The European Council meets Thursday and Friday (28-29 October 2010), but two days ahead of the meeting of the heads of state or government of the EU member states the public information appears poorly structured and incomplete in the light of the published press releases and the old draft agenda.
Yesterday president Herman Van Rompuy defended the proposals of the Task force on economic governance in a speech in Brussels. A few days earlier Van Rompuy had sent a letter to members of the European Council, with the Task force report published 21 October 2010. There is a fact sheet dated the same day.
Otherwise, there was little of substance from the European Council or the Council this morning.
Institutions
Van Rompuy has rejected the perception that the European Council meetings are summits. He has underlined the European Council as an institution of the European Union
However, for the citizens of the EU, little resembles an institution deliberating public affairs transparently and accountably. What we see from the outside looks like a summit of the leaders, by the leaders, and for the leaders.
It is unclear if Van Rompuy even wants the European Council to evolve institutionally, or if he prefers to nurture a high level workshop in the (vain?) hope of creating an esprit de corps strong enough to overcome great obstacles.
There is also a lack of connection between the conclusions customarily published after (not before) the meeting and the real discussions taking place.
(Wo)men
Not even an EU summit seems to be enough. French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel short-circuited the European Union, by making a deal on the stability and growth pact bilaterally. Merkel has certainly antagonised supporters at home and abroad, but her gains look less certain (see for instance Spiegel International in English and Deutsche Welle in German).
(Wo)men and institutions
Jean Monnet is quoted as saying: "Nothing is possible without men; nothing is lasting without institutions."
Naturally, Charles Kupchan was declared to be wrong when he concluded that the EU needs a new generation of leaders who can breathe life into a project that is perilously close to expiring, and that for now, they are nowhere to be found.
What do you think?
Are the current national leaders willing and the European Council as an institution able to provide anything better than top-down impetus for European disintegration?
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Technology is changing politics, says Personal Democracy Forum, which has sent missionaries to the scattered tribes on the Old Continent. Between the great powwows (highly acclaimed), Antonella Napolitano regularly reports to US HQ and the world in general through the Euro Roundups on her blog. One to follow.
Despite national and linguistic borders there is a European online public space of sorts. You can find the new posts from 680 Euroblogs on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu.
Showing posts with label institution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label institution. Show all posts
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Van Rompuy’s European Council: EU institution or workshop?
There is an interesting dichotomy between how president Herman Van Rompuy presents the European Council and how he tries to get this EU institution to meet the challenges facing Europe.
Earlier we have looked at his speeches plus some reports and reactions (here, here, here and here).
Official institution
The European Council had arguably been the most influential body of the European Union, the main responsible for the EU’s advances and shortcomings. However, the Treaty of Lisbon turned the European Council into an official EU institution and gave it a full time president.
The European Council consists of the heads of state or government of the member states. Its president (Herman Van Rompuy) and Commission president (José Manuel Barroso) are also members, although without a vote. The High Representative/Vice-President (Catherine Ashton) takes part in its work (Article 15 TEU).
Herman Van Rompuy has referred to the European Council as a now official institution of the European Union, not a “summit” like the G20 and others.
Officially, the main task of the European Council is – or at least, should be – to give the EU “impetus”, strategic guidelines and priorities. It does not exercise legislative functions, but it makes certain crucial decisions officially.
Workshop?
In practice, the role of the European Council as the most important official institution for “deep integration” benefiting 501 million citizens is in sharp contrast with its transparency standards way below those of a municipal board somewhere in the boondocks of my country.
In addition, the participants in the European Council meetings make unofficial and unrecorded ‘de facto’ decisions, which short-circuit public debate and decent standards of transparency, even if the formal decisions are later rubber-stamped by the Council (of Ministers).
The ‘official institution’ is almost as intergovernmental as it gets, and president Van Rompuy has been careful not to improve openness and accountability.
Instead, he tries team-building, by engaging the heads of state or government in more frequent informal strategy “workshops” to create “ownership” and improve outcomes.
There have been mixed responses to Van Rompuy’s idea to hold frequent meetings. National political leaders feel important and are busy, and media have commented on lack of preparation, thin agendas and empty conclusions.
Strategy processes and “ownership” require time and effort, but they ill fit the ‘official institution’ role or outside expectations.
The latest European Council meeting was hijacked by a tempestuous Nicolas Sarkozy, so we remain in the dark with regard to Van Rompuy’s effort to infuse team spirit.
Questions
The conflicting roles and expectations leave us with some important questions.
What kind of a European Council do we need to tackle Europe’s main challenges?
How much can an official institution, especially the most influential one, dispense with decent standards of transparency, open debate and accountability?
If Van Rompuy’s vision is correct, are the national leaders willing to be guided even by the chair they selected themselves?
Ralf Grahn
P.S. The multilingual aggregator for EU related blogs keeps growing. There are now 669 Euroblogs, or blogs related to EU (and CoE) affairs, listed on Bloggingportal.eu. You can take a look at the stream of all new posts, or follow the editors’ choices on the front page. You can also subscribe to the streams (all or highlighted) and the newsletters (daily or weekly) without cost.
Bloggingportal.eu needs a few more voluntary editors for the daily tagging of posts according to subjects. Why not increase your understanding of European affairs, improve your language skills and do something useful by joining the team of editors?
Earlier we have looked at his speeches plus some reports and reactions (here, here, here and here).
Official institution
The European Council had arguably been the most influential body of the European Union, the main responsible for the EU’s advances and shortcomings. However, the Treaty of Lisbon turned the European Council into an official EU institution and gave it a full time president.
The European Council consists of the heads of state or government of the member states. Its president (Herman Van Rompuy) and Commission president (José Manuel Barroso) are also members, although without a vote. The High Representative/Vice-President (Catherine Ashton) takes part in its work (Article 15 TEU).
Herman Van Rompuy has referred to the European Council as a now official institution of the European Union, not a “summit” like the G20 and others.
Officially, the main task of the European Council is – or at least, should be – to give the EU “impetus”, strategic guidelines and priorities. It does not exercise legislative functions, but it makes certain crucial decisions officially.
Workshop?
In practice, the role of the European Council as the most important official institution for “deep integration” benefiting 501 million citizens is in sharp contrast with its transparency standards way below those of a municipal board somewhere in the boondocks of my country.
In addition, the participants in the European Council meetings make unofficial and unrecorded ‘de facto’ decisions, which short-circuit public debate and decent standards of transparency, even if the formal decisions are later rubber-stamped by the Council (of Ministers).
The ‘official institution’ is almost as intergovernmental as it gets, and president Van Rompuy has been careful not to improve openness and accountability.
Instead, he tries team-building, by engaging the heads of state or government in more frequent informal strategy “workshops” to create “ownership” and improve outcomes.
There have been mixed responses to Van Rompuy’s idea to hold frequent meetings. National political leaders feel important and are busy, and media have commented on lack of preparation, thin agendas and empty conclusions.
Strategy processes and “ownership” require time and effort, but they ill fit the ‘official institution’ role or outside expectations.
The latest European Council meeting was hijacked by a tempestuous Nicolas Sarkozy, so we remain in the dark with regard to Van Rompuy’s effort to infuse team spirit.
Questions
The conflicting roles and expectations leave us with some important questions.
What kind of a European Council do we need to tackle Europe’s main challenges?
How much can an official institution, especially the most influential one, dispense with decent standards of transparency, open debate and accountability?
If Van Rompuy’s vision is correct, are the national leaders willing to be guided even by the chair they selected themselves?
Ralf Grahn
P.S. The multilingual aggregator for EU related blogs keeps growing. There are now 669 Euroblogs, or blogs related to EU (and CoE) affairs, listed on Bloggingportal.eu. You can take a look at the stream of all new posts, or follow the editors’ choices on the front page. You can also subscribe to the streams (all or highlighted) and the newsletters (daily or weekly) without cost.
Bloggingportal.eu needs a few more voluntary editors for the daily tagging of posts according to subjects. Why not increase your understanding of European affairs, improve your language skills and do something useful by joining the team of editors?
Monday, 26 April 2010
EU materials: European Union terminology, procedures and sources 2010
Much of the existing literature on the European Union was published before the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009.
Outdated references to institutions, powers, procedures, legal bases, terms etc. tend to obscure the discussion on European Union affairs.
In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons Library does a great public service by producing Standard Notes on various subjects.
With regard to the European Union, I would like to draw attention to a Standard Note, which was updated recently, with the following aim:
UK House of Commons Library Note: The European Union: a guide to terminology, procedures and sources (Standard Note SN/IA/3689; last updated 24 March 2010; 14 pages; authors Vaughne Miller and Emma Clark)
Contents
1 Introduction 3
2 European ‘Community’, ‘Communities’ and ‘Union’ 3
3 The three ‘Pillars’ 4
4 EC law or EU law? 4
5 Treaty of Rome or Treaty of Lisbon? What to call the Treaty 5
6 Referencing Treaty articles 5
7 “Member State”: use of capital letters 5
8 European Council, Council of Ministers, Council of Europe 6
8.1 The European Council 6
8.2 The Council 6
8.3 The Council of Europe 7
9 European Courts 7
10 Legal instruments 7
11 Council and Commission legislation 8
12 The Acquis Communautaire 8
13 Official Journal 8
14 Legislative procedures 8
14.1 Ordinary Legislative Procedure 8
14.2 Consent 9
14.3 Consultation 9
15 Searching for EU legislation and documentation 10
15.1 Searching in Europe 10
15.2 Searching in the Member States 10
15.3 Searching in PIMS 10
16 Current information on the EU 11
16.1 Institutions 11
16.2 On-line news sources 12
16.3 Recent and forthcoming events 12
16.4 Addresses and telephone numbers 12
17 Reading List 13
17.1 General publications 13
17.2 European Union publications 13
17.3 House of Commons Library publications 13
17.4 Official Publications 14
In addition to Members of Parliament, this Standard Note is a most welcome reference for students of EU law and politics, as well as journalists reporting on European affairs.
Ralf Grahn
Outdated references to institutions, powers, procedures, legal bases, terms etc. tend to obscure the discussion on European Union affairs.
In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons Library does a great public service by producing Standard Notes on various subjects.
With regard to the European Union, I would like to draw attention to a Standard Note, which was updated recently, with the following aim:
This Note aims to clarify some of the terminology used to describe the institutions, laws and procedures of the European Union. It also provides links to useful sources of information on the EU.
UK House of Commons Library Note: The European Union: a guide to terminology, procedures and sources (Standard Note SN/IA/3689; last updated 24 March 2010; 14 pages; authors Vaughne Miller and Emma Clark)
Contents
1 Introduction 3
2 European ‘Community’, ‘Communities’ and ‘Union’ 3
3 The three ‘Pillars’ 4
4 EC law or EU law? 4
5 Treaty of Rome or Treaty of Lisbon? What to call the Treaty 5
6 Referencing Treaty articles 5
7 “Member State”: use of capital letters 5
8 European Council, Council of Ministers, Council of Europe 6
8.1 The European Council 6
8.2 The Council 6
8.3 The Council of Europe 7
9 European Courts 7
10 Legal instruments 7
11 Council and Commission legislation 8
12 The Acquis Communautaire 8
13 Official Journal 8
14 Legislative procedures 8
14.1 Ordinary Legislative Procedure 8
14.2 Consent 9
14.3 Consultation 9
15 Searching for EU legislation and documentation 10
15.1 Searching in Europe 10
15.2 Searching in the Member States 10
15.3 Searching in PIMS 10
16 Current information on the EU 11
16.1 Institutions 11
16.2 On-line news sources 12
16.3 Recent and forthcoming events 12
16.4 Addresses and telephone numbers 12
17 Reading List 13
17.1 General publications 13
17.2 European Union publications 13
17.3 House of Commons Library publications 13
17.4 Official Publications 14
In addition to Members of Parliament, this Standard Note is a most welcome reference for students of EU law and politics, as well as journalists reporting on European affairs.
Ralf Grahn
Thursday, 26 March 2009
European Union: Council
Nationally elected officials ─ heads of state or government in the European Council and government ministers in the Council ─ meeting in Brussels set the pace and the limits for a European Union primarily based on member states.
Expansion, internal and external developments and the proposals of the Treaty of Lisbon point to the rising importance of the European Council and its main feeding mechanism, the Council.
Currently, the Council is mentioned as an institution (after the European Parliament) of the European Community in Article 7 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC). Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union, in the Treaty of Lisbon, inserts the European Council as an EU institutions above the Council.
To the extent that the intergovernmental bodies are able to decide by (qualified) majority, their effectiveness (output legitimacy) improves. In this sense, the Treaty of Lisbon would be a step forward, when we increasingly see the need for European solutions and European contributions on the world scene.
But the democratic (input) legitimacy of the European Union remains a vexed question, with national politicians deciding European level questions and the EU citizens directly represented only through the European Parliament.
In this blog post we recap the main provision on the EU Council as agreed by the member states in the Treaty of Lisbon.
***
Original Lisbon Treaty
Article 1, point 17 of the original Treaty of Lisbon inserted a new Article 9c into the Treaty on European Union (TEU); Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) 17.12.2007 C 306/18.
Cf. Articles I-23, I-24 and I-25 of the Constitutional Treaty (OJEU 16.12.2004 C 310), Article I-22, I-23 and I-24 of the preceding draft Constitution, as well as Articles 202 to 207 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) in force.
***
Consolidated Lisbon Treaty
The new Article 9c was renumbered Article 16 TEU in the consolidated version of the Treaty of Lisbon (OJEU 9.5.2008 C 115/24):
Article 16 TEU
1. The Council shall, jointly with the European Parliament, exercise legislative and budgetary functions. It shall carry out policy-making and coordinating functions as laid down in the Treaties.
2. The Council shall consist of a representative of each Member State at ministerial level, who may commit the government of the Member State in question and cast its vote.
3. The Council shall act by a qualified majority except where the Treaties provide otherwise.
4. As from 1 November 2014, a qualified majority shall be defined as at least 55 % of the members of the Council, comprising at least fifteen of them and representing Member States comprising at least 65 % of the population of the Union.
A blocking minority must include at least four Council members, failing which the qualified majority shall be deemed attained.
The other arrangements governing the qualified majority are laid down in Article 238(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
5. The transitional provisions relating to the definition of the qualified majority which shall be applicable until 31 October 2014 and those which shall be applicable from 1 November 2014 to 31 March 2017 are laid down in the Protocol on transitional provisions.
6. The Council shall meet in different configurations, the list of which shall be adopted in accordance with Article 236 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The General Affairs Council shall ensure consistency in the work of the different Council configurations. It shall prepare and ensure the follow-up to meetings of the European Council, in liaison with the President of the European Council and the Commission.
The Foreign Affairs Council shall elaborate the Union's external action on the basis of strategic guidelines laid down by the European Council and ensure that the Union's action is consistent.
7. A Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States shall be responsible for preparing the work of the Council.
8. The Council shall meet in public when it deliberates and votes on a draft legislative act. To this end, each Council meeting shall be divided into two parts, dealing respectively with deliberations on Union legislative acts and non-legislative activities.
9. The Presidency of Council configurations, other than that of Foreign Affairs, shall be held by Member State representatives in the Council on the basis of equal rotation, in accordance with the conditions established in accordance with Article 236 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
***
Article 16 TEU is packed with information relevant to the functioning of the European Union. We are going to look at the individual paragraphs in future posts.
Even if the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty remains at least as uncertain as before (due to the Czech Republic and Ireland, but also Germany and Poland), the pan-European challenges are on the increase, and the proposed improvements and their severe limitations of the amending treaty have lost nothing of their importance for EU citizens.
Ralf Grahn
Expansion, internal and external developments and the proposals of the Treaty of Lisbon point to the rising importance of the European Council and its main feeding mechanism, the Council.
Currently, the Council is mentioned as an institution (after the European Parliament) of the European Community in Article 7 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC). Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union, in the Treaty of Lisbon, inserts the European Council as an EU institutions above the Council.
To the extent that the intergovernmental bodies are able to decide by (qualified) majority, their effectiveness (output legitimacy) improves. In this sense, the Treaty of Lisbon would be a step forward, when we increasingly see the need for European solutions and European contributions on the world scene.
But the democratic (input) legitimacy of the European Union remains a vexed question, with national politicians deciding European level questions and the EU citizens directly represented only through the European Parliament.
In this blog post we recap the main provision on the EU Council as agreed by the member states in the Treaty of Lisbon.
***
Original Lisbon Treaty
Article 1, point 17 of the original Treaty of Lisbon inserted a new Article 9c into the Treaty on European Union (TEU); Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) 17.12.2007 C 306/18.
Cf. Articles I-23, I-24 and I-25 of the Constitutional Treaty (OJEU 16.12.2004 C 310), Article I-22, I-23 and I-24 of the preceding draft Constitution, as well as Articles 202 to 207 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) in force.
***
Consolidated Lisbon Treaty
The new Article 9c was renumbered Article 16 TEU in the consolidated version of the Treaty of Lisbon (OJEU 9.5.2008 C 115/24):
Article 16 TEU
1. The Council shall, jointly with the European Parliament, exercise legislative and budgetary functions. It shall carry out policy-making and coordinating functions as laid down in the Treaties.
2. The Council shall consist of a representative of each Member State at ministerial level, who may commit the government of the Member State in question and cast its vote.
3. The Council shall act by a qualified majority except where the Treaties provide otherwise.
4. As from 1 November 2014, a qualified majority shall be defined as at least 55 % of the members of the Council, comprising at least fifteen of them and representing Member States comprising at least 65 % of the population of the Union.
A blocking minority must include at least four Council members, failing which the qualified majority shall be deemed attained.
The other arrangements governing the qualified majority are laid down in Article 238(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
5. The transitional provisions relating to the definition of the qualified majority which shall be applicable until 31 October 2014 and those which shall be applicable from 1 November 2014 to 31 March 2017 are laid down in the Protocol on transitional provisions.
6. The Council shall meet in different configurations, the list of which shall be adopted in accordance with Article 236 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The General Affairs Council shall ensure consistency in the work of the different Council configurations. It shall prepare and ensure the follow-up to meetings of the European Council, in liaison with the President of the European Council and the Commission.
The Foreign Affairs Council shall elaborate the Union's external action on the basis of strategic guidelines laid down by the European Council and ensure that the Union's action is consistent.
7. A Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States shall be responsible for preparing the work of the Council.
8. The Council shall meet in public when it deliberates and votes on a draft legislative act. To this end, each Council meeting shall be divided into two parts, dealing respectively with deliberations on Union legislative acts and non-legislative activities.
9. The Presidency of Council configurations, other than that of Foreign Affairs, shall be held by Member State representatives in the Council on the basis of equal rotation, in accordance with the conditions established in accordance with Article 236 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
***
Article 16 TEU is packed with information relevant to the functioning of the European Union. We are going to look at the individual paragraphs in future posts.
Even if the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty remains at least as uncertain as before (due to the Czech Republic and Ireland, but also Germany and Poland), the pan-European challenges are on the increase, and the proposed improvements and their severe limitations of the amending treaty have lost nothing of their importance for EU citizens.
Ralf Grahn
Monday, 16 March 2009
European Council
Two days ahead of the customary spring European Council (in exceptional times) we begin our presentation of the provisions regulating these summits.
The European Council ─ the meetings of heads of state or government of the EEC (later EC and then EU) member states ─ began as an unofficial gathering, adopted the name and regularity in 1974, and was later enshrined in the treaties (1986) and evolved into the ‘de facto’ arbiter of European Union affairs.
The Treaty of Lisbon would take this development one step further. The European Council is listed among the official EU institutions, right after the directly elected European Parliament (Article 13 of the amended Treaty on European Union, OJEU 9.5.2008 C 115/22).
***
Institutional framework and institutions
Under Title III Provisions on the institutions, the consolidated Treaty of Lisbon lays down the institutional framework and lists the institutions like this:
TITLE III
PROVISIONS ON THE INSTITUTIONS
Article 13 TEU
1. The Union shall have an institutional framework which shall aim to promote its values, advance its objectives, serve its interests, those of its citizens and those of the Member States, and ensure the consistency, effectiveness and continuity of its policies and actions.
The Union's institutions shall be:
— the European Parliament,
— the European Council,
— the Council,
— the European Commission (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Commission’),
— the Court of Justice of the European Union,
— the European Central Bank,
— the Court of Auditors.
2. Each institution shall act within the limits of the powers conferred on it in the Treaties, and in conformity with the procedures, conditions and objectives set out in them. The institutions shall practice mutual sincere cooperation.
3. The provisions relating to the European Central Bank and the Court of Auditors and detailed provisions on the other institutions are set out in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
4. The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission shall be assisted by an Economic and Social Committee and a Committee of the Regions acting in an advisory capacity.
***
In other words, we have to look for the powers of the European Council in the treaties.
Ralf Grahn
The European Council ─ the meetings of heads of state or government of the EEC (later EC and then EU) member states ─ began as an unofficial gathering, adopted the name and regularity in 1974, and was later enshrined in the treaties (1986) and evolved into the ‘de facto’ arbiter of European Union affairs.
The Treaty of Lisbon would take this development one step further. The European Council is listed among the official EU institutions, right after the directly elected European Parliament (Article 13 of the amended Treaty on European Union, OJEU 9.5.2008 C 115/22).
***
Institutional framework and institutions
Under Title III Provisions on the institutions, the consolidated Treaty of Lisbon lays down the institutional framework and lists the institutions like this:
TITLE III
PROVISIONS ON THE INSTITUTIONS
Article 13 TEU
1. The Union shall have an institutional framework which shall aim to promote its values, advance its objectives, serve its interests, those of its citizens and those of the Member States, and ensure the consistency, effectiveness and continuity of its policies and actions.
The Union's institutions shall be:
— the European Parliament,
— the European Council,
— the Council,
— the European Commission (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Commission’),
— the Court of Justice of the European Union,
— the European Central Bank,
— the Court of Auditors.
2. Each institution shall act within the limits of the powers conferred on it in the Treaties, and in conformity with the procedures, conditions and objectives set out in them. The institutions shall practice mutual sincere cooperation.
3. The provisions relating to the European Central Bank and the Court of Auditors and detailed provisions on the other institutions are set out in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
4. The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission shall be assisted by an Economic and Social Committee and a Committee of the Regions acting in an advisory capacity.
***
In other words, we have to look for the powers of the European Council in the treaties.
Ralf Grahn
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Lisbon mini treaty?
I have compared the existing treaties of the European Union with the draft Constitution and the Constitutional Treaty as well as with the Treaty of Lisbon, working Article by Article from the beginning of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) until Article 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
Time for an interim assessment, I would say.
***
The differences between the stages are small, when we look at the treaties as a whole, although each treaty had its own terminology and numbering. Even if the end result of the IGC 2007, the size of the Treaty of Lisbon, was far from the ‘mini treaty’ first envisaged by the future French president Nicolas Sarkozy, the lawyers coordinated by the Council Secretariat did diminish the bulk of the text by two editorial choices.
The use of horizontal amendments achieved the goal of a consistent terminology throughout the amending treaties, with minimal use of space. Hundreds of small and materially insignificant changes were, in fact, deferred until the appearance of the consolidated versions of the Treaty of Lisbon.
The other editorial choice in the ‘mini treaty’ spirit was to bypass (the draft Constitution and) the Constitutional Treaty, when the later wording was different (and possibly better), but the more recent text did not represent an ‘innovation’, in other words, no substantive change. In these cases, the drafters let the current provision lie (with one or more probable horizontal changes).
In spite of this, the formal page count or word count of the Treaty of Lisbon is surprisingly high.
***
But word counts say very little about the substance, when we consider that the significant changes are, in the end, not far removed from the vision of an institutionally focused ‘mini treaty’.
They represent a compromise view on how to reform the core institutions, very little expanded areas of EU action, but a substantial amount of more efficient decision-making within the Council (in part from 2014 or 2017) and democratic scrutiny by the European Parliament (and the national parliaments).
I have to admit that the more I study the subject, the paler the result of a decade of treaty reform appears.
Ralf Grahn
Time for an interim assessment, I would say.
***
The differences between the stages are small, when we look at the treaties as a whole, although each treaty had its own terminology and numbering. Even if the end result of the IGC 2007, the size of the Treaty of Lisbon, was far from the ‘mini treaty’ first envisaged by the future French president Nicolas Sarkozy, the lawyers coordinated by the Council Secretariat did diminish the bulk of the text by two editorial choices.
The use of horizontal amendments achieved the goal of a consistent terminology throughout the amending treaties, with minimal use of space. Hundreds of small and materially insignificant changes were, in fact, deferred until the appearance of the consolidated versions of the Treaty of Lisbon.
The other editorial choice in the ‘mini treaty’ spirit was to bypass (the draft Constitution and) the Constitutional Treaty, when the later wording was different (and possibly better), but the more recent text did not represent an ‘innovation’, in other words, no substantive change. In these cases, the drafters let the current provision lie (with one or more probable horizontal changes).
In spite of this, the formal page count or word count of the Treaty of Lisbon is surprisingly high.
***
But word counts say very little about the substance, when we consider that the significant changes are, in the end, not far removed from the vision of an institutionally focused ‘mini treaty’.
They represent a compromise view on how to reform the core institutions, very little expanded areas of EU action, but a substantial amount of more efficient decision-making within the Council (in part from 2014 or 2017) and democratic scrutiny by the European Parliament (and the national parliaments).
I have to admit that the more I study the subject, the paler the result of a decade of treaty reform appears.
Ralf Grahn
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