioned above which are linked to controls on persons (asylum, immigration and crossing of external borders). The Treaty of Amsterdam has reorganised cooperation in the fields of justice and home affairs, setting as its objective the establishment of an area of freedom, security and justice. Certain sectors have been brought within the Community framework, while at the same time new fields and methods have emerged. The "Schengen area", which was formed outside the legal framework of the European Union on the initiative of some of the Member States that wished to advance even further as regards the free movement of persons, will ultimately be incorporated in the EU and EC Treaties. Internet: http://europa.eu.int/pol/justice/index_en.htm Legitimation deficit is a concept invoked principally in the arguments that have been taking place since Maastricht. The significance expansion of Union since the Single European Act (SEA) – especially economic and monetary union – has led to a situation in which the previous diffuse support shown among citizens (permissive consensus) for the integration process has become strained. A political system gains legitimacy predominantly through input and output legitimation. The EU’s input legitimation, that is, legitimation on democratic procedures used in the decision-making process were weak from the very beginning (democratic deficit). Output legitimation, that is, the level of satisfaction about the results of political decisions by those subjected to them was sufficient for a Union mainly concerned with problems of economic interdependency. For an EU currently active in almost all areas and with exclusive authority, however, this level is insufficient. The Lomé Convention sets out multilateral trade and development agreements between the EU and 71 developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP nations). These agreements allow for substantial financial assistance and trading benefits for exporting goods to the EU. The Lomé Convention is at the centre of EU’s development policy. The Luxembourg compromise, reached in January 1966, brought to an end the so-called "empty chair" crisis, France having refused to take its seat in the Council since July 1965. The compromise was an acknowledgement of the disagreement existing between those who, when a major national interest was at stake, wanted the members of the Council to do their best within a reasonable space of time to find solutions which all sides could adopt without encroaching on their mutual interests, and France, which was in favour of keeping discussions going until unanimous agreement was reached. Subsequently other Member States were to side with the French point of view. The compromise has not prevented the Council from taking decisions in accordance with the EC Treaty, which provides in many cases for voting by qualified majority. Nor has it hindered the members of the Council from making further efforts to bring points of view closer together before the Council takes a decision. The Marshall Plan was a program aimed at rebuilding the economy of Europe following the Second World War. It was proposed by the U.S. Foreign Minister, George C. Marshall. By 1952 a total of 18 European nations had received around 14 billion USD in the form of credits, non-repayable grants, as well as technical and food aid. The Marshall Plan was decisive in rebuilding the West European economy - especially in West Germany. It also complemented U.S. policy on containing communist influence (containment strategy). A political system in which several levels - in the EU the supranational, national, sub-national and in some cases the local level – participate in formulating and implementing universally binding decisions. These levels also permeate reciprocally into each other. Mutual recognition means accepting as equal other regulations or qualifications that have been passed in other EU nations to fulfil the same purpose. To this end, then, it is the principle in competition policy that where a product is legally manufactured and marketed in one Member State, it may be freely offered for sale in other Member States, irrespective of whether it complies with their own national legislation in that area. The acceptance of this principle set against that of harmonization paved the way for the establishment of the internal market. Mutual recognition provides a flexible alternative to the huge task of harmonizing regulations across the Union. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO, or the Atlantic Alliance) was founded in 1949 and has its headquarters in Brussels. It has 19 members: the EU Member States (with the exception of Austria, Finland, Ireland and Sweden), Canada, the United States, Iceland, Norway and Turkey, and ,since 12 March 1999, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. "New-look" NATO refers to the process of redefining the organisation's role and operation. The key aspects involved are the recognition of a European defence identity, the strengthening of the European component of the transatlantic security system, the new role of the WEU, and the prospect of the eastward enlargement of NATO - initially taking in Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic - as agreed at the North Atlantic Council meeting in Madrid in July 1997. This will be accompanied by a deepening of NATO's relations with third countries through partnerships for peace and the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. A major challenge in this is that of establishing a sound, stable and sustainable partnership with Russia and Ukraine. The policy of the Union respects the obligations on certain Member States arising out of NATO membership and is compatible with the common security and defence policy agreed in NATO. Internet: http://www.nato.int/home.htm Given that the free movement of goods is at the core the internal market, tariffs and controls on quantities have to be removed. But there are also indirect, so-called non-tarif trade restrictions. These include import tarifs and technical trade restrictions such as differing quality standards in member states. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development was founded in 1961. Its main objective is coordinate trade, commerce and development policy. All member states of the EU also belong to the 29 member nations of the OECD. Internet: http://www.oecd.org The European Ombudsman is appointed by the European Parliament after each election for the duration of Parliament's term of office. He is empowered to receive complaints from any citizen of the Union or any natural or legal person residing in a Member State concerning instances of maladministration in the activities of the Community institutions or bodies (with the exception of the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance). Article 43 of the Charta of Basic Rights, proclaimed in Nice in December 2001, is dedicated to the ombudsman. This function is currently being carried out by the Fin, Jacob Södermann, and his team of 22. Postal address: 1, Avenue du President Robert
Schuman, B.P. 403, F-67001 Strasbourg Cedex. Opting out is an exemption granted to a country that does not wish to join the other Member States in a particular area of Community cooperation as a way of avoiding a general stalemate. The United Kingdom, for instance, asked to be allowed not to take part in the third stage of economic and monetary union (EMU) and similar clauses were agreed with Denmark as regards EMU, defence and European citizenship. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the largest regional security organization in the world with 55 participating States from Europe, Central Asia and North America. It is active in early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation. Internet: http://www.osce.org Own resources are the tax revenue allocated to the European Union to finance its expenditure, which must not exceed the current ceiling of 1.27% of Community GNP. Originally, the Community budget depended on the Member States' financial contributions. However, a decision was adopted on 21 April 1970 giving it financial autonomy, and since 1 January 1978, the Community budget has been entirely financed by own resources. These are currently made up of four elements:
In 1999, the forecast revenue of the European Union came to EUR 86 million, of which about 48.1% came from the GNP resource, 35.2% from the VAT resource, 13.8% from customs duties and 2.2% from agricultural levies. Package deals represent an EU-typical way of balancing interests during negotiations, especially in the Council of Europe. Numerous individual issues that, because of differing interests in member states, cannot be resolved, are put together to form a comprehensive and finely balanced package, which balances advantages against disadvantages for every state to be adopted as a package. Individual national delegations are then prepared to accept disadvantages in one area, provided it is set against advantages in another. Heads of states and governments of the EC meeting at the Paris Summit Conference in October 1972 decided to realize plans to create a European Union by 1980. Agreement was also reached on a timetable for the second stage of economic and monetary union (EMU) within the scope of the first stage to create European Monetary Union with the Werner Plan for 1974. These plans, however, proved to be too ambitious and were not implemented.
The Treaty of Amsterdam strengthens the role and position of the Commission President. The governments of the Member States designate the person they intend to appoint as President by common accord - a choice which then has to be approved by the European Parliament. The governments then designate the persons they intend to appoint as Members of the Commission, in agreement with the new President. The President lays down the broad policy lines to be followed by the Commission in its work. He also decides on the allocation of portfolios among the Commissioners and any reshuffling of portfolios during the Commission's term of office. In a declaration on the organisation and functioning of the Commission annexed to the EC Treaty, the Intergovernmental Conference recommended that, for the sake of consistency, responsibility for external relations be assigned to a Vice-President (at present it is divided between several Members of the Commission). When the new European Commission (2000-2005) was appointed, Members of the Commission gave an undertaking for the first time that they would resign if requested to do so by the President of the Commission. This undertaking may be incorporated in the Treaties by the 2000 Intergovernmental Conference. The Commission President's powers would be strengthened if the Intergovernmental Conference decided to endorse a Commission made up of one national from each Member State. Should this be the case, the President could be given a leading role when the portfolios are shared out among the Members of the Commission, and the President's vote could carry more weight within the Commission, in order to maintain its efficiency. [> on to next glossary page ...] |
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