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Glossary Of EU TERMINOLOGY
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Acquis Communautaire
The
body of European laws is known as the acquis communautaire.
This includes all the
treaties, regulations and directives passed by the European institutions as
well as the rulings of the Court of Justice. These rulings become EU law.
Applicant countries must
adopt, implement and enforce all the acquis before they can join.
As well as changing national
laws, this often means they must set up or change the necessary
administrative or judicial bodies which oversee the legislation.
For enlargement
negotiations, the acquis has been divided into 31 chapters, each of which
must be "closed" by the candidates.
Once an Acquis Communautaire,
an item of legislation can only be amended or cancelled by Unanimous
Agreement of the Council of Ministers; in other words it cannot be changed
or cancelled, except by getting out of the EU |
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Amending Treaty
The
Constitution (see
'Constitution') was a 320 page document which lays down the laws changing
the EU from an Economic Union into a fully fledged sovereign power, but it
had to be accepted by every EU nation, which it wasn't. It was realised that
the people would not accept SUBJUGATION voluntarily, so it was decided to do
this by the subterfuge of the Amending Treaty. This is a 32 page document
which deletes some of the appearance of the Constitution, while not changing
any of the substance.
The deliberate deceit is that,
surely, no one could reject a document which rows back from the
Constitution, so each quisling government can sign up to the Amending Treaty
without going to the electorates, or holding referenda. BUT signing the
Amending Treaty of course implies acceptance of the rest of the
Constitution, by the back door. Honest politicians have applauded this
deceit, but our own dishonest Brown pretends, again, that it is just a
tidying up exercise which guarantees our own sovereignty and that therefore
the Labour Manifesto promise of a referendum can be broken.
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Amsterdam Treaty
The
1997 Amsterdam summit focused on drafting a treaty to update and clarify the
Maastricht Treaty and to start preparing the European Union for enlargement.
UK objections at Maastricht
had meant that the social chapter had never passed into law.
But at Amsterdam, the
newly-elected UK government dropped its opt-out making the social chapter
part of the Treaty.
The sections of the
Maastricht treaty on public health and consumer protection were toughened
up, in reaction to public concerns over mad cow disease and other health
scares.
Amsterdam also aimed to make
the EU appear more democratic in preparation for its eastwards enlargement.
The European Parliament was
given powers to legislate in co-decision with the Council of Ministers on a
range of new issues including employment, social policy, health, transport
and the environment.
In the Council of Ministers,
qualified majority voting was introduced for employment, social exclusion,
customs and data protection among other issues. The power of Veto was thus
restricted.
The union members also
agreed to co-ordinate their approach to asylum and immigration as well as
increasing co-operation on police and law enforcement. |
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Charter of Fundamental Rights
The
charter upholds basic Western values such as the right to freedom of speech
and thought, and equality before the law. (The EU law, that is).
It also recognises the right
to strike, subject to national law, and fair working conditions. It bans
reproductive cloning.
The charter is a political
declaration - but there are moves to incorporate it in a European
constitution.
In its foreword, the charter
reads: "The Heads of State or Government of the European Union
decided...that a 'European Charter of Fundamental Rights' should be drawn
up, setting out all the civil, political, economic and social rights of EU
citizens.
"The European Council also
stated that the Charter might subsequently be incorporated into the Treaties
so that it could become legally binding on the EU authorities and serve as a
basis for court action by any citizen."
The rights are set out in 54
articles and six chapters, entitled dignity, freedoms, equality, solidarity,
citizens' rights and justice. |
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Closer Co-operation
Also
known as "flexibility" or "enhanced co-operation", it allows countries to
use European institutions to press ahead on certain issues. It allows the EU
to impose its will on member states.
It was first allowed in the
Amsterdam Treaty in 1997, but under strict rules.
Any attempt at closer
co-operation could be vetoed by another member country - even one which did
not want to take part - and had to involve at least half the member states.
The 2000 Nice summit decided
that it would have to change the rules, if closer co-operation was ever
going to get up and running.
Nice gave the go-ahead for
closer co-operation in all areas except military and defence and abolished
the veto option.
However a minimum of eight
member states is still required and many areas will need European Parliament
approval.
Closer co-operation gives
rise to the idea of a two-speed Europe
Some countries fear they
will be left behind as others forge ahead with deeper European integration.
Others fear rightly that they will be dragged into integration whwether they
like it or not. |
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Common Agricultural Policy
The
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was the biggest policy concern of the
European Community in its early days, and is still one of the major
challenges facing the EU.
Although spending on CAP has
been reduced in recent years, it still consumes almost half the EU budget.
Most of this money goes to France
The policy was set up
against a backdrop of food shortages and rations following World War II, and
had five founding aims:
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Increased
productivity |
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A fair standard of
living for farmers, especilally big land-owners |
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Stable guaranteed
prices in a rigged market |
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Regular food
supplies |
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Reasonable, though
expensive, prices for consumers |
And it
was based on three principles:
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A single market in
farm products with common prices and free movement of agricultural goods
within the community |
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Preference for
community members and tarriffs beyond. |
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Costs of inefficient
French and German farming shared between all members. |
The forthcoming accession of
countries like Poland, with its expanse of poor rural areas, has raised
concerns about how to adapt the CAP to the conditions of an enlarged Europe.
The EU is under pressure to cut agricultural subsidies, which place
developing countries at a competitive disadvantage; and to cut export
subsidies. (EU accounts for 90% of the world's export subsidies, which kill
off 'third world' farmiers). The trick is to keep large subsidies for
inefficient French and German farmers while avoiding wasting the same sums
on accession farmers. |
Constitution
The
Constitution is a 320 page document that provides the basis for making the
European Union into a single State. It provides for a President, and for a
Foreign Minister, and for a Defence Force with the equivalent of a Minister
of Defence. It provides for a Diplomatic Service, with Embassies around the
World, responsible for all the responsibilities presently undertaken by
National Embassies, other than Tourism Promotion, a task that will be in
part left to our Embassies until that, too, is taken over by EMinTour.
More importantly it
makes EU Law superior to National Law in every respect. The UK has tried to
retain some aspects of control, Blair's so called Red Lines in the Amending
Treaty. But there are so many routes around these protecting Vetoes that, as
with the Working Time Directive, all the requirements of the EU Government
will be forced onto us in due course, if we sign up to and ratify the
Amending Treaty.
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Convergence criteria
These
are the tests that national economies had to pass in order to be eligible to
join the final stage of economic and monetary union - the single currency.
They consist of five
criteria, laid out in the Maastricht Treaty:
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The amount of money
owed by a government - known as the budget deficit, has to be below 3% of
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - the total output of the economy.
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The total amount of
money owed by a government, known as the public debt, has to be less than
60% of GDP. The public debt is the cumulative total of each year's budget
deficit. |
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Countries should
have an inflation rate within 1.5% of the three EU countries with the
lowest rate.This was supposed to push down inflation rates and lead to
more stable prices. |
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Long-term interest
rates must be within 2% of the three lowest interest rates in EU.
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Exchange rates must
be kept within "normal" fluctuation margins of Europe's exchange-rate
mechanism. |
Most
of the countries flunked these tests and faked their exam papers. Most
countries have failed to live up to the requirements, so these have been
relaxed. |
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Council of Europe
The
Council of Europe is a body of more than 40 countries that aims to promote
democracy and protect human rights.
It is a separate institution
from the European Union, but the 25 current member states and all the
candidate countries are members.
Based in Strasbourg, it was
established in 1949 as a discussion forum for all European countries and
concentrates mainly on cultural, environmental and ethical issues.
The Council makes
recommendations and forms opinions but does not have any legislative power.
It did however found the
European Convention on Human Rights and cases relating to the convention can
be brought before the European Court of Human Rights.
The convention has had
considerable influence over the formation of EU legislation.
The Council has also played
an important role in advising the emerging democracies in Eastern Europe on
their development.
The Council is a fairly low
cost, democratic and effective organisation, unlike the EU, and any state in
Europe may remain in it when they leave the EU. |
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Council of Ministers
The
Council of Ministers is the only EU Institution which represents the member
states' national governments.
It is made up of government
ministers from member states, creating a kind of cabinet of cabinets. Which
ministers attend the council depends on the subject under discussion,
e.g.the agriculture ministers will make up the council for discussions on
farming.
The presidency of the
council rotates between each member state every six months.
Together with the European
Parliament, the council has the power to ratify EU laws and vote on the
budget.
The council is responsible
for the common foreign and security policy headed by its Secretary-General
and High Representative, Javier Solana.
It also co-ordinates
co-operation on police and judicial questions.
The way the council votes
depends on the matter under discussion. For some sensitive issues, for
example taxation, the council must vote unanimously but other decisions
require a simple majority or a qualified majority. |
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Ecosoc
The
Economic and Social Committee is a consultative body.
Its members are drawn from
organisations such as trade unions, consumer groups, farmers' unions and
employers' associations. Each member state is given a weighted quota of
members.
When the European Commission
drafts new EU legislation, it is obliged in many areas to ask Ecosoc's
opinion before putting it forward to the Council of Ministers and European
Parliament for decision.
According to Ecosoc,
two-thirds of its proposals become part of final legislation.
Although Ecosoc has no
formal powers, it carries considerable influence and also advises the
Council of Ministers and European Parliament. It is a good example of
unelected pressure groups and quangos having inordinate power. |
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Ecu
The
Ecu was the first quasi-currency for Europe.
Together with the Exchange
Rate Mechanism (ERM) it formed the European Monetary System which was
established in 1979.
It was originally an
accounting unit for the community's internal budget.
But later it became more
like a real currency - for example it was used in travellers' cheques and
bank deposits, though it was never issued as a note or coin.
As economic and monetary
union developed, it formed the basis for the development of the Euro, the
EU's single currency. |
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EMU
Roy
Jenkins launched the first step towards EMU (Economic and Monetary Union)
when, as Commission President in 1979 he launched the European Monetary
System.
This consisted of the Ecu -
an artificial currency unit - and the Exchange Rate Mechanism, which tied
European exchange rates together.
EMU proper was initiated by
the Delors Report, which became the basis for the Maastricht Treaty. This
laid out three stages towards building a single European currency in an
action known as 'laying down Delors'.
The EMU was the cuase of
enormous loss to the whole British Economy, at the time under the mis-management
of Major and Lamentable Lamont.
In many countries, the
Maastricht Treaty faced strong opposition and in the end Denmark and the UK
won opt-outs from stage 3 of EMU - the introduction of the European single
currency, the euro. |
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Enlargement
The EU
has gone through five expansions since it came into being in the 1950s, the
fifth and largest taking place in 2004.
Before they can become
members, candidates must fulfil a number of conditions - known as the
Copenhagen criteria. These are:
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Stability of
institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and
respect for and protection of minorities. |
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A functioning market
economy, which can deal with the market forces of the EU. |
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The ability to meet
the obligations of membership, including keeping to the aims of political,
economic and monetary union. |
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The adoption and
implementation of the acquis communautaire - the body of EU law.
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Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey
are officially recognised as candidates.
Romania and Macedonia have
also formally applied to join. |
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ERM
Along
with the Ecu, the Exchange Rate Mechanism was one of the foundation stones
of economic and monetary union.
It gave currencies a central
exchange rate against the Ecu. That, in turn, gave them central cross-rates
against one another.
It was hoped that the
mechanism would help stabilise exchange rates, encourage trade within Europe
and control inflation.
The ERM gave national
currencies an upper and lower limit on either side of this central rate
within which they could fluctuate.
In 1992 the ERM was wrenched
apart when a number of currencies could no longer keep within these limits.
On what became known as
Black Wednesday, the British pound was forced to leave the system. The
Italian lira also left and the Spanish peseta was devalued.
As EMU progressed, a
currency's ability to stay within its margins became one of the convergence
criteria deciding its suitability to join the single currency and complete
monetary union.
The whole idea of linking
currencies in this way is obviously a motor to power currency speculation,
and many banks and individuals around the world became very rich at the
victim's- European citizens - expense. |
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Euro
Europe's single currency the euro is the culmination of a long process of
Economic and monetary union, first envisaged more than 20 years ago.
At the beginning of 1999, 11
of the EU member states decided to abandon their national currencies and
adopt the euro. Greece joined them at the beginning of 2001.
The euro had a tough time
when it was first launched as it fell sharply against the dollar.
But the euro's long decline
was eventually reversed.
The euro was launched in its
cash form on 1 January, 2002. National currencies were phased out over the
following few months. The French and Germans still have stocks of their own
money to fall back on when the Euro fails. Italy would like to pull out of
the Euro. |
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European Central Bank
The
European Central Bank based in Frankfurt is responsible for implementing
European monetary policy.
It works together with the
national central banks of the EU states forming the European System of
Central Banks.
Its goal, as defined by the
Maastricht Treaty, is to maintain price stability in the eurozone countries.
It sets interest rates,
issues banknotes and conducts foreign exchange operations. It is accountable
to the European Parliament.
It has a 'one size fits all'
policy, with a common interest rate, so some countries have rampant
inflation while others struggle. Eurozone countries are in the main stagnant
and have very high unemployment. |
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European Council
European Council is the name given to the regular meetings - sometimes
called summits - which bring together the EU countries' heads of state or
government and their foreign ministers. The president of the European
Commission also attends.
The decisions taken at the
European Council meetings have a major impetus in defining the general
political guidelines of the European Union.
Each meeting is usually
preceded by an exchange of views with the president of the European
Parliament. In principle the European Council is convened four times a year,
with all meetings held in Brussels.
It provides the 'bigger
stage' on which all Politcians like to strut. |
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European Court of Auditors
The
Court of Auditors is meant to keep track of EU money so that citizens know
where their money goes. Its aim is to improve the efficency of EU financial
management.
The court tries, and fails,
toaudit the EU accounts and the implementation of the budget, proividing the
European Parliament and the Council of Ministers with a statement on the
accounts' reliability.
It also delivers opinions,
when requested to do so, on the financial implications of proposed
legislation. In the 1990s the court regularly revealed cases of fraud,
payments made in error and other cases of spending that failed to meet its
objectives.
For the last 11 years it has
refused to sign off the EU accounts because of widespread fraud and
obscurity. And, worse still, the auditors only audit 20% of the budget: the
20% that is wasted in administration. The rest of the budget (40% wasted on
the CAP, 40% spent on infrastructure projects) has no recognised audit trail
at all! |
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European Court of Human Rights
The
Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg, is the court of the Council of
Europe.
It oversees the European
Convention on Human Rights established in 1950.
This protects the
fundamental rights of people living in Council of Europe member states.
The court is not an EU
institution and has no powers of enforcement.
The convention is also
separate from EU law, though it serves as a basis for it and provides
precedents which are often followed. |
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European Court of Justice
The
Court of Justice rules on disputes over EU treaties and other EU
legislation. Its decisions are binding on EU institutions and member states.
The name is a typical bit of EUspeak/Nuspeak, because the Court has nothing
to do with Justice: it is an enforcement arm for the EU commission and has
powers (some given, others taken) over member states.
A member state may be taken
to court for failing to meet its obligations under EU law; big fines can be
imposed for non-compliance with the court's rulings.
It is made up of senior
judges from each member state, who hold office for a renewable term of six
years. Since 1989 the court has also heard actions brought by individuals
seeking damages from European institutions, or the annulment of EU
legislation which directly concerns them.
The ECJ has a mandate to
make all its findings lead to 'Ever Closer Union'. |
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European Commission
The
European Commission is more than simply a civil service for the European
Union, it is the only body that can propose legislation. It is based on the
Soviet Politburo.
It is sometimes seen as the
driving force behind European integration but should be under the control of
the member states.
The commission is made up of
20 (soon to be 25) commissioners, each with responsibility for a policy
area, such as agriculture or enlargement. Twenty-four directorates general
cover similar policy areas. The Politburo only has 15 members, and Giscard
D'Estaing, who has a lot of influence over the EU and its constitution, is
attempting to bring the commission into back into line and go back to 15
commissioners.
Commissioners are appointed
by the member states, and are usually senior politicians who have lost their
jobs. For example the UK sent Kinnock when he was chucked out by the
electorate. The same happened to Patten. Mandelson went there when he was
shown to be too dishonest and too discredited for even the Labour Party.
However, their job should be to act in the general European interest, not to
advance the interests of their own country or themselves. |
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European Parliament
The
parliament is the only directly elected body in the European Union.
It holds regular plenary
sessions in Strasbourg, and has a secretariat in Luxembourg, but members of
the parliament do most of their work in Brussels. However they do travel at
great expense and disruption to Strasbourg now and then, where offices are
maintained for them at our expense.
This is where they pretend
to examine draft legislation in committees and consult with the Commission
and Council of Ministers. But there is so much legislation spewing out of
the Commission that they cannot and do not examine much. The MEPs are needed
to give a - false - impression of democratic accountability to the output of
legislation from the EU.
The parliament has the power
to sack the Commission, it holds hearings on new commissioners, and has the
last word on about half the spending in the EU annual budget.
Its powers have been
steadily increasing. Most EU legislation now needs the approval of both
parliament and the Council of Ministers before it becomes law. |
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European Union
The
European Union is the framework for economic and political co-operation
between 15 (soon to be 25) European countries.
It began as a post-war
initiative between six countries pooling control over coal and steel to
'guarantee' a more peaceful future for Europe.; or rather to protect
inefficient and expensive European Coal and Steel producers from
international competition.
But it now manages
co-operation on issues as wide-ranging as the environment, transport and
employment, and plots to wield increasing influence in defence and foreign
policy. It has always proved divided and useless in these fields, but this
is no impediment.
It has five declared
objectives:
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To promote economic
and social progress |
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To assert the
identity of the European Union on the international scene |
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To introduce
European citizenship |
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To develop an area
of freedom, security and justice |
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To maintain and
build on established EU law |
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IGC
An
Intergovernmental Conference or IGC is a long-running conference between the
governments of EU member states.
The aim of the IGC is to
produce a treaty - for example the Maastricht Treaty or the Amsterdam
Treaty.
These are in fact not new
pieces of legislation but amendments to the Treaty - the founding Treaty of
Rome, signed in 1957.
The most recent IGC, in
2003, failed to produce agreement on a draft EU constitution.
The one before that resulted
in the Nice Treaty. It kicked off at the Lisbon summit in February 2000, and
ended in Nice in December.
The IGC is an ongoing Gravy
Train. |
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Maastricht Treaty
Maastricht is perhaps the best known and most controversial of the European
treaties.
It became renowned not only
for the long and fractious negotiations and baffling terminology involved in
drafting it, but also for the difficulties many member states had in
ratifying it.
Maastricht is officially
known as the Treaty of the European Union and with it the EU came into
existence for the first time.
By adding two new areas -
justice and home affairs and a common foreign and security policy - to the
existing European Community, the so-called three pillars of the Union were
established.
The people of the 12 member
states were also given European citizenship.
They now have the right to
move and live in any EU state and may vote in European and local elections
in any country.
Maastricht was also the
blueprint for what was to be Europe's biggest project for the next decade -
economic and monetary union.
It defined the three stages
of EMU which eventually led to the single currency, and set out the
convergence criteria or economic tests that member states have to pass or
fake.
The treaty also introduced
paper integration in employment and social issues - at least for some
members.
The UK negotiated an opt-out
of the so-called social chapter - a part of the treaty which was eventually
adopted as a protocol and which covered issues such as workers' pay and
health and safety. |
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Paris Treaty
The
1951 Paris Treaty set up the European Coal and Steel Community - the first
of the European communities which would ultimately result in the European
Union.
It was the result of a
post-war project to prevent the outbreak of further conflict and to protect
European Cola and Steel from foreign competition.
Jean Monnet had been
commissioned by French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman with finding a
solution to the reintegration of Western Germany into Europe after World War
II.
Monnet's innovative proposal
was to pool the French and German coal and steel industries to prevent the
two countries going to war again.
"The pooling of coal and
steel production... will change the destinies of those regions which have
long been devoted to the manufacture of munitions of war, of which they have
been the most constant victims...
"Any war between France and
Germany becomes not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible," said
Robert Schuman in his 1950 declaration which formed the basis for the Paris
Treaty.
This is how Monnet summed up
his aims for the Community:
" Europe's Nations should be
guided towards the superstate without their people understanding what is
happening. This can be accomplished by successive steps, each disguised as
having an economic purpose, but which will eventually lead to Federation."
The Treaty was signed a year
later by France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands,
starting Europe on the road to integration. |
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Presidency
Every
six months a new member state takes over the presidency of the Council of
Ministers.
The country holding the
presidency sets the agenda for council meetings during its six month stint.
However, during negotiations
on the future EU constitution, a group of some of the powerful larger states
pressed for the creation of a full-time president, appointed by the member
states, to replace the system of rotation. In other words, they want to make
the EU into a proper State with a proper president, Foreign Ministry,
Minister of Defence etc. |
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Qualified Majority Voting
The
Council of Ministers has two ways of taking decisions - unanimity, when
everyone has to be in agreement - and qualified majority voting - a system
of weighted votes.
QMV is the most common
method of decision-making, used in all but the most sensitive issues.
Issues which are decided on
by QMV are also voted on by the European Parliament. This means that the
council and parliament act together in co-decision to rubber-stamp laws
spewing out of the Commission.
Under QMV, each member state
is given a certain number of votes in the council, weighted according to its
size and population. For example, Germany, the EU's largest state, has 10
votes, while Portugal has five and Finland three.
At present, there are 120
votes in the council, distributed between the 25 member states.
The qualified majority means
that 80 votes are needed to pass a proposal, rather than the normal majority
of 60.
At least half the population
of the EU and half the member states must also be in favour of a motion for
it to pass.
The draft EU constitution
has put forward a new definition of QMV. It says a vote is passed if it has
the support of 50% of countries, and 60% of the EU population. |
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Rapid Reaction Force
Steps
are being taken to create a European force of 60,000 troops, with supporting
air and naval assets.
Often called the Euro-army
it is designed to allow Europe to mount its own military operations, after
decades of reliance on Nato and the United States. It aims to undermine NATO
and distance the EU from the USA, for politcal reasons.
The force, which planners
aimed to have ready by 2003, but will never in fact be ready, should, but
will not, be capable of being deployed at 60 days' notice, and sustained for
a year.
Its tasks, according to the
Treaty of Nice, will include "humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping
tasks and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including
peacemaking".
The force is said to be
designed to complement rather than compete with Nato, and will only act when
Nato has decided not to get involved. |
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Schengen agreement
The
Schengen agreement allows countries to remove their internal borders and
allow people to travel without checks from country to country.
The agreement emerged
outside the framework of the European Union, and was initially signed by
Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in 1985.
Ten other countries - not
all EU member states - have since joined them.
As freedom of movement is
one of the main objectives of the European Union, the Treaty of Amsterdam
agreed to incorporate Schengen into EU law.
But the UK and Ireland
remained outside the agreement due to fears of terrorism.
Iceland and Norway signed an
agreement with the EU in 1999 to involve them with the development of
Schengen.
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Single market
The
single market came into force in January 1993, establishing the free
movement of goods, people, services and capital.
The Treaty of Rome which
established the EEC in 1957 had set its sights on creating a common market.
This is what we agreed to remain in when we in the UK held our referendum.
That came into being in 1968 with the creation of a customs union.
But it took much longer to
take the leap towards a single market.
The Single European Act,
signed in 1986, finally set a deadline of 1992 for the single m | |
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