The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (88 page)

The European Court of Justice (ECJ), which is based in Luxembourg, is an institution of the European Union (EU) and should not be confused with the European Court of Human Rights. The ECJ played a crucial part in the process of integration in Europe, particularly by interpreting the treaty basis of the Community, formally a species of international law, as internal law common to the member states. A series of judgments (starting with
Van Gend en Loos
26/62 [1963] ECR 1 and
Costa v. ENEL
6/64 [1964] ECR 585) interpreted the Treaty of Rome as a constitution for Europe, based on the doctrines of the ‘direct effect’ and ‘supremacy’ of Community law. Initially ‘direct effect’ meant that without further domestic legislation some articles of the Treaty of Rome became national law. It allowed individuals to rely on Community law as such before national courts. The doctrine of ‘direct effect’ raised the possibility of a conflict between Community and national law. The ECJ resolved this problem by developing the principle of the ‘supremacy’ of Community law. Another feature of the Community which marks it out from other international organizations is its capacity to pass secondary legislation (that is, rules with the force of law which are not passed directly by one or more legislatures, but are authorized by them). The ECJ has strengthened this capacity by applying doctrine of direct effect to some secondary legislation (
Van Duyn v. Home Office
41/74 [1974] ECR 1337). Although they took place over the same period of time as a political crisis that increased the control of the member states in the Community's legislative process, these legal developments provoked little or no political criticism. The criticism that did emerge was mainly legal. However, even the courts of the most recalcitrant member states (Germany, Italy, and France) had more or less acknowledged the constitutional role of the ECJ by the middle of the 1980s.
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Democratic legitimacy in the
European Union
(formerly European Community) is indirectly provided through national ministers meeting on the Council, but the European Parliament (EP) over the years has played a growing role in this regard. The EU treaties originally created an ‘Assembly’, consisting of delegates from members' national parliaments. The Assembly conferred upon itself the name Parliament in 1962, illustrating the aspirations of the delegates to become a genuine parliament at the EC level. However, the analogy with national legislatures is difficult to sustain: the EP still does not pass legislation, nor is either the Commission or the Council responsible to it (despite its power to dismiss the Commission in certain circumstances). Its role in the legislative process is still limited to that of oversight and discussion, to which should be added limited influence over the EU budgetary process.
Particularly since 1979, when the first direct EU-wide elections for the EP were held, the democratic legitimacy of the EP through its link with voters has been enhanced. In addition, revisions of its powers and functions have resulted from treaty amendments. The
Single European Act
increased EP influence over the EU budgetary process, developed its oversight powers with respect to the Commission, and made the EP a junior partner of the Council in the legislative process (the co-operation procedure). The Treaty of
Maastricht
further developed these powers through the consultation procedure. The EP is thus slowly evolving as a
legislature
in the traditional meaning of the word, paralleling the evolution of the EC towards something ‘state-like’ in the international system as the role of member states diminishes through successive reforms.
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In November 1993 the official title of the European Community (EC) was changed to
European Union
(EU) as a result of ratification of the
Maastricht
treaty by member states' parliaments. The EU should properly have been known as the European Communities, in the plural. It began as three legally distinct but related organizations: the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the European Economic Community (EEC, sometimes referred to as the ‘Common Market’). In practice the institutions and politics of the three have become increasingly indistinct, a process confirmed by successive treaty amendments.
The EU is the most thoroughgoing example of regional economic and political integration. As an international organization it goes beyond traditional intergovernmentalism and has substantial elements of supranationality. The various Union/Community treaties contain fairly open-ended if imprecise commitments to ‘ever closer union’ among the (currently) fifteen member states.
At the end of the Second World War, European economic and political unity was seen as an important element of postwar reconstruction, and was therefore supported by the United States. As a wholesale abrogation of national sovereignty seemed a distant reality, efforts focused on the functionalist approach to integration as expressed in Jean Monnet's Schumann Plan. Monnet's guiding idea was that war between France and Germany must never again disrupt the politics and prosperity of the continent. Italy and
Benelux
joined the ensuing negotiations.
The result was the ECSC (Treaty of Paris, signed 1 April 1951, implemented July 1952) among the six, which sought to integrate the industrial sectors then most associated with war production (coal and steel) in such a way that the parties could no longer maintain an independent capacity to make war on each other. Its economic success provided impetus for further and broader integration, despite the failure of the European Defence Community in 1954. Plans for integration across all economic sectors culminated in the Treaty of
Rome
establishing the EEC and Euratom, signed on 25 March 1957 by the six ECSC members with effect from 1 January 1958. The treaty established a common assembly and Court for all three, and a Commission and
Council of Ministers
for the two new communities. The United Kingdom had declined involvement, opting to establish a rival organization, the European Free Trade Area (EFTA).
The EEC quickly became the focal point of efforts at European integration. Where the six states could agree, a concrete timetable for policy integration was specified. This led to the fairly rapid establishment of a customs union, a common external tariff, and a nascent common trade policy. Where agreement had been difficult, the Treaty was vague about further steps towards integration. In this way the Treaty has ensured that the integration process has never progressed unless it was in line with member states' national interests.
The Treaty also put forward a long series of policy questions for negotiation among the members. It was hoped that the tangible economic benefits of common policies would provide ongoing impetus for the integration process. It was the responsibility of the Commission to develop legislative proposals aimed at common EC policies, replacing the policies of individual member states. Agriculture had been of great concern to the French government, being specifically mentioned in the Treaty as a priority, and by 1966 this yielded what remains the EU's most far-reaching common policy, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The EU also developed its role in external relations through its assistance agreements with former French colonies, the Yaoundé accords of 1963, succeeded in 1975 by the first Lomé convention.
The Commission proposed legislation and sought approval from the Council of Ministers which represented the member states. The European Court had ruled that EU laws would take precedence over national laws. From this provision stems many of the Union's supranational characteristics. Policy decisions therefore may pose great difficulties for the negotiating states as fundamental national interests are frequently at stake.
The three Communities came to be increasingly indistinguishable over time. The Merger Treaty of 1965 gave all three a common Commission and Council. The EU has also undergone a considerable expansion of membership, with the accession of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark in 1973, Greece in 1981, and Spain and Portugal in 1986, and Sweden, Austria, and Finland in 1994. Turkey has asked for membership, while Poland, Hungary, and the Czech and Slovak republics are seen as prospective members.
If membership has widened, the policy jurisdiction of the EU has ‘deepened’ to include the European Monetary system, the monumental Single Market Programme contained in the
Single European Act
(SEA), regional and social policy, and important elements of foreign and defence policy co-operation. This process of deepening has been aided by amendments to the Treaties as with the SEA of 1986 and the more recent Treaty of
Maastricht
(signed 1991 with effect from November 1993), formally transforming the EC into the European Union. Another ‘Intergovernmental Conference’ to discuss ‘deepening’ is scheduled for 1996.
By keeping the end goal indeterminate, ‘Euroenthusiasts’ and ardent supporters of national autonomy alike have usually been able to strike compromises which are understood to be in the common interest of all. This propels the process of integration, despite frequent turmoil and disagreement, and has seen the EU emerge as an increasingly ‘state-like’ entity in the international system. As such the EU is poised to alter traditional conceptions of
sovereignty
and international organizations.
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