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Selected from these fact sheets, we present here five aspects of the viewpoint of the European Parliament on the European Union:
The Union will aim to assert its identity on the international scene, in particular through a common foreign and security policy. This includes the eventual framing of a common defence policy, which might in time lead to a common defence.
The Union will strengthen the protection of the rights and interests of the nationals of its Member States through the introduction of Union citizenship. It will develop close cooperation on justice and home affairs and will maintain in full the "acquis communautaire" - existing EC law - and build on it.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNION: The European Union is built on three pillars. The first, the Community pillar, is rooted in the Treaties of Paris and Rome as modified by the Single European Act. The Member States and the Community institutions together ensure that this pillar functions, and its scope has been extended.
The second pillar consists of the common foreign and security activities of the European Union. Its provisions are laid down in a framework of mainly intergovernmental cooperation, with the Commission associated and the European Parliament consulted.
Justice and home affairs are to constitute the third pillar, also operating in an intergovernmental mode, with the institutions of the EC as yet having no real power of decision-taking within the third pillar. Together these three pillars are to constitute the European Union, with the EC part by far the most extensive in scope and the consequential obligations for members the most specific and wide-ranging.
FIRST PILLAR, THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY: The task of the European Community, will be to promote a harmonious and balanced development of economic activities, sustainable and non-inflationary growth respecting the environment, a high degree of convergence of economic performance, a high level of employment and of social protection, the raising of the standard of living and quality of life, and economic and social cohesion and solidarity between Member States.
The Treaty creates a citizenship for the European Union. Everybody holding the nationality of a Member State will be a citizen of the Union, with rights and duties conferred by the Treaty. He will have the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States. Every citizen of the Union living in a Member State of which he is not a national will have the right to vote and to stand as a candidate at municipal elections or in elections to the European Parliament in that country, under the same conditions as nationals of that state.
The Community will act within the limit of the powers conferred upon it by the Union Treaty and of the objectives assigned to it. In areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence, the Community shall take action, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community. Any action by the Community must not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Union Treaty.
The Community has competence to form policy in 17 fields: (1) free movement of goods, (2) agriculture, (3) free movement of persons, services and capital, (4) transport, (5) competition, taxation and approximation of laws, (6) economic and monetary policy, which is the keystone of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), (7) common commercial policy, (8) social policy, education, training and youth, (9) culture, (10) public health, (11) consumer protection, (12) trans-European networks, (13) industry, (14) cohesion, (15) research and technology, (16) environment and (17) development.
The tasks entrusted to the Community will be carried out by the European Parliament, the European Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, and the Court of Auditors. Each will keep within the limits of the powers conferred upon it by this Treaty. The Council and Commission will be assisted by an Economic and Social Committee and a Committee of the Regions, both acting in an advisory capacity. A European System of Central Banks and a European Central Bank will be established in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Treaty.
SECOND PILLAR, THE COMMON FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY: This policy is to be defined and implemented by the Union and its Member States.
To pursue the objectives of this policy such as the preservation of peace and the strengthening of international security, the Union will establish systematic cooperation between Member States. It will gradually implement "joint action" in the areas in which the Member States have important interests in common. Whenever it deems it necessary, the Council will define a "common position".
The common foreign and security policy will include all questions related to the security of the Union, including the eventual framing of a common defence policy - which might in time lead to a common defence. The Union requests the Western European Union, which is an integral part of the development of the Union, to elaborate and implement decisions and actions of the Union which have defence implications. The Council will, in agreement with the WEU, adopt the necessary arrangements.
THIRD PILLAR, JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS: To achieve the objectives of the Union, in particular the free movement of persons, Member States will regard the following areas as matters of common interest. First, border-related issues such as policy on asylum, immigration, conditions of entry and movement, residence, illegal immigration and work. Second, cross-border criminal issues such as drugs, terrorism, fraud, and legal cooperation on civil law, criminal law and customs. These matters will be dealt with in compliance with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties and the Convention relating to the status of refugees, and taking account of the protection for people persecuted on political grounds. This does not affect Member States' maintenance of law and order and internal security.
THE ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: In a resolution on the results of the intergovernmental conference (A3-123/92 of 7.4.1992), the European Parliament urged the national parliaments to ratify the Treaty of Maastricht, and at the same time commit their respective governments to redress at the earliest opportunity its major shortcomings relating, for example, to its pillar structure which leaves the common foreign and security policy as well as the coordination in the spheres of justice and home affairs outside the European Community Treaty, thus escaping effective parliamentary and judicial control.
The Parliament also underlined the positive elements included in the new Treaty such as the commitment to establish EMU with a single currency and the Central Bank. It pointed out the extension of the scope of Community competences with the addition of new titles and articles to the EEC Treaty concerning, notably, consumer protection, public health, culture, education, industry, development and trans-European networks. The European Parliament also welcomed the inclusion in the Treaty of the principle of subsidiarity in defence of national and, especially, regional powers.
Subsequent amendments to the Treaties have both reinforced the EP's prerogatives and extended its powers and spheres of activity. Four institutional amendments in particular have permitted a significant growth in the EP's powers:
POWERS: In accordance with the tasks assigned to it by the Treaties and subsequently by interinstitutional agreements, the EP has the following powers:
SUPERVISORY POWERS: According to the Treaties, the EP may exercise supervision in several ways:
Right to institute proceedings before the Court of Justice: the EP has the right to institute proceedings before the ECJ in cases of violation of the Treaty by another institution (*1.3.2.).
OBJECTIVE: The Single Act represents the first step towards the greater involvement of the European Parliament (EP) in the Community legislative process. However, that revision of the Treaty did not fully reflect the EP's legitimacy and thus failed properly to address the problem of reducing the democratic deficit in the Community. Democracy is therefore the governing principle behind the Treaty on European Union, which sets out to increase the EP's powers. As a result, interinstitutional relations have been profoundly affected, one change being to make the Commission more accountable.
REVISION OF THE EP'S LEGISLATIVE ROLE (a) Introduction of the codecision procedure: The Treaty on European Union enhances the EP's legislative powers, in particular by granting it the right to adopt Community legal acts jointly with the Council (Article 189b). This codecision procedure in no way supersedes the cooperation procedure introduced by the Single Act; it is rather an additional procedure applicable only in certain areas.
The codecision procedure is based on the possibility of examining a proposal at third reading; previously, procedures had incorporated only two readings. Up to and including the second reading, it is identical to the cooperation procedure. The Council, acting by a qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission, adopts a common position. That common position is then forwarded to the EP, which has a three-month period in which to:
At this stage of the procedure, if no agreement is reached on the proposal within a period of six weeks (approval requires an absolute majority in the EP and a qualified majority in the Council), the proposed act is deemed not to have been adopted, unless the Council makes a fresh attempt to reopen the procedure by confirming its initial common position, possibly with amendments proposed by the EP.
At the end of the procedure, the EP can accept the proposal, take no decision, at which point the proposal is deemed to have been adopted, or reject the proposal definitively.
At present, the codecision procedure, which can be regarded as a right of veto conferred on the EP, covers fourteen areas, including freedom of establishment (Article 54), the internal market (Articles 100a and 100b), the environment (Article 130s(3)), and Articles 56, 57(1) and (2), 126(4), 127(2), 130i, 103(5), 104(a) and (b), and 108(3). Many of these articles govern areas previously covered by the cooperation procedure.
However, this restriction on the scope of the codecision procedure is only temporary, since the Treaty on European Union provides for an increase in the number of areas covered between now and 1996, on the basis of a proposal from the Commission (Article 189b(8)).
By granting it an expanding role as a joint decision-maker in the Community legislative process, the procedure certainly represents a remarkable step forward for the EP and seems likely to reduce the democratic deficit in the Community. However, the procedure does not apply to all aspects of Community legislation. In addition, most of the measures required to harmonize national laws with a view to completing the internal market were taken prior to the 1 January 1993 deadline.
(b) Widening of the scope of other legislative procedures: The Treaty on European Union also widens the scope of the consultation procedure to cover eleven new areas, including the European Social Fund, vocational training, transport policy and aid to developing countries.
The scope of the assent procedure is widened to cover nine new articles, including freedom of movement (Article 8a), the objectives of the Structural Funds (Article 130d), the powers of the European Central Bank (Article 105(6)) and the proposals relating to the establishment of a uniform electoral procedure for European elections (Article 138).
The Treaty on European Union lays down 24 new areas of application for the consultation procedure, including the regulations governing state aid (Article 94), the appointment of the President and members of the European Central Bank (Article 129a(1)) and the President of the Commission (Article 158), the transition to the third stage of Monetary Union (Article 109i) and Community visa policy (Article 100c(2)).
Finally, the EP must now be kept informed by the Commission of events in a larger number of areas. In particular, Article J.7 concerning the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) stipulates that the EP must be kept regularly informed by the Presidency and the Commission of developments in the CFSP.
(c) Conferral on the EP of a right to propose legislation: while the EP now enjoys joint decision-making powers in certain areas, the changes made by the Treaty on European Union with regard to the right to propose legislation should also be stressed, the latter no longer being the exclusive prerogative of the Commission. Article 138b stipulates that the EP may, acting by a majority of its members, request the Commission to submit any appropriate proposal for the purpose of implementing the Treaty. Although a significant and logical innovation, this right to propose legislation is nevertheless restricted by the lack of any provision requiring the Commission to comply with the EP's requests.
SUPERVISION AND LEGITIMACY OF THE COMMISSION: the Treaty gives the EP a role in appointing the Commission. Article 158 of the EC Treaty puts an end to the illogical situation which obtained hitherto: the EP had a right of censure (Article 144 of the EC Treaty, which stipulated that the Commission should resign as a body should the motion of censure be carried by a two- thirds majority), but could not appoint new Commissioners in conjunction with the Council.
Henceforth, the Member State governments will nominate the President of the Commission by common accord, after consulting the EP. The governments and the nominee for President will then nominate the other members of the Commission, who shall be subject as a body, along with the President, to a vote of approval by the EP. These provisions will enter into force only on 7 January 1995. Moreover, the term of office of MEPs and Commissioners will be concurrent. The Commission will thus become democratically accountable to the EP, the representative of the citizens of Europe, and its legitimacy will be strengthened.
GRANT OF LOCUS STANDI TO THE EP IN RESPECT OF ACTIONS FOR ANNULMENT: On several occasions, the EP has tried to use Article 173 of the EEC Treaty with a view to securing the annulment of acts of other Community institutions (a right conferred on, amongst others, the Member States, the Commission and the Council), in addition to its right to bring actions under the terms of Article 175 (Case 13/83 for the use of Article 175 and Case 302/87 for actions pursuant to Article 173). The Court of Justice initially refused to grant the EP the right to bring actions pursuant to Article 173, under the terms of which the EP does not have locus standi. This refusal seemed strange, given that the article may be used against acts of the EP which have legal force (Case 320/81 and especially Case 294/83 of 23 April 1986, Les Verts v Parliament). Ultimately, the Court of Justice delivered the opinion that the EP could use Article 173 provided that the action seeks only to safeguard its prerogatives (Case 70/88).
The Treaty on European Union takes into account the various decisions by the Court and extends Article 173 to cover the EP. Accordingly, actions may be brought against acts of the EP designed to have legal effect, but at the same time the EP may also bring actions in order to protect its prerogatives (a right also granted to the European Central Bank). The active legitimacy of the EP has thus been acknowledged, albeit with restrictions attached, paving the way for the more effective defence of the rights and interests of European citizens before the Court of Justice.
RIGHT OF PETITION AND THE OMBUDSMAN: Article 8d of the Union Treaty stipulates that every citizen of the Union shall have the right to petition Parliament and apply to the Ombudsman (*1.5.3.).
It also incorporates into the EC Treaty a new Article 138c which stipulates that Parliament may, at the request of a quarter of its Members, set up a temporary committee of inquiry to investigate, without prejudice to the powers conferred by this Treaty on other institutions or bodies, alleged contraventions or maladministration in the implementation of Community law.
On 17 December 1992 Parliament adopted a draft act establishing the procedures for exercising the right of inquiry, which its President then forwarded to the Council and Commission for approval. The draft act comprises nine articles which cover the setting up of committees of inquiry, their membership and operation, their powers, the taking of evidence, incompatibilities, the results of inquiries and implementing provisions.
The EP now has genuine legislative powers, can exert considerable influence through its resolutions, and has internal resources which enable it to implement proposals and reports whose importance has emerged over the years. OBJECTIVES OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the EP's initiatives seek to make the Community decision-making process more effective and more democratic, emphasizing that the Community institutional system is based on a dual legitimacy: that of the Council, which represents the Member States, and that of the EP, which is directly elected and represents European citizens.
As early as 1972, with a view to making good the democratic deficit the Vedel report highlighted the need to revamp the institutional workings of the Community, not least by increasing the EP's powers. This report led to the EP being granted new budgetary powers and gave rise to the Joint Declaration on the conciliation procedure issued in 1975 by the EP and the Council.
In 1984 two EP initiatives led to the Community setting itself new objectives. Firstly, the Spinelli report pointed up the need to complete the internal market. Secondly, on 9 April 1984 the EP adopted a resolution calling on the Commission to submit a corresponding programme to the Council.
These EP initiatives prompted the Commission to submit a programme, known as the White Paper, setting out proposals for the completion of the internal market by 1 January 1993. Following the submission of the White Paper, the Member States signed the Single Act, which also incorporated provisions covering interinstitutional relations.
In a resolution of 11 July 1990 the EP continued this approach by undertaking to put forward, prior to each intergovernmental conference, proposals to amend the Treaty pursuant to the powers conferred on it by Article 236.
A further EP resolution adopted on 11 December 1990 laid down the basis for the separation of powers between the Community and the Member States, i.e. a union based on the principle of subsidiarity. This principle now forms one of the pillars of the Treaty on European Union signed in Maastricht in February 1992 (*1.1.4.) which entered into force on 1 November 1993.
In addition, on 13 December 1990 the EP adopted a resolution setting out the institutional changes needed to ensure the effective, democratic functioning of the Community.
Finally, on 17 May 1991 the first interinstitutional conference bringing together the Foreign Ministers of the Twelve, an equal number of Members of the EP and the Commission was held in Strasbourg.
On the other hand, the new legislative and supervisory powers conferred on the EP by the Treaty on European Union make it a full partner in the Community decision-making process. From now on, the EP will play its role upstream from Community decisions, i.e. when it puts forward blueprints for institutional change (in addition to its day-to-day work drawing up reports), but also downstream from them, enacting legislation.
Finally, despite the improvements in interinstitutional relations in the Community brought about by the Treaty on European Union, the EP must continue to devise and propose measures designed to eliminate the democratic deficit in the European Community.
OBJECTIVES: to empower the EP to authorize each year expenditure covered by revenue which is no longer subject to parliamentary control in the Member States.
ACHIEVEMENTS: by virtue of its budgetary powers, the EP is required to determine the nature of the expenditure, to establish the annual amount of such expenditure and the revenue necessary to cover it, and to exercise control over the implementation of the budget. An appraisal of the powers vested in the EP with regard to the preparation and adoption of the budget is given below. The above-mentioned articles lay down each and every step of the budgetary procedure. The provisions they embody have not, however, always been the same. Before 1970, the EP was simply consulted on the draft budget adopted by the Council. If modifications were proposed by the EP, the Council was obliged to give the budget a second reading before finally adopting it. Since the entry into force of the Treaties amending Certain Budgetary and Financial Provisions of the Treaties of 22 April 1970 and 22 July 1975, the powers of the EP have been progressively extended. The budgetary procedure consists of the following five stages:
This distinction between CE and NCE has the effect of limiting the EP's budgetary powers.
As far as compulsory expenditure is concerned, the EP may only propose modifications to the Council. The latter always acts on these proposals by a qualified majority, though the conditions vary according to whether or not the proposed modifications would increase the overall expenditure of any of the institutions. Thus:
As far as non-compulsory expenditure is concerned, the EP certainly has the power to make amendments, but the extent to which it can do so is restricted by an annual maximum rate of increase. The EP's margin of manoeuvre entitles it to add to the draft budget adopted by the Council an amount in NCE equivalent to half the annual rate of increase. In practice, the application of this rate has proved to be extremely complicated and, very often, because of the rapid increase in Community expenditure, the budgetary authority - the EP and the Council - is very often faced with a budget well above the ceiling obtained by the application of this rate, so that the EP and the Council have to agree on a new rate. The ruling of the Court of Justice in Case 34/86 (Council v EP concerning the 1986 budget) laid particular emphasis on the obligation to reach an agreement. A unilateral declaration by one arm of the budgetary authority is unacceptable and the budgetary procedure cannot be closed without agreement having been reached.
Generally speaking, then, budgetary decisions have to be taken jointly by the Council and the EP, although the latter plays the dominant role. On completion of the procedure the EP adopts the budget and its President declares that it has been finally adopted. The Treaty of 22 July 1975 confers on the EP the express right, under the provisions of paragraph 8 of the above-mentioned articles, to reject the draft budget drawn up by the Council in its entirety if there are important reasons, and ask for a new draft to be submitted to it.
The application of Article 203 EEC, which deals with the budgetary procedure, has given rise to a number of problems. Since 1978, the EP and the Council have clashed in every annual budget debate, both for political reasons and in respect of the legal interpretation of the provisions of the article. In June 1982, at the EP's request, the two arms of the budgetary authority adopted a joint declaration on various measures to improve the budgetary procedure. This declaration proposed that existing expenditure be classified into CE and NCE item by item, and laid down a procedure for classifying new expenditure. It also proposed an interpretation of the provisions of Article 203 on the rate of increase in non-compulsory expenditure and on the application of the rate to commitment appropriations, payment appropriations and supplementary and amending budgets.
Lastly, the joint declaration tends to diminish the importance of the EP's margin for manoeuvre in favour of a more flexible conception of relations between the budgetary and legislative authorities. On the one hand, the fixing of ceilings by regulation is regarded as something to be avoided; on the other, the budgetary authority may initiate new expenditure through the budget.
Compulsory expenditure currently accounts for some 62% of the budget. Basically, it includes:
Discussions are currently under way in the EC on whether a meaningful distinction can still be made between compulsory and non-compulsory expenditure, particularly in the light of the financial provisions of the interinstitutional agreement and its five-year financial perspective.