Politics Of European Integration Review

Front 1

What two institutions make up the Council of the European Union?

Back 1

European Council and Council of Ministers; both represent national/state interests

Front 2

European Council

Back 2

Summits of heads of government of 27 member states; Meets formally 2x/year in Brussels; deals with highly political policies (ex: Euro, enlargement, etc.); provides strategic guidance for European integration

Front 3

Council of Ministers

Back 3

Made up of 9 configurations (ex: Foreign Affairs, Economic and Financial Affairs - ECOFIN, etc.); Representatives are each member state's minister responsible for that area

Front 4

European Commission

Back 4

Functions: policy/legislation initiation, monitoring of policy implementation, mediation between Council and Parliament; President of the Commission elected for 5 year term by European Council; Represents the EU on the international level (represents European interest); Commissioners are nominated by national government, each commissioner is given a portfolio (ex: energy, agriculture, commerce, etc.) and serve a 5 year term)

Front 5

European Parliament

Back 5

Democratically elected by European citizens every 5 years (represents citizens' interests); Proportional representation for countries' populations; Members sit in political party groups, not by country; shares legislative responsibilities with Council

Front 6

Examples of political parties in the European Parliament

Back 6

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE), European People's Party (EPP), Independence/Democracy (ID), Greens-European Free Alliance (Greens-EFA)

Front 7

European Court of Justice

Back 7

Represents European interest; Located in Luxembourg; Ensures that EU legislation is interpreted and applied evenly in all member states; made up of 27 judges; Deals mainly with interpreting treaties; EU law supersedes national law; has most power in 1st pillar (European Community)

Front 8

Council of Europe

Back 8

Created in 1948 (SEPARATE FROM EU); Involved the cooperation of several European governments; Still is active and includes European Court of Human Rights

Front 9

Schuman Declaration

Back 9

1950; Robert Schuman was the French PM under Jean Monnet; Founding document of the EU; Main goal was to aid in economic recovery after WWII - another war between France and Germany should be materially impossible

Front 10

European Coal and Steel Community

Back 10

1951; Collaborated coal and steel markets between France and Germany; High Authority states (6 founding members of EU: France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium)

Front 11

Treaty of Rome

Back 11

1957; Created the European Economic Community (EEC); wanted to be able to move goods, capital and workers freely between member states; Created European Atomic Agency (EURATOM) to manage nuclear energy of member states, France was the only one working on developing its nuclear energy at the time

Front 12

First geographical expansion of the EU

Back 12

1973; United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland

Front 13

Second geographical expansion of the EU

Back 13

1981; Greece

Front 14

Schengen Agreement

Back 14

Created a borderless area in Europe between 5 countries; would not become part of EU law until 1997 (Treaty of Amsterdam); steps toward common visa policy; creation of Schengen Information System (SIS)

Front 15

Single European Act

Back 15

1986; Agreed that 297 laws must be adopted by 1992 that would make the single market effective; gave decision making power to the Parliament; beginning of development of regional policy; single market - removal of customs duties between member states, free movement of capital, free movement of goods

Front 16

Third geographical expansion of the EU

Back 16

1986; Portugal and Spain

Front 17

Treaty on European Union / Maastricht Treaty

Back 17

1992; Established the European Union in place of the European Community; now, not just dealing with economic issues, also foreign policy, judicial policy, etc.; Established European citizenship in addition to national citizenship; created structural and cohesion funds

Front 18

Three pillars of the European Union (1992)

Back 18

Single market (Would become European Community), Common Foreign and Security Policy, and Justice and Home Affairs

Front 19

Fourth geographical expansion of the EU

Back 19

1995; Finland, Sweden, Austria

Front 20

Treaty of Amsterdam

Back 20

1997; Dealt with the financial aspect of enlargement

Front 21

European Central Bank

Back 21

Created in 1998; responsible for managing the single currency (Euro); Sets short term interest rates and monitors money supply; Established convergence criteria for countries wanting to join Eurozone

Front 22

Copenhagen criteria

Back 22

1993 (at a European Council summit); requires that a state has the institutions to preserve democratic governance and human rights, has a functioning market economy, and accepts the obligations and intent of the EU.

Front 23

Treaty of Nice

Back 23

2001; Prepared EU for enlargement; "Future of Europe" debate

Front 24

CAP reform plan of 2002

Back 24

France was strongly opposed, resulted in "Mid-term review"

Front 25

Constitutional Treaty

Back 25

2004; Attempted to address institutional issues by creating a constitution; France and Netherlands voted it down

Front 26

Fifth geographical expansion of the EU

Back 26

2004 "Big bang" enlargement; Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia

Front 27

Treaty of Lisbon

Back 27

2007; Slight changes made to Constitutional Treaty; Created a President of the EU; Gave EU a larger role in foreign affairs; abolished the pillar structure; Increased the role of the Parliament

Front 28

Sixth (and most recent) geographical expansion of the EU

Back 28

2007; Bulgaria, Romania

Front 29

Candidates for EU membership

Back 29

Croatia (will be come 28th member in July 2013); Iceland, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, Turkey

Front 30

Deepening vs. widening of the EU

Back 30

Deepening - close integration of EU member states; Widening - addition of more member states

Front 31

Functionalism

Back 31

David Mitrany "A Working Peace System" (1943), International institutions can provide services more effectively than a state can; "form follows function," "peace in parts"; institutions are the key actors

Front 32

Neo-functionalism

Back 32

Ernst B. Haas and Leon Lindberg, Integration is distinct from cooperation; elites within a system have a large role; preconditions to political integration: free market economy, interest groups, strong labor unions, competitive elite political leadership and democracy; key feature - spillover

Front 33

Intergovernmentalism

Back 33

States are the key actors; states are rational, working for their own interest; state-centrism

Front 34

Liberal intergovernmentalism

Back 34

States have relative bargaining power (France, Germany and UK have the most power)

Front 35

Monetary union vs. economic union

Back 35

Monetary union is more developed, economic union refers to the further coordination and development of economic policies

Front 36

UK rebate

Back 36

1984; Negotiated by Thatcher, because UK does not benefit proportionally from CAP

Front 37

EU budget

Back 37

Multinational Financial Framework covers a 7-year period; financial contributions of member states to the budget is 1% of GNI (Gross National Income); CAP and structure/cohesion funds receive the majority of the budget

Front 38

"Acquis communautaire"

Back 38

community legislation