1° TOTAL FILE
martedì 9 dicembre 2025 22:11
We’ll study the UE from a LEGAL POV
EU is the law, EU’s core is the law-> EU= legal system = values, principles which are shared among the members.
The EU has developed through the adoption of law. The original Treaty has created institutions and bodies that are based on law.
Since the law is the basis of the EU and of what it does -> the EU has been considered as a NORMATIVE POWER: its power and authority is exercised by the law.
The UE strength is to be a normative power.
The 2 elements for the EU to be a normative power:
the attention and the support of MULTILATERALISM
○ The EU has been active in multilateral form for the protection of rights, human issues, … -> to have a good reputation, the EU must be aligned with multilateralism.
○ Most of the time, the EU was not be able to reinforce the law externally, but it must be internal with values and multilateralism.
COHERENCE
It means Guidelines: The EU must be coherent. There must be a coherent relationship between what it does inside and externally.
It means Values + principles + rule of law have to be claimed/ requested in the same way in different situations.
In the past years, the EU has not addressed what is happening outside its borders (Gaza, Russia) -> so it’s not coherent + UE has forgotten what is a cordial asset: why do we
have the EU?
SCHUMAN DECLARATION on 9th May 1951 (EU day)
Monnet was Schuman’s inspiration.
The EU integration process has started with one object in mind: to achieve PEACE through “creative actions”, so the law has to be creative.
The EU law displayed fantasy and creativity -> Monnet and Schuman had a VISION. This created efforts that were put in place by the 6 States founders who achieved peace
among them. It appeared to be unthinkable to have a war among the members.
What the EU had failed to achieve is PEACE OUTSIDE in the world: it was impossible to achieve that, but at least it could have worked harder with all the instruments in order to
achieve peace in its borders.
We need to look at the action of the EU with a critical view/ approach: try to understand what the EU has done, how it has evolved, how it has betrayed its values.
• The EU should go back to being creative, go back to being a normative power -> that’s because the EU is losing its reputation and it’s starting to be helpless and to be
considered as an enemy, losing its consideration and authority.
• The EU is trying for many years to work in the Israeli-Palestine case with his authority, but it is also using the peace in a rhetorical and ironic way.
Army: is a question of priorities of the EU and the member States, the way the EU is behaving is wrong because there are differences between the amount of money States are
putting in this field, there will be an imbalance (some States are more financially capable than others) -> The EU is doing this in a 27 different ways.
Until now, the army is a matter of a single State without cooperation.
UE could try not to transform itself into an army organ.
The US has a big influence in the EU through NATO: for a lot of time the UE has relied on NATO.
Trade is an exclusive power of the EU.
Russia vs Ukraine war: Sanctions have proven to not be useful against Russia.
It’s better to start compromise and continue to have contacts; stop conquering the situation, but align with Russia. Sanctions required unanimity of all States.
HISTORY OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
History and its evolution.
The EU is based on its legal system (foundation) and its evolving nature (it's not static) -> it’s an evolution that has been and is going to be long.
If we look at the INTENTION of our Father Founders the direction of this evolution should have been a FEDERATION of the EU.
• The EU is not yet a Federation in a sense of Federal State, but it has many elements of a Federation (federal law).
• THe EU is an international subject, but it is not a Federal State.
The Lisbon Treaty (2007-2009) marked a big change in the pillars of UE due to the moment. It’s the version of the founding Treaties that are now in force.
In 2021-2022, the EU launched a Conference on the Future of the EU. The Conference was a sort of survey of the perspectives of European citizens on the future of the EU: a lot
of interventions by States, institutions and private citizens.
The need for a further evolution of the structure of the EU is a PRESENT MATTER in the institutions and in the European citizens.
The UE that is known today, will change in the future years not only from a legal pov, but also from the pov of memberships -> this will change the number, the quality, the
cultures and languages of the UE members.
EURO-ATLANTIC AND COOPERATION ORGANIZATIONS
After the 2WW, the EU created other institutions. It was a difficult period for Europe (devastated country also from the moral pov with the Holocaust). There was a need for
actions, to stabilize Europe and to build new institutions.
1. From the military alignments there was NATO (1949): 32 members of which 23 European member States.
2. From the economical pov there was OECD (=Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) in 1960. After OECD =Organization for European Economic
Cooperation, founded in 1948.
Council of Europe (1949) = regional international organization competent in the field of human rights through the elaboration and the approval of Conventions about
human culture -> the European Convention of human rights it’s the most important and the Court of Justice refers to this in its works.
○ This is separate from the European Council .
○ In the framework of the Council of Europe, the European Convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms was adopted in 1950, 46
members including all European member States.
3. OSCE (=Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe) with 57 members. It’s the political side of cooperation. The origin of this organization is the Conference in
Helsinki (1975) (global security) -> important Conference which brought together all the actors of European security to discuss of security in terms of integrated security
(=security for ALL THE MEMBERS and it should involve EVERYTHING: so all the elements that are able to bring people together in order to enhance security).
○ When the Russia-Ukraine war started, important figures like our President Mattarella recalled the Helsinki Conference in order to remember the idea of security.
Since it was successful, other Conferences made OSCE a permanent organization to monitor all the situations which could have been a menace to international security.
THE SCHUMAN DECLARATION, 9 MAY 1950
Important document that marks the birth of EU integration. From this document all the progress started.
It contains the seeds for the most important features of EU law. We found the main goals of the construction of European law, that it is PEACE among the States.
Schuman said: "La France doit servir la paix", "Solidarité du fait".
UE law and human rights Pagina 1
,Schuman said: "La France doit servir la paix", "Solidarité du fait".
TEXT delivered by Schuman
The first lines celebrate the France role and its "grandeur". Schuman has creative solutions.
Schuman explains his idea of Europe to its partners.
He describes the historical wars between France and Germany -> many of the conflicts in Europe derive from wars between Germany and France,which are conflicts with a lot
of historical reasons.
Since Germany was divided in 2 blocks, Schuman was try to address the conflict not from a political approach (because it was difficult), but his proposal was a PRACTICAL and
CONCRETE proposal -> try to remove the conflicts through small achievements: a strategic sector of economy (of that time) -> the heavy industry of COAL AND STEEL.
• It was strategic for the military industry
Schuman had the objective to create a coal and steel Community that was devoted to a peaceful goal in order to reduce the production of weapons and ammunition from
which they were the victims (idea of disarming).
France and the other European powers had the fear of a possible armed and geographically hegemony over control of Europe by Germany.
THE GEOGRAPHIC DIMENSION:
The Schuman proposal: original map attached to the document.
Triangle is the coal and steel industry (where the iron mines were). Those areas have
always been historically disputed between France and Germany.
Hotspots of Franco-German discord: distribution of the relevant area.
The Schuman proposal has a strategic meaning for the industry involved and also for the
geographic area.
His idea was: reduce the power of Germany + reduce the potential for geographic conflicts
Solidarity was for him working together in working in this strategic industry
This is the beginning of the common trade policy. The production that will come from this common management of resources will be placed in the common trade market.
African continent: many EU countries still had colonies in Africa (in the 60es decolonization was beginning to start): France was one of these countries with many colonies. They
had a program for these institutions to maintain a control and a privilege relation.
DESTINATION that Schuman indicated: European federation
ROLE that Schuman indicated: start step by step unifying sectors and activities.
Emmanuel Kant wrote "For perpetual peace" -> this work is about how to achieve perpetual peace: in order to achieve peace, the final goal is to have a FEDERATION (union of
States), States must be united in good faith, without second thoughts.
Hans Kelsen analysed the system of international law: the origin of the legal system is PACTA SUNT SERVANDA (=treaties agreements must be respected).
The elements introduced:
a. free movement of goods= States will put together the management of the production and the resulting products will be free from custom duties in the borders.
b. equal conditions of workers.
The PRACTICAL PROPOSAL used to create all of these constructions is the TREATY as the source of international law that comes from the agreements of the States that ratify
it. The original source and the origin of all the integration are the treaties.
Schuman wanted to create CREATIVE solutions for the moment that had failed: "creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it".
Core of the proposal from the legal pov (the creative actions and innovations of Schuman):
1. INDEPENDENCE of the members of this High Authority: States will be independent and their presence in the High Authority will be based on their competences in the
management of the industry; so independence detached from the representation of the States; the States of the High Authority don’t have to represent the interests of
the States and they have to represent the general interests of the Community;
2. BINDING (=vincolante) EFFECT: the Authority will have the power to make binding decisions for the members; these decisions will be enforceable in France, Germany and
other member countries;
+ DIRECT EFFECT: the acts that are decided at European level are directly enforced inside the legal system of the States without the need to any actions of other subjects
of the States;
3. JUDICIAL REVIEW: all that system builded must respect the feature of the rule of laws (respect of the legal rights and obligations).
UE law and human rights Pagina 2
,High Authority (future Commission) as an independent body that is separated from the national legislation (so separated from the control of the national government and
Parliament). It has the power to adopt acts that directly affect citizens.
Final Provision: "The institution of the high authority will in no way prejudge the methods of ownership of enterprises" -> the problem with ownership is the private one, it was
common to nationalize the public ownerships (services).
THE EFFECTS OF THE SCHUMAN DECLARATION
The next year 1951 there was the adoption of the treaty establishing: ECSC (=European Coal and Steel Community; CECA) is the implementation of the Schuman
proposal, with the participation of 6 members, which lasted for 50 years, it expired in 2001. Now its competencies are transferred to the EU.
1954: EDC (= European Defence Community; CED): they tried to put together the military and defence field in order to have a single military system. It failed because the
French Parliament didn't ratify it. Creating a federal defence system was for the 1st time discussed. Members showed that they were not ready to put together their
national power and to give up their SOVEREIGNITY in this sector. A sector that is too close to the sovereignty of a country.
EU States started to go in an opposite direction: the Federation starts with putting together the governments and especially the security, defence and external
sovereignty -> the Europeans were not ready and they wanted to still have the control.
3. 1957: Rome EEC (=European Economic Community)/ EURATOM (=atomic energy): the EEC started establish the European common market which extend the idea of ECSC to
all the other economy, the objectives to achieve was the 4 FREEDOMS:
1. Free movement of workers,
2. Free movement of goods,
3. Free movement of services,
4. Free movement of capitals
4 accompanying policies of the European common market:
1. Agriculture
2. Trade: the products have to be placed on the international trade common market
3. Transport: there have to be no discriminations for the transport of goods across EU
4. Competition: = policy that regulates the behaviours on the market in order to remove unfair actions (avoid the creation of a cartel, avoid the abuse by undertaking a
dominant position in the market). If the State intervenes in the market in a specific sector it may alter the system, so States are not present in the market.
60es PERIOD
- Good period of development -> 60es-70es good also from an economical perspective.
- In 1961: Treaty that unified the institutions, but still they were regulated by 3 different Treaties.
- The EU established the custom union = the abolition of boarders barriers/duties on the trade inside the 6 members to establish the common market (it required time). At
the end of the 60es almost all barriers were removed.
70es PERIOD
- Negative shock and crises
a. In 1971, the gold exchange standard collapsed; the US government convert dollar in gold, so keep a fixed conversion rate between gold and dollars; in 1944, in
Bretton Woods there was the establishment of the IMF (International monetary fund) which had 2 tasks:
1) to manage the fix exchange of currencies system of the member States based on gold and dollar; Nixon stopped this commitment because it was not
convenient/sustainable for the US. At that point the IMF was not able to guarantee fixed exchange rates between the States;
2) to help member States who are in a situation of imbalance on budget.
- The Community had established the common market, but it didn't managed the financial issued and currencies. So when the Bretton Woods system collapse, also all
the currencies of the European members started to fluctuate freely according to market with a lot of imbalances inside the common market. The problem was
solved with the creation of €.
b. In 1973, there was the petrol shock because of the wars in the Middle East which led to a reduction of the petrol oil export and oil crises. Europeans needed oil for
everything -> This created other imbalances in the EU market.
At the time the EU institutions were aware of the fact that their Community was risking to collapse because the members States started to react to the crises on their own, the
idea of SOLIDARITY (Schuman) lasted during the good years (60es) and immediately collapsed (70es).
The Commission authorised the member State to use of some safe guards clauses (emergency safe guards) to protect and save the system.
2 achievements
- 1978-1979: European monetary system= sort of a reproduction of the Bretton Woods system, it's a creation of a connection between the currencies of the member
States (it was using the ECU= European Currency Unit). So the member States maintained their own currency, but they also limited the fluctuation of the exchange rates
of currencies in order to stabilize the market.
- 1779: constitutional-political-democratic development with the 1st direct election of the European Parliament and for the 1st time in an organization of regional
integration there is an institutions that is directly elected by the citizens. Until that time, the EU Parliament was a Parliament Assembly. It was an important moment
because:
○ It has a democratic significance which create the confidence that the EU could be more than an economic institution. This seems to be a huge step to a federation.
There was an high participation of citizens;
○ The newly elected Parliament considered itself to be democratically legitimate to act derived from the people.
80es PERIOD
1984: Spinelli Project
Spinelli was one of the figures that was acting in favour of a Federal Europe.
He thought that the Parliament democratic legitimation that came from the direct election also gave the Parliament a constitute role: according to Spinelli, the Parliament was
the ONLY institution that could create a Federation of Europe.
His project was for a new Treaty founding the EU with an enlargement of the Parliament legislative power (the Parliament only had consultative powers) + expansion of the
subjects that were under the EU legislative power including POLITICAL COOPERATION, so Spinelli address the reinforce of the role of the European Counsil as a place to find
common ground decisions.
It was not taken into consideration, but many of Spinelli's ideas were used after. But it was the manifestation of the role that the Parliament should have.
Election of a new President of the Commission: Delors -> one of the Fathers of the EU integration.
- He proposed to the member States to reform the Treaties. The crises of the 70es has weakened the common market, so there was a need to complete the market. The
crises also demonstrated the weakens of foreign policy of EU, so the impossibility of the States to express a common position.
- He put the 2 things together. At the first stage of negotiations, there were 2 inter-governmental Conferences:
1st Conference
- The 1st issue was on the market
- He proposed that the idea of the common market did evoke something that still had a separation, "common" means that there were distinct markets unified with
differences -> he proposed a new definition which was INTERNAL or SINGLE MARKET (not "common" anymore): create a market unified (just 1 market) that has to be as
similar as possible to an internal market, and not to an international market -> through:
○ The abolition of the remain barriers and the facilitating move of services and capital;
The creation of new policies related to the internal market like the environmental policy: the biggest issues was that the respect of environmental standards was
UE law and human rights Pagina 3
, ○ The creation of new policies related to the internal market like the environmental policy: the biggest issues was that the respect of environmental standards was
pricy. There was a serious commitment between States on this topic;
○ The increase of the qualify majority decisions making system and the increase the balance of power in the Parliament.
2nd Conference
- The other issue was the European cooperation in foreign policy
- Delors proposed to codified it: write articles in a Treaty in order to create a framework for cooperation in the field of foreign policy. This cooperation has to take place in
an inter-governmental level with meetings of the representants of the foreign policy of States.
- There was no obligations to create a common foreign policy, but there was a framework to discuss decisions. All decisions had to been taken by unanimity.
- There was a separation of competences between the European political cooperation and all the other fields of action of the Community.
At the end they unified the Conferences and created a single Treaty: 1986 -> The European Single Act (=ESA) = treaty that has 2 parts:
a. 1st one is a revision of the old Treaties
b. 2nd one is on the foreign policy: we don't have the member States anymore, but we have the High contractive parties (?) and the procedures are all on an intern-
governmental level -> so based on the agreements among the member States.
1985: Schengen Treaty: at that time it was an external agreement between a group of 5 States, and not connected to the Community.
The Schengen system is based on 2 agreements:
1. General Agreement 1985
2. Operative Agreement 1991
Idea behind Schengen: reproduce for individuals the same mechanism that function for goods, so the abolition of all borders control for people among States. Up to that time
there was the free movement of people across EU, but physically when they cross the borders, they still had to be controlled.
So people should be free to cross the borders without being check.
- Idea to abolish all borders controls on people INSIDE the EU's borders;
- Create a common system of borders' control on the EXTERNAL borders.
It all worked with the SIS (=Schengen Information System) = system to share personal date of all citizens of EU countries that can create a red flag for certain subjects like
terrorists, criminals, …
Italy had to delay its entry in Schengen because it was not able to put a system like this in place.
Historical context of the period:
a. Fall of Berlin's wall
b. Dissolution of URSS
c. Unification of Germany
○ The unification of Germany scared other members for the risk of a German hegemony. The Europeans wanted to create a stronger binding commitment for
Germany inside the European integration, it meant a stronger European foreign policy and the organization for the prospect of the biggest enlargement in the EU
(States that were under the Soviet Union control started to ask to be part of EU and the membership -> EU create a cooperation agreement with those States).
The unification of Germany required an enforcement of the political cooperation in foreign policy, while the prospect of the enlargement required an enforcement
of the institutions to work well.
1992: Maastricht Treaty
It marks the BIRTH OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Maastricht structure is complicated and not efficient, so the need to further reforms arose immediately.
Temple structure, 3 pillars:
- Upper part: common provisions for all members (principles, objectives, institutions … all elements
common among States)
- 1st pillar: European communities (EEC, EURATOM,ECSC) -> supernational community level
- 2nd pillar: common security and defence policy -> inter-governmental framework, but more
integrated among the States)
- 3rd pillar: police and judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters -> inter-governmental with
some community elements
- Base: common and final provisions about ratification, modification, acceptation of new members
REFORM PROCESS
1997 Amsterdam Treaty:
The institutions started to accept many new States; it was clear that the reforms introduced with Maastricht were not sufficient in order to guarantee a sufficient functioning of
the institutions with a large number of member States; things needed to be reform in order to function.
Amsterdam Treaty introduced some adjustments, among them the most important thing is the Enhanced cooperation= one of the methods for cooperation in the EU with a
large number of member State; a large number of members make it more difficult to involve everyone and give space and voice. So it was the possibility for a limited number
of States to go on with the integration without the participation of everyone -> it's a deeper cooperation.
The Schengen was exactly this because it was an external agreement in which not all the member States participated.
The Schengen aquis was included in the Ams Treaty as an enhanced cooperation because not all members participated to that cooperation.
2001 Nice Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights
Treaty with limited reforms.
The Conference of Nice made official the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Charter that had been written by a Convention that it's an Assembly of individuals that were members of the EU institutions (Commission, Court of Justice, Parliament +
experts/judges of the European Court of Human Rights). The Convention worked on the elaboration of a catalogue of rights for European citizens.
EU members took the commitment to consider the Charter of Fundamental rights: States will not adopt laws against the Charter.
2001 Laeken Declaration on the Future of Europe
REFORM PROCESS
The Amsterdam and the Nice treaties were just small compromises and not sufficient to address the huge enlargement; there was a need for a shift in perspectives and a new
push for integration. This started with the Laeken Declaration on the future of Europe in 2001.
- It was the period of international crises like the attack on the twin towers and the Pentagon in the US <- a few week after that, the Laeken EU Counsil adopted this
Declaration = it was, at the same time, a celebration of the success achieved by the EU integration and an acknowledgement of the changing climate on an international
level.
LAEKEN DECLARATION
UE law and human rights Pagina 4
martedì 9 dicembre 2025 22:11
We’ll study the UE from a LEGAL POV
EU is the law, EU’s core is the law-> EU= legal system = values, principles which are shared among the members.
The EU has developed through the adoption of law. The original Treaty has created institutions and bodies that are based on law.
Since the law is the basis of the EU and of what it does -> the EU has been considered as a NORMATIVE POWER: its power and authority is exercised by the law.
The UE strength is to be a normative power.
The 2 elements for the EU to be a normative power:
the attention and the support of MULTILATERALISM
○ The EU has been active in multilateral form for the protection of rights, human issues, … -> to have a good reputation, the EU must be aligned with multilateralism.
○ Most of the time, the EU was not be able to reinforce the law externally, but it must be internal with values and multilateralism.
COHERENCE
It means Guidelines: The EU must be coherent. There must be a coherent relationship between what it does inside and externally.
It means Values + principles + rule of law have to be claimed/ requested in the same way in different situations.
In the past years, the EU has not addressed what is happening outside its borders (Gaza, Russia) -> so it’s not coherent + UE has forgotten what is a cordial asset: why do we
have the EU?
SCHUMAN DECLARATION on 9th May 1951 (EU day)
Monnet was Schuman’s inspiration.
The EU integration process has started with one object in mind: to achieve PEACE through “creative actions”, so the law has to be creative.
The EU law displayed fantasy and creativity -> Monnet and Schuman had a VISION. This created efforts that were put in place by the 6 States founders who achieved peace
among them. It appeared to be unthinkable to have a war among the members.
What the EU had failed to achieve is PEACE OUTSIDE in the world: it was impossible to achieve that, but at least it could have worked harder with all the instruments in order to
achieve peace in its borders.
We need to look at the action of the EU with a critical view/ approach: try to understand what the EU has done, how it has evolved, how it has betrayed its values.
• The EU should go back to being creative, go back to being a normative power -> that’s because the EU is losing its reputation and it’s starting to be helpless and to be
considered as an enemy, losing its consideration and authority.
• The EU is trying for many years to work in the Israeli-Palestine case with his authority, but it is also using the peace in a rhetorical and ironic way.
Army: is a question of priorities of the EU and the member States, the way the EU is behaving is wrong because there are differences between the amount of money States are
putting in this field, there will be an imbalance (some States are more financially capable than others) -> The EU is doing this in a 27 different ways.
Until now, the army is a matter of a single State without cooperation.
UE could try not to transform itself into an army organ.
The US has a big influence in the EU through NATO: for a lot of time the UE has relied on NATO.
Trade is an exclusive power of the EU.
Russia vs Ukraine war: Sanctions have proven to not be useful against Russia.
It’s better to start compromise and continue to have contacts; stop conquering the situation, but align with Russia. Sanctions required unanimity of all States.
HISTORY OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
History and its evolution.
The EU is based on its legal system (foundation) and its evolving nature (it's not static) -> it’s an evolution that has been and is going to be long.
If we look at the INTENTION of our Father Founders the direction of this evolution should have been a FEDERATION of the EU.
• The EU is not yet a Federation in a sense of Federal State, but it has many elements of a Federation (federal law).
• THe EU is an international subject, but it is not a Federal State.
The Lisbon Treaty (2007-2009) marked a big change in the pillars of UE due to the moment. It’s the version of the founding Treaties that are now in force.
In 2021-2022, the EU launched a Conference on the Future of the EU. The Conference was a sort of survey of the perspectives of European citizens on the future of the EU: a lot
of interventions by States, institutions and private citizens.
The need for a further evolution of the structure of the EU is a PRESENT MATTER in the institutions and in the European citizens.
The UE that is known today, will change in the future years not only from a legal pov, but also from the pov of memberships -> this will change the number, the quality, the
cultures and languages of the UE members.
EURO-ATLANTIC AND COOPERATION ORGANIZATIONS
After the 2WW, the EU created other institutions. It was a difficult period for Europe (devastated country also from the moral pov with the Holocaust). There was a need for
actions, to stabilize Europe and to build new institutions.
1. From the military alignments there was NATO (1949): 32 members of which 23 European member States.
2. From the economical pov there was OECD (=Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) in 1960. After OECD =Organization for European Economic
Cooperation, founded in 1948.
Council of Europe (1949) = regional international organization competent in the field of human rights through the elaboration and the approval of Conventions about
human culture -> the European Convention of human rights it’s the most important and the Court of Justice refers to this in its works.
○ This is separate from the European Council .
○ In the framework of the Council of Europe, the European Convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms was adopted in 1950, 46
members including all European member States.
3. OSCE (=Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe) with 57 members. It’s the political side of cooperation. The origin of this organization is the Conference in
Helsinki (1975) (global security) -> important Conference which brought together all the actors of European security to discuss of security in terms of integrated security
(=security for ALL THE MEMBERS and it should involve EVERYTHING: so all the elements that are able to bring people together in order to enhance security).
○ When the Russia-Ukraine war started, important figures like our President Mattarella recalled the Helsinki Conference in order to remember the idea of security.
Since it was successful, other Conferences made OSCE a permanent organization to monitor all the situations which could have been a menace to international security.
THE SCHUMAN DECLARATION, 9 MAY 1950
Important document that marks the birth of EU integration. From this document all the progress started.
It contains the seeds for the most important features of EU law. We found the main goals of the construction of European law, that it is PEACE among the States.
Schuman said: "La France doit servir la paix", "Solidarité du fait".
UE law and human rights Pagina 1
,Schuman said: "La France doit servir la paix", "Solidarité du fait".
TEXT delivered by Schuman
The first lines celebrate the France role and its "grandeur". Schuman has creative solutions.
Schuman explains his idea of Europe to its partners.
He describes the historical wars between France and Germany -> many of the conflicts in Europe derive from wars between Germany and France,which are conflicts with a lot
of historical reasons.
Since Germany was divided in 2 blocks, Schuman was try to address the conflict not from a political approach (because it was difficult), but his proposal was a PRACTICAL and
CONCRETE proposal -> try to remove the conflicts through small achievements: a strategic sector of economy (of that time) -> the heavy industry of COAL AND STEEL.
• It was strategic for the military industry
Schuman had the objective to create a coal and steel Community that was devoted to a peaceful goal in order to reduce the production of weapons and ammunition from
which they were the victims (idea of disarming).
France and the other European powers had the fear of a possible armed and geographically hegemony over control of Europe by Germany.
THE GEOGRAPHIC DIMENSION:
The Schuman proposal: original map attached to the document.
Triangle is the coal and steel industry (where the iron mines were). Those areas have
always been historically disputed between France and Germany.
Hotspots of Franco-German discord: distribution of the relevant area.
The Schuman proposal has a strategic meaning for the industry involved and also for the
geographic area.
His idea was: reduce the power of Germany + reduce the potential for geographic conflicts
Solidarity was for him working together in working in this strategic industry
This is the beginning of the common trade policy. The production that will come from this common management of resources will be placed in the common trade market.
African continent: many EU countries still had colonies in Africa (in the 60es decolonization was beginning to start): France was one of these countries with many colonies. They
had a program for these institutions to maintain a control and a privilege relation.
DESTINATION that Schuman indicated: European federation
ROLE that Schuman indicated: start step by step unifying sectors and activities.
Emmanuel Kant wrote "For perpetual peace" -> this work is about how to achieve perpetual peace: in order to achieve peace, the final goal is to have a FEDERATION (union of
States), States must be united in good faith, without second thoughts.
Hans Kelsen analysed the system of international law: the origin of the legal system is PACTA SUNT SERVANDA (=treaties agreements must be respected).
The elements introduced:
a. free movement of goods= States will put together the management of the production and the resulting products will be free from custom duties in the borders.
b. equal conditions of workers.
The PRACTICAL PROPOSAL used to create all of these constructions is the TREATY as the source of international law that comes from the agreements of the States that ratify
it. The original source and the origin of all the integration are the treaties.
Schuman wanted to create CREATIVE solutions for the moment that had failed: "creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it".
Core of the proposal from the legal pov (the creative actions and innovations of Schuman):
1. INDEPENDENCE of the members of this High Authority: States will be independent and their presence in the High Authority will be based on their competences in the
management of the industry; so independence detached from the representation of the States; the States of the High Authority don’t have to represent the interests of
the States and they have to represent the general interests of the Community;
2. BINDING (=vincolante) EFFECT: the Authority will have the power to make binding decisions for the members; these decisions will be enforceable in France, Germany and
other member countries;
+ DIRECT EFFECT: the acts that are decided at European level are directly enforced inside the legal system of the States without the need to any actions of other subjects
of the States;
3. JUDICIAL REVIEW: all that system builded must respect the feature of the rule of laws (respect of the legal rights and obligations).
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,High Authority (future Commission) as an independent body that is separated from the national legislation (so separated from the control of the national government and
Parliament). It has the power to adopt acts that directly affect citizens.
Final Provision: "The institution of the high authority will in no way prejudge the methods of ownership of enterprises" -> the problem with ownership is the private one, it was
common to nationalize the public ownerships (services).
THE EFFECTS OF THE SCHUMAN DECLARATION
The next year 1951 there was the adoption of the treaty establishing: ECSC (=European Coal and Steel Community; CECA) is the implementation of the Schuman
proposal, with the participation of 6 members, which lasted for 50 years, it expired in 2001. Now its competencies are transferred to the EU.
1954: EDC (= European Defence Community; CED): they tried to put together the military and defence field in order to have a single military system. It failed because the
French Parliament didn't ratify it. Creating a federal defence system was for the 1st time discussed. Members showed that they were not ready to put together their
national power and to give up their SOVEREIGNITY in this sector. A sector that is too close to the sovereignty of a country.
EU States started to go in an opposite direction: the Federation starts with putting together the governments and especially the security, defence and external
sovereignty -> the Europeans were not ready and they wanted to still have the control.
3. 1957: Rome EEC (=European Economic Community)/ EURATOM (=atomic energy): the EEC started establish the European common market which extend the idea of ECSC to
all the other economy, the objectives to achieve was the 4 FREEDOMS:
1. Free movement of workers,
2. Free movement of goods,
3. Free movement of services,
4. Free movement of capitals
4 accompanying policies of the European common market:
1. Agriculture
2. Trade: the products have to be placed on the international trade common market
3. Transport: there have to be no discriminations for the transport of goods across EU
4. Competition: = policy that regulates the behaviours on the market in order to remove unfair actions (avoid the creation of a cartel, avoid the abuse by undertaking a
dominant position in the market). If the State intervenes in the market in a specific sector it may alter the system, so States are not present in the market.
60es PERIOD
- Good period of development -> 60es-70es good also from an economical perspective.
- In 1961: Treaty that unified the institutions, but still they were regulated by 3 different Treaties.
- The EU established the custom union = the abolition of boarders barriers/duties on the trade inside the 6 members to establish the common market (it required time). At
the end of the 60es almost all barriers were removed.
70es PERIOD
- Negative shock and crises
a. In 1971, the gold exchange standard collapsed; the US government convert dollar in gold, so keep a fixed conversion rate between gold and dollars; in 1944, in
Bretton Woods there was the establishment of the IMF (International monetary fund) which had 2 tasks:
1) to manage the fix exchange of currencies system of the member States based on gold and dollar; Nixon stopped this commitment because it was not
convenient/sustainable for the US. At that point the IMF was not able to guarantee fixed exchange rates between the States;
2) to help member States who are in a situation of imbalance on budget.
- The Community had established the common market, but it didn't managed the financial issued and currencies. So when the Bretton Woods system collapse, also all
the currencies of the European members started to fluctuate freely according to market with a lot of imbalances inside the common market. The problem was
solved with the creation of €.
b. In 1973, there was the petrol shock because of the wars in the Middle East which led to a reduction of the petrol oil export and oil crises. Europeans needed oil for
everything -> This created other imbalances in the EU market.
At the time the EU institutions were aware of the fact that their Community was risking to collapse because the members States started to react to the crises on their own, the
idea of SOLIDARITY (Schuman) lasted during the good years (60es) and immediately collapsed (70es).
The Commission authorised the member State to use of some safe guards clauses (emergency safe guards) to protect and save the system.
2 achievements
- 1978-1979: European monetary system= sort of a reproduction of the Bretton Woods system, it's a creation of a connection between the currencies of the member
States (it was using the ECU= European Currency Unit). So the member States maintained their own currency, but they also limited the fluctuation of the exchange rates
of currencies in order to stabilize the market.
- 1779: constitutional-political-democratic development with the 1st direct election of the European Parliament and for the 1st time in an organization of regional
integration there is an institutions that is directly elected by the citizens. Until that time, the EU Parliament was a Parliament Assembly. It was an important moment
because:
○ It has a democratic significance which create the confidence that the EU could be more than an economic institution. This seems to be a huge step to a federation.
There was an high participation of citizens;
○ The newly elected Parliament considered itself to be democratically legitimate to act derived from the people.
80es PERIOD
1984: Spinelli Project
Spinelli was one of the figures that was acting in favour of a Federal Europe.
He thought that the Parliament democratic legitimation that came from the direct election also gave the Parliament a constitute role: according to Spinelli, the Parliament was
the ONLY institution that could create a Federation of Europe.
His project was for a new Treaty founding the EU with an enlargement of the Parliament legislative power (the Parliament only had consultative powers) + expansion of the
subjects that were under the EU legislative power including POLITICAL COOPERATION, so Spinelli address the reinforce of the role of the European Counsil as a place to find
common ground decisions.
It was not taken into consideration, but many of Spinelli's ideas were used after. But it was the manifestation of the role that the Parliament should have.
Election of a new President of the Commission: Delors -> one of the Fathers of the EU integration.
- He proposed to the member States to reform the Treaties. The crises of the 70es has weakened the common market, so there was a need to complete the market. The
crises also demonstrated the weakens of foreign policy of EU, so the impossibility of the States to express a common position.
- He put the 2 things together. At the first stage of negotiations, there were 2 inter-governmental Conferences:
1st Conference
- The 1st issue was on the market
- He proposed that the idea of the common market did evoke something that still had a separation, "common" means that there were distinct markets unified with
differences -> he proposed a new definition which was INTERNAL or SINGLE MARKET (not "common" anymore): create a market unified (just 1 market) that has to be as
similar as possible to an internal market, and not to an international market -> through:
○ The abolition of the remain barriers and the facilitating move of services and capital;
The creation of new policies related to the internal market like the environmental policy: the biggest issues was that the respect of environmental standards was
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, ○ The creation of new policies related to the internal market like the environmental policy: the biggest issues was that the respect of environmental standards was
pricy. There was a serious commitment between States on this topic;
○ The increase of the qualify majority decisions making system and the increase the balance of power in the Parliament.
2nd Conference
- The other issue was the European cooperation in foreign policy
- Delors proposed to codified it: write articles in a Treaty in order to create a framework for cooperation in the field of foreign policy. This cooperation has to take place in
an inter-governmental level with meetings of the representants of the foreign policy of States.
- There was no obligations to create a common foreign policy, but there was a framework to discuss decisions. All decisions had to been taken by unanimity.
- There was a separation of competences between the European political cooperation and all the other fields of action of the Community.
At the end they unified the Conferences and created a single Treaty: 1986 -> The European Single Act (=ESA) = treaty that has 2 parts:
a. 1st one is a revision of the old Treaties
b. 2nd one is on the foreign policy: we don't have the member States anymore, but we have the High contractive parties (?) and the procedures are all on an intern-
governmental level -> so based on the agreements among the member States.
1985: Schengen Treaty: at that time it was an external agreement between a group of 5 States, and not connected to the Community.
The Schengen system is based on 2 agreements:
1. General Agreement 1985
2. Operative Agreement 1991
Idea behind Schengen: reproduce for individuals the same mechanism that function for goods, so the abolition of all borders control for people among States. Up to that time
there was the free movement of people across EU, but physically when they cross the borders, they still had to be controlled.
So people should be free to cross the borders without being check.
- Idea to abolish all borders controls on people INSIDE the EU's borders;
- Create a common system of borders' control on the EXTERNAL borders.
It all worked with the SIS (=Schengen Information System) = system to share personal date of all citizens of EU countries that can create a red flag for certain subjects like
terrorists, criminals, …
Italy had to delay its entry in Schengen because it was not able to put a system like this in place.
Historical context of the period:
a. Fall of Berlin's wall
b. Dissolution of URSS
c. Unification of Germany
○ The unification of Germany scared other members for the risk of a German hegemony. The Europeans wanted to create a stronger binding commitment for
Germany inside the European integration, it meant a stronger European foreign policy and the organization for the prospect of the biggest enlargement in the EU
(States that were under the Soviet Union control started to ask to be part of EU and the membership -> EU create a cooperation agreement with those States).
The unification of Germany required an enforcement of the political cooperation in foreign policy, while the prospect of the enlargement required an enforcement
of the institutions to work well.
1992: Maastricht Treaty
It marks the BIRTH OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Maastricht structure is complicated and not efficient, so the need to further reforms arose immediately.
Temple structure, 3 pillars:
- Upper part: common provisions for all members (principles, objectives, institutions … all elements
common among States)
- 1st pillar: European communities (EEC, EURATOM,ECSC) -> supernational community level
- 2nd pillar: common security and defence policy -> inter-governmental framework, but more
integrated among the States)
- 3rd pillar: police and judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters -> inter-governmental with
some community elements
- Base: common and final provisions about ratification, modification, acceptation of new members
REFORM PROCESS
1997 Amsterdam Treaty:
The institutions started to accept many new States; it was clear that the reforms introduced with Maastricht were not sufficient in order to guarantee a sufficient functioning of
the institutions with a large number of member States; things needed to be reform in order to function.
Amsterdam Treaty introduced some adjustments, among them the most important thing is the Enhanced cooperation= one of the methods for cooperation in the EU with a
large number of member State; a large number of members make it more difficult to involve everyone and give space and voice. So it was the possibility for a limited number
of States to go on with the integration without the participation of everyone -> it's a deeper cooperation.
The Schengen was exactly this because it was an external agreement in which not all the member States participated.
The Schengen aquis was included in the Ams Treaty as an enhanced cooperation because not all members participated to that cooperation.
2001 Nice Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights
Treaty with limited reforms.
The Conference of Nice made official the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Charter that had been written by a Convention that it's an Assembly of individuals that were members of the EU institutions (Commission, Court of Justice, Parliament +
experts/judges of the European Court of Human Rights). The Convention worked on the elaboration of a catalogue of rights for European citizens.
EU members took the commitment to consider the Charter of Fundamental rights: States will not adopt laws against the Charter.
2001 Laeken Declaration on the Future of Europe
REFORM PROCESS
The Amsterdam and the Nice treaties were just small compromises and not sufficient to address the huge enlargement; there was a need for a shift in perspectives and a new
push for integration. This started with the Laeken Declaration on the future of Europe in 2001.
- It was the period of international crises like the attack on the twin towers and the Pentagon in the US <- a few week after that, the Laeken EU Counsil adopted this
Declaration = it was, at the same time, a celebration of the success achieved by the EU integration and an acknowledgement of the changing climate on an international
level.
LAEKEN DECLARATION
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