The European Union

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Accession

...The process of joining the EU.

Committee of the Regions (CoR)

A Commmittee set up by the Maastricht Treaty as an advisory body composed of nominated representatives of Europe's regional and local authorities, to ensure that regional and local identities and interests are respected within the EU.

Eurobarometer

A European Commission publication and website monitoring and analyzing public opinion in te member states since 1973.

Council of Europe

A European political organization founded on 5 May 1949 by ten countries and distinct from the EU. The Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, has forty-seven member countries. It seeks to develop throughout Europe common and democratic principles based on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and other reference texts on the protection individuals.

European Economic Community (EEC)

A body created by the 1957 Treatty of Rome, its aim being to bring about economic integration, including a common market, among its six founding members: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

Gross National Product (GNP)

A measure of the country's total economic activity.

Liberal-democratic

A system of representative government that is characterized by universal adult suffrage, political equality, majority rule, and a constitutional check on the power of rulers.

Supranationalism

An approach to the study of the EU that emphasizes the autonomy of the European institutions and the importance of common Euroepan policies.

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)

Established by 6 states in April 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, the ECSC allowed for the pooling of authority over coal and steel industries. Because it was based on a fifty year treaty, the ECSC ceased to exist on 23 July 2002.

European Central Bank (ECB)

Established in Frankfurt in 1999, the central bank is responsible for the single monetary policy in the euro area.

European Convention

See Convention on the Future of Europe.

Eurozone

See Euroarea

Powers

The ability to control outcomes; the capacity of A to force B to do something A's interest.

Regulation

The rules or legislation made in order to provoke certain policy outcomes; one of the legislative instruments used by the Eu. EU regulations are directly effective, spelling out not only the aim of legislation, but also what must be done and how.

Cooperation

Usually implies government-to-government relations (with little supranational involvement).

Walter Hallstein

, a committed European, and a decisive proponent of Euroepan integration. In his opinion, the most important prerequisite for a successful political integration of Euroep was the creation of common economic institutions. As president of the Eureopan Commission, Hallstein worked towards a rapid realization of the common market.

Association Agreement

...An agreement between the EU and a third country that creates a framework for cooperation in several policy fields such as trade, socio-economic issues, and security, as well as the creation of joint institutional structures.

Acquis-Communautaire

A French term that refers literally to the Community patrimony. It is the cumulative body of the objectives, substantive rules, policies, and in particular, the primary and secondary legislation and case law-all of which form part of the legal order of the EU. It includes the content of the treaties, legislation, judgments by the courts, and international agreements. All member states are bound to comply with the acquis communautaire.

European Council

A body that defines the general political direction and priorities of the EU. With the entry into force of the Treaty of Libson on 1 December 2009, it became an institution, with its own president.

Common External Tariff

A central element of any customs union: a set of common tariffs, agreed by all members, imposed on goods coming into the union from outside its borders.

Western European Union (WEU)

A claborative defence agreement and extension of the 1948 Treaty of Brussels, singed in 1955. It was designed to allow for the rearmament of W. Germany. It was revitalized in the 1980's, and subsequently served as a bridge between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the EU. Its fucntions have lately subsumed within the EU.

Yugoslavia

A country in the Western Balkans that existed during most of the 20th century. In 1963, it was renamed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which includes 6 republics-namely, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, SR Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Serbia-and two autonomous provinces (Vojodina and Kosovo). After the 1991 Balkan Wars, which followed the secession of most of the country's constituent entities, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia existed until 2003, when it was renamed Serbia and Montenegro. On the basis of a referendum help on 21 May 2006, Montenegro declared independence on 3 June of that year.

Zollverein

A customs union between German states in the 18th century under Bismarck; the economic basis for German unification.

Sectoral Integration

A description of, or strategy for, integration that involves an incremental sector-by-sector approach.

Davignon Report

A document issued by EC foreign ministers in 1970, outlining how the Community might develop its own foreign policy and setting out some initial steps to that end.

Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)

A form of integration that combines the features of the economic union (which implies the existence of a single market, but also a high degree of coordination of the most important areas of economic policy and market regulation, as well as monetary policies and income redistribution policies) and the monetary union, which implies further integration in the area of currency cooperation. The process involves three stages and the fulfillment of the so-called convergence criteria by all participating countries.

Monetary Union

A form of integration that usually contains a single market (and therefore free movement of goods, services, labour, and capital among the participating states and common rules, tariffs, and so on, vis-à-vis third countries) and has further integration in the area of currecy cooperation. A monetary union either has irrevocably fixed exchange rates and full convertibility of currency circulating within the monetary union. It also requires integration of budgetary and monetary policies.

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

A fund that aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion in the EU by correcting imbalances between its regions. The ERDF finances: direct aid to investments in companies (in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs) to reate sustainable jobs; infrastructures linked notably to research innovation, telecommunications, environment, energy, and transport; financial instrument, and to foster cooperation between town and regional policy - namely, convergency, regional competitiveness andemployment, and European territorial Cooperation.

Cooperation Procedure

A legislative procedure introduced in the Single European Act (Article 252, ex 198cEC), which allowed the European Parliament a second reading of draft legislation. Since Amesterdam, ittt had been hardly used, because most policies originally falling under cooperation came under the then co-decision procedure (now ordinary legislative procedure, or OLP); the Lisbon Treaty repealed the cooperation procedure.

a la carte

A non-uniform method of integration that would allow member states to select policies as if from a menu.

Fouchet Plan

A plan proposed in 1961 and pushed by the French government, which would have led to the creation of a European intergovernmental dfence organization, but which was rejected by the EC's member states.

Cohesion

A principle that favours the reduction of regional and social disparities across the EU.

European Monetary System (EMS)

A regulated exchange rate system established in the EC in 1979 after failures to set up economic and monetary union earlier in the decade, the EMS aimed to promote monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability.

Intergovernmental Conference (IGC)

A structured negotiation among the EU's member states, which usualy leads to treaty revisions. See simplified revision procedure.

Snake

A system aimed to stabilize exchange rates within the Ec in the 1970's.

Qualified Majority Voting (QMV)

A system of voting based on the qualified majority, which is the number of votes required in the Council for a decision to be adopted when issues are being debated on the basis of Article 16 TEU and Article 238 TFEU. Under the ordinary legislative procedure (OLP), the Council acts by qualified majority in combination with the European Parliament. With the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, a new system known as 'double majority' was introduced. It will enter into force on 1 November 2014.

Intergovernmentalism

A theory of European integration that privileges the role of states. When conceptualization decision-making mechanisms in the context of the EU, this refers to decisions being made by the member states only, without involvement of the supranational institutions.

Neo-Functionalism

A theory of European integration that views integration as an incremental process, involving the spillover of integration in one sector to others, ultimately leading to come kind of political community.

Nice Treaty

A treaty revision agreed at Nice in December 2000, signed in February 2001, and ratified in 2002. It introduced a number of institutional reforms that paved the way for the enlargement of the Union in 2004 and afterwards.

Treaty of Dunkirk

A treaty signed on 4 March 1947, between France and the UK in Dunkirk (France), as a treaty of alliance and mutual assistance against a possible German attack.

Federation

A way of organizing a political system, which involves the constitutionally defined sharing of functions between a federal centre and the states. A federation will usually have a bicameral parliament, a constitutional court, and a constitution.

Supranational

Above the national level. It may refer to institutions, policies, or a particular 'type' of cooperation/integration.

Social Chapter

Agreed at Maastricht, the Social Chapter establishes minimum social conditions within the EU.

Open Method of Coordination (OMC)

An approach toing that is an Eu policy-making that is an alternative to regulation and which involves more informal means of encouraging compliance than hard legislation.

Altiero Spinelli

An important federalist thinker and politician (1907-86), responsible for the influential Ventotene Manifesto of 1941 and for the Parliament's Ddraft Treaty on European Union (1984), which helped to hsape the European political agenda of the late 1980's.

European Ombudsman

An independent body that investigates complaints about maladministration in the institutions and bodies of the European Union.

Agenda 2000

An influential action programme adopted by the Comission on 15 July 1987, which set out the reforms needed for the EU to englarge in 2004 and in 2007.

Deepening

An intensification of integration processes and structures.

Luxembourg Compromise

An intergovernmental agreement arrived at in January 1966 between member states that solved the empy chair crisis. It states that when vital interests of one or more countries are at stake, members of the Council will endeavor to reach solutions that can be adopted by all, while respecting their mutual interests.

Civil Society

An intermediate realm between the state and the individual or family; a particular type of political society rooted in principles of citizenship.

League of Nations

An international organization set up in 1922 that had as its rationale the maintenance of peace in Europe.

European Free Trade Association (EFTA)

An international organization set up in 1960 to promote free trade amongst its members. Most of its original members have since joined the European Union.

Interest Group

Any group of individuals or associations that is organized, with shared political interests and informality, and which does not aspire to public office or to compete in elections, but rather to the pursuit of goals through frequent informal interactions with politicians and bureaucrats.

Intergovernmental

Cooperation that involves sovereign states and which occurs on a government-to-government basis, without the extensive involvement of supranational actors.

Ratification

Formal approval. In the EU context, it implies approval of Treaty revisions by national parliaments and sometimes also by popular referendum.

Robert Schuman

Former French foreign minister and one of the founding fathers of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), through his Schuman Plan of 1950.

Widening

Generally refers to the enlargement of the EU, but may also be used to denote the increasing scope of Community or Union competences.

Assent

Introduced by the Single European Act of 1986, the assent procedure requires the EU Council to obrain the European Parliament's approval before certain important decisions are taken. The assent principle is based on a single reading. Parliament may accept or reject a proposal, but cannot amend it. If Parliament does not give assent, the act in question cannot be adopted. This procedure applies mainly to the accession of new member states, association agreements, and other fundamental agreements with third countries.

Single European Act (SEA)

It came into force in he first of the large scle treaty revisions, signed in and seved as a vehicle for the single market programme.

Normative

Of value judgments-that is, 'what ought to be', as opposed to positive statements about 'what is'.

Jean Monnet

One of the founders of the European integration project. The driving force behind the 1950 Schuman Plan, which led to the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), Monet became the first head of the ECSC's High Authority. He continued to play an active role in European integration throughout his life, although often behind the scenes.

Citizens' initiative

One of the new democratic instruments incorporated into the Lisbon Treaty to enhance democracy and transparency in the EU. The initiative allows 1 million EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies, by calling on the European Commission to make a legislative proposal. The first initiative was registered on 9 May 2012.

Charles de Gaulle

President of France from 1959-1969, de Gaulle was responsible for keeping the UK out of the EEC is said to have slowed down the Europe integration process after 1966.

Libson Treaty

Revising the Nice version of the TEU, the Libson Treaty was signed in 2007 and entered into force in December 2009 after a protracted ratification.

Maastricht Treaty

See Treaty on the European Union (TEU)

Amending Treaty

See reform treaty

European Social Fund (ESF)

Set up in 1957, a fund that aims to sustain and improve mobility in the European labour market through education and requalification initiatives for workers in areas experiencing industrial decline.

Schuman Plan

Signed May (th, 1950, it lead to the setting up of the European Coal and Steel Community.

Treaty of Rome

Signed in 1957, the Rome Treaty formally established the Euroepan Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom, or EAEC).

Constitutional Treaty

Sometimes known as the EU Constitution a treaty signed on 24 October 2004. It was not ratified due to negative referenda in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

Harmonized

The act of setting common European standards from which states are unable to deviate (either upwards or downwards).

Executive

The branch of government responsible for implementing laws taken by parliament; the administration.

Integration

The combination of parts of a unified whole-that is, a dynamic process of change. European integration is usually associated with the intensely institutionalized form of cooperation found in Europe after 1951.

Empty Chair Crisis

The crisis that affected the Euroepan Community after July 1965 when France boycotted the meetings of the Council in opposition to Commision proposals addressing the financing of the Common Agrigcultural Policy (CAP). France insisted on a political agreement that would clarify the roe of the commission and majority voting if it were to participate again. This crisis\ was resolved in the Luxembourg Compromise in January 1966.

Copenhagen Criteria

The criteria that applicant states have to meet in order to join the EU. It was agreed at the Copenhagen European Council meeting in 1993.

Euro Area

The economic area that covers those countries that have so far joined the EU's single currency.

Legitimacy

The extent of which a regime's procedures for making and enforcing laws are acceptable to all of its subjects; the right to rule. See input legitimacy; output legitimacy.

Interdependent

The extent to which the actions of one state impact upon others.

Konrad Adenauer

The first Chancellor of the Gederal Republic of Germany after the end of the Second World War, Adenauer held office for 14 years and was responsible for overseeing the reconstrunction of Germany in the 1950's, particularly in the context of European integration, of which he was a key supporter.

Regimes

The framework of pirnciples, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures around which actors' expectations occur. An international regime is usually considered to take the form of an international organization. It is a concept associated with neo-realism.

Single Markets

The goal of one unified internal EU market, free of (national) barriers to trade. While the idea was included in the Treaty of Rome, the single market is usually associated with the revitalization of the Community from the mid-1980's.

Governance

The intentional regulation of social relationships and the underlying conflicts by reliable and durable means and institutions, instead of the direct use of power and violence.

Competence

The legal capacity to deal with a matter.

Democratic Deficit

The loss of democracy caused by the transfer of powers to the European institutions and to member state executives arising out of the European integration. It implies that representative institutions (parliaments) lose out in this process.

Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM)

The main element of the European monetary system, a mechanism that aimed to create a zone of monetary stability within Western Europe.

Ordinary Legislative Procedure (OLP)

The main procedure for adopting legislation in the European Union, known before the Lisbon Treaty entered into force as co-decision. The OLP makes the Parliament an equal co-legislative partner with the Council. Whilst agreement is normally concluded at first reading following informal negotiations, under the OLP the EP has the right to hold up to three readings of legislation, to reject the legislation, and to hold conciliation meetings with the Council to negotiate a compromise agreement.

Fiscal Policy

The means by which a government adjusts its levels of spending in order to monitor and influence a nation's economy.

High Authority

The original name given to the (now) European Commission in the 1950 Schuman Declaration and subsequently incorporated into the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) Treaty.

Unanimity

The principle that all the member states must vote in favour for an agreement to be reached. It implies that each member state hold a potential veto.

Europeanization

The process of European integration itself, or ashorthand for the incorporation of European characteristics into domestic institutions, politics, and identies.

Enlargements

The process of expanding the EU geographically to include new member states.

European Integration

The process of political and economic (and possibly also cultural and social) integration of the states of Europe into a unified bloc.

Interest Intermediation

The process of translating interests into policy, through the medium of interest organization.

Franco-German axis

The relationship between France and Germany that is often said to lie at the heart of the European integration process.

Convergence Criteria

The rules that member states have to meet before they can join economic and monetary union (EMU) in 1999.

Policy Convergence

The tendency for policies (in different countries) to begin to take on similar forms over time.

Treaty base

The treaty provision that underpins a particular piece of European legislation.

Bipolarity

The understanding of the international system before the end of the Cold War as being structured around the two superpowers-namely, the U.S. and Soviet Union.

Community Method

The use of the established process of decision-making, which involves a Commission legislative initiative being agreed by the Council, and now usually the European Parliament. It also implies that the European Court of Justice will have jurisdiction over any decision taken.

Treaty of Brussels

between Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the UK, the Treaty of Brussels (or Brussels Pact)) aimed to set out terms for economic, social, and cultural cooperation, and especially collective self-defiance. It provided for the establishment of an international organization that led to the creation of the Western Euroepan Union (WEU).


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