¿What is the EU? A political project A process... Something not yet finished... A common market...

¿What is the EU?• A political project

• A process...

• Something not yet finished...

• A common market

•1958 (6) 1973 (12) 1986 (15) 1994 (25) 2007 (27)

• A legal entity

• Less than a state,

• More than an international institution

• A set of institutions

• A set of policies

• A budget

Treaties and lawTreaties and law

The European Union is based on the rule of law. This means that everything that it does is derived from treaties, which are agreed on voluntarily and democratically by all Member States.

Based on the Treaties, EU institutions can adopt legislation, which is then implemented by the Member States.


Sources of EU LawSources of EU Law

Primary Legislation Treaties

International Agreements with third countries or between the EU countries

Secondary Legislation binding and non-binding legal isntruments



Primary Legislation Treaties

International Agreements with third countries or between the EU countries

Secondary Legislation binding and non-binding legal instruments



5th February 1963 Van Gend en Loos ruling. The European Court of Justice specifies that the Community constitutes a new legal order for the benefit of which Member States have consented to a restriction of their sovereign rights.

15th July 1964 Costa/ENEL ruling. The European Court of Justice holds that Community law overrules national law.


The treaties constitute the European Union’s ‘primary legislation’, which is comparable to constitutional law at national level. They thus lay down the fundamental features of the Union, in particular the responsibilities of the various actors in the decision-making process, the legislative procedures, under the Community system and the powers conferred on them.

The treaties themselves are the subject of direct negotiations between the governments of the Member States, after which they have to be ratified in accordance with the procedures applying at national level (in principle by the national parliaments or by referendum).


Previously signed treaties have been changed and updated to keep up with developments in society.

Moreover, the founding treaties have been amended on several occasions, in particular when new Member States acceded in 1973 (Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom), 1981 (Greece), 1986 (Spain, Portugal), 1995 (Austria, Finland, Sweden) and 2004 (the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia).


ECSC Treaty (1951)

EEC Treaty (Rome Treaty) (1957)

Euratom Treaty (1957)

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Single European Act (1986)

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Maastricht Treaty on European Union (1992)

Treaty of Amsterdam (1997)

Treaty of Nice (2001)

A Constitution for Europe (October 2004)

Two main periods (and a transition phase)


The Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which was signed on 18 April 1951 in Paris, entered into force on 23

July 1952 and expired on 23 July 2002..


The Treaty of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community (EEC), signed in Rome on 25 March 1957, and

entered into force on 1 January 1958. The Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) was signed at the same time and the two are

therefore jointly known as the Treaties of Rome.


The main purpose of the Treaty establishing the European Community (EC Treaty) was to bring about the gradual integration of the States

of Europe and to establish a common market founded on the four freedoms of movement (for goods, services, people and capital) and on

the gradual approximation of economic policies. To this end the Member States surrendered part of their sovereignty

and gave the Community institutions the power to adopt legislation that would be directly applicable in the Member States (regulation,

directive, decision) and take precedence over national law.


The Merger Treaty, signed in Brussels on 8 April 1965 and in force since 1 July 1967, which provided for a Single Commission and a Single Council of the

then three European

The Single European Act (SEA), signed in Luxembourg and the Hague, and entered into force

on 1 July 1987, provided for the adaptations required for the achievement of the Internal Market.


The Treaty on European Union, which was signed in Maastricht on 7 February 1992, entered into force on 1 November 1993. 'The Maastricht Treaty changed the name of the European Economic

Community to simply "the European Community". It also introduced new forms of co-operation between the Member State governments - for example on defence, and in the area of "justice and home affairs".

By adding this inter-governmental co-operation to the existing "Community" system, the Maastricht Treaty created a new structure with three "pillars" which is political as well economic. This is the

European Union (EU).


The Treaty on European Union (EU Treaty) pursues two main objectives: the creation of a monetary union by laying down the

principles and arrangements for the introduction of the euro and the creation of an economic and political union. This is the treaty that

originated the concept of a three-pillar structure, the first pillar consisting of the European Community and the other two of the

common foreign and security policy and police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.


There is, however, a big difference between the first pillar and the other two, which have not given rise to any transfers of sovereignty to the common institutions as was the case with the Treaty establishing

the European Community. In these fields the Member States wished to preserve their independent

decision-making powers and restrict themselves to an intergovernmental form of cooperation. The most important legal

instruments in these fields are the joint action, the common position, and the framework decision, which are almost always adopted

unanimously and are binding only to a limited extent.


The Treaty of Amsterdam, signed on 2 October 1997, entered into force on 1 May 1999. It amended and

renumbered the EU and EC Treaties. Consolidated versions of the EU and EC Treaties are attached to it. The Treaty of Amsterdam changed the articles of the Treaty on European

Union, identified by letters A to S, into numerical form.


The Treaty of Nice, signed on 26 February 2001, entered into force on 1 February 2003. It dealt mostly with reforming

the institutions so that the Union could function efficiently after its enlargement to 25 Member States. The Treaty of

Nice, the former Treaty of the EU and the Treaty of the EC have been merged into one consolidated version.


The most recent one, the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, aims to replace all the existing Treaties with a single text and is the result of the work

done by the Convention on the Future of Europe and an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC).

The Constitution was adopted by the Heads of State and Government at the Brussels European Council on 17 and 18 June 2004 and was signed in Rome on 29 October

2004. It needs to be ratified by each Member State, in line with their own constitutional arrangements (i.e. by parliamentary procedure and/or by referendum).

The Constitution will not take effect until it has been ratified by all 25 Member States.

Treaties and lawTreaties and lawInternational agreementsInternational agreements are the second source of EU law.

Always agreements concluded between subjects of international law (Member States or organisations) for the purpose of establishing cooperation at international level.

Agreements concluded by the European Union under the first pillar are binding on the institutions of the Union and the Member States; those concluded by the Union under the second and third pillars are binding on the institutions but not always on the Member States

Two main types of agreement:• international agreements with third countries or international organisations (association, coooperation, trade agreements)• agreements and conventions between the Member States.

Treaties and lawTreaties and lawThe ‘secondary legislation’secondary legislation’ is the third major source of Community law after the treaties (primary legislation) and international agreements:

the totality of the legislative instruments adopted by the European institutions pursuant to the provisions of the treaties. Secondary legislation comprises the binding legal instruments (regulations, directives and decisions) and non-binding instruments (resolutions, opinions) provided for in the EC Treaty, together with a whole series of other instruments such as the institutions’ internal regulations and Community action programmes.

The legal instruments associated with the second and third pillars, which do not, strictly speaking, form part of secondary legislation since they continue to be governed by intergovernmental relations.


Binding Non binding

Primary legislation Treaties

International Agreeements

International agreements with third countries or international organisations

Agreements and conventions between the Member States

Secondary legislation Regulations Recomendation

Directives Opinion

Decisions

Joint action (2nd pillar)

Framework decisions (3rd pillar)

Common position (2nd and 3rd pillar)

Treaties and lawTreaties and lawRegulationsRegulations:

Adopted by the Council in conjunction with the European Parliament or by the Commission alone, a regulation is a general measure that is binding in all its parts. Unlike directives, which are addressed to the Member States, and decisions, which are for specified recipients, regulations are addressed to everyone.

A regulation is directly applicable, which means that it creates law which takes immediate effect in all the Member States in the same way as a national instrument, without any further action on the part of the national authorities. model

Treaties and lawTreaties and lawDirectivesDirectives:

Adopted by the Council in conjunction with the European Parliament or by the Commission alone, a directive is addressed to the Member States. Its main purpose is to align national legislation.

A directive is binding on the Member States as to the result to be achieved but leaves them the choice of the form and method they adopt to realise the Community objectives within the framework of their internal legal order.

If a directive has not been transposed into national legislation in a Member State, if it has been transposed incompletely or if there is a delay in transposing it, citizens can directly invoke the directive in question before the national courts. model

Treaties and lawTreaties and lawDecisionsDecisions:

Adopted either by the Council, by the Council in conjunction with the European Parliament or by the Commission, a decision is the instrument by which the Community institutions give a ruling on a particular matter. By means of a decision, the institutions can require a Member State or a citizen of the Union to take or refrain from taking a particular action, or confer rights or impose obligations on a Member State or a citizen.

A decision is:

• an individual measure, and the persons to whom it is addressed must be specified individually, which distinguishes a decision from a regulation,

• binding in its entirety. model

Treaties and lawTreaties and lawRecomendationsRecomendations:

A recommendation allows the institutions to make their views known and to suggest a line of action without imposing any legal obligation on those to whom it is addressed (the Member States, other institutions, or in certain cases the citizens of the Union).

model

Treaties and lawTreaties and lawOpinionsOpinions:

An opinion is an instrument that allows the institutions to make a statement in a non-binding fashion, in other words without imposing any legal obligation on those to whom it is addressed. The aim is to set out an institution’s point of view on a question.

Treaties and lawTreaties and lawJoint actionsJoint actions:

A joint action is a legal instrument under Title V of the Treaty on European Union and is thus of an intergovernmental nature. Adopted by the Council of the European Union unanimously or, in certain cases, by a qualified majority, a joint action is binding on the Member States, which have to achieve the objectives set unless major difficulties arise.

Treaties and lawTreaties and lawFramwork decisionFramwork decision:

A framework decision is binding on the Member States as to the result to be achieved and leave to the national authorities the choice of form and methods (like the directive in the Community context).

Treaties and lawTreaties and lawCommon positionCommon position:

The common position in the context of the common foreign and security policy and police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters is a legal instrument under Titles V and VI of the Treaty on European Union and is intergovernmental in nature. Adopted unanimously by the Council of the European Union, it determines the Union’s approach to particular questions of foreign and security policy or police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters and gives guidance for the pursuit of national policies in these fields.


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Immigration - Assylum


Recomendations:

Opinions:

Joint actions:

¿What is the EU? A political project A process... Something not yet finished... A common market...

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