The Fall of the Berlin Wall the 9 of November 1989 opened wide perspectives for a stronger European Integration.
Communitarian Europe was lucky to have a great President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors (1985-1994). He was already responsible for the signing of the Single European Act (1986) and after the end of 1989 he had the idea of substituting the three European Communities (ECSC, EEC and EAEC) by a single Community: the European Union.
The strengthening of the integration process required on the first place to push for the restriction of the Unanimity Voting approved in the Luxembourg Compromise (1966) and get back to the Majority Voting with the restriction of Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) a mechanism used to take decisions without the need for unanimity but which go beyond a simple majority of members, that is it requires the approval of a certain number of States representing a minimum percentage of population.
There are two forms of qualified majority: standard and reinforced. For the former, decisions are adopted if at least 55% of member states – meaning 15 out of 27 – representing at least 65% of the EU population, approve. For the latter, at least 72% of member states must approve, representing the same proportion of the EU population. Abstention counts as a vote against.
A standard qualified majority is the ordinary procedure used for most EU legislation, whereas a reinforced qualified majority is used if the Council is acting on proposal that has not come from the Commission or High Representative for Foreign Affairs, or when electing key posts like the President of the European Central Bank or the High Representative for Foreign Affairs
In order to convince the Governments to accept the QMV, Delors invented the “PILLAR STRUCTURE”. QMV was the rule in the First Pillar (Community Pillar) corresponding to the three existing Treaties in 1992. The integration method concerning the other two pillars (The second pillar dealt with Common Foreign and Security Policy, and the third addressed Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters) was intergovernmental, which meant that in these areas the decision-making procedures essentially followed the Unanimity Principle.
The second part of the Integration was the Enlargement of the Union. The Maastricht Treaty had been signed by 12 Member States, but soon new States were lining up to join. In 1995 the EU had 15 members (with the integration of Austria, Finland and Sweden). In 2004 it was raised to 25 Members (with the integration of 10 States: Poland, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia). In Bulgaria and Romania joined bringing the number of Member States to 27. And in 2013 the peak of 28 Member States was reached with the integration of Croatia. Since January 31, 2021 with the leave of the UK we are again in an Europe of 27.
The big problem that European Integration faced after the Fall of the Berlin Wall was what to do with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEEC) with underdeveloped economies resulting from being for more than four decades under Communist regimes controlled by the USSR. Some resisted to the idea of a rapid integration with the argument that it would affect seriously the balance of an integrated Europe. Some others, led by Germany, wanted at any cost to integrate these States as new Members as proved with the early recognition of Croatia as an independent State since January 1992. It was the old idea of Mitteleuropa that would consolidate the German pre-eminence. This is why some countries were reluctant to it.
Finally a huge enlargement was accepted and therefore the EU was in need of reorganization in terms of decision making for avoiding collapse. Because have 27 Governments to agree on something was not a piece of cake. So the Treaties had to be renegotiated and amended. This what happened with the Amsterdam Treaty (1997), the Nice Treaty (2001) and finally the Lisbon Treaty (2009), after the Treaty called A Constitution for Europe (2005).
Things might be easier after UK leave, as the British had never been fair players of the European Integration game. But the main problem that the EU face is that it is still has two governments: One representing Integrated Europe (Communitarian method), with the European Parliament as Legislative Assembly and the Commission as Executive, and another representing the States (Intergovernmental method) with the European Council of Ministers now called the European Council as an interstate Legislative Assembly and an Interstate executive the Permanent President of the European Council, created by the Lisbon Treaty.
This is why we had the clash of the Sofa Gate (7 April 2021), provoked by male chauvinist Islamic President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan that put the first Woman President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen in an humiliating position with Charles Michel the Belgian actual President of the European Council.
Besides this unacceptable patriarchal approach, the problem is to decide who represent the EU: the executive of integrated Europe or the executive representing the Member States.
Who said that European Integration was easy?
INSTRUCTIONS: First read the text included in your Materials (pages 292-310)before proceeding to answer the Concrete Questions, the Concepts and the General Questions.
Concerning the Basic Chronology (pages 314-316) you should get familiar with the following dates:
1989, 9 November Fall of the Berlin Wall.
1990
12 September. Signing in Moscow of the Two Plus Four Agreement. England, France, the United States and the Soviet Union renounce the rights they had vis-a-vis Germany since 1945.
3 October. Reunification of Germany.
1991, 21 December. Dissolution of the USSR (Alma-Ata Protocol).
1992, 7 February. Signing in Maastricht (Netherlands) of the European Union Treaty. It comes into force, once all ratification procedures are finalized, on 1 November 1993.
1995
1 January. Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU. The Europe of the 15 is born.
1997, 2 October. The foreign ministers of the 15 sign the Amsterdam Treaty. It enters into force on 1 May 1967.
1998, 1st June Creation of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.
1999, 19 June. Bologna Declaration. European education ministers approve the creation of the European Higher Education Area, to be fully implemented by December 31, 2010.
2000, 7 December. Ratification of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, adopted on 2 October. A version of the Charter is officially promulgated on 12 December 2007 in Strasbourg. After the signing of the Lisbon Treaty the Charter becomes binding upon all states. Except Poland and the United Kingdom.
2001, 26 February. The Treaty of Nice is signed, setting the majorities necessary to make decisions after the successive expansions carried out. It comes into force on 1 February 2003 after the ratification procedures are finalized.
2002
1 January. The euro enters into force. On February 28 it becomes the sole, official currency, the day that Spain occupies the presidency of the European Council (previously: 1989, 1995) for the third time.
23 July. The ECSC is dissolved.
2004
1 May. 11 new members are incorporated into the EU: Poland, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia.
29 October. Rome. The heads of state and government and their respective ministers of foreign affairs sign a treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.
2005
29 May. In a referendum the French reject the Constitution Treaty.
1 June. The people of the Netherlands also refuse to ratify the Constitutional Treaty.
2007
1 January. Bulgaria and Romania join the EU. The Europe of the 27 is born.
13 December. Signing of the Treaty of Lisbon, which replaces the Constitutional Treaty from three years earlier.
2009, 1 December. The Treaty of Lisbon enters into force after the 27 ratification processes are completed.
2013, 1 July. Croatia joins the EU as its 28th member state.
2014, may: 8th election of the European Parliament. For the first time the European parties have named a candidate for presiding the European Commission. The European Popular Party wins the election and his candidate Jean Claude Juncker becomes President of the Commission (1st November).
2016, June 23: Brexit referendum. The UK votes for leaving the EU. 51.9% of UK voters (17.410,742 votes) were for leaving and 48.1 (16.141.241 votes) for remaining in the EU. By territories the result was: England 53,4% for Brexit and 46,4% for Bremain; Northern Ireland 44,2% for Brexit and 55,8% for Bremain; Scotland 38% for Brexit and 62% for Bremain; Wales 52,5% for Brexit and 47,5% for Bremain. Gibraltar 4% for Brexit and 96% for Bremain. London: 39.1% for Brexit 59.9% for Bremain.
2020: January 31: The UK leaves the EU.
TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION IN CLASS: Would European States be better off without the European Union?
Please consider the following aspects:
1. Consider what were the historical circumstances that led to the creation of the European Union in 1992.
2. Take into consideration why were signed the Treaties of Amsterdam (1997), the Treaty of Nice (2001) and the Lisbon Treaty (2007-2009).
3. Why the Treaty A Constitution for Europe failed in 2005? Was it really a “Constitution”?
4. Is the European Union a Legal Person distinct from the 27 Member States?
5. Is there such a thing as a European Citizenship?
6. In what measure the creation of the Creation of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt in 1998, and .of the Euro in 2002 has created some strong financial difficulties for some Member States?
7. 7. Is the UK going to be better off out of the EU? And the EU without the UK?
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