Facts about the following milestones in the development of the EU

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- The Treaties of Rome are two of the treaties of the European Union signed on March 25, 1957 - Both treaties were signed by The Six: Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany - The first established the European Economic Community (EEC) and the second established the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) - They were the first international organisations to be based on supranationalism, after the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) established a few years prior The Single European Act - The Single European Act (SEA) was the first major revision of the Treaty of Rome that formally established the single European market and the European Political Cooperation - There was discontent among European Community members in the 1980s about the de facto lack of free trade between members - Leaders from business and politicals wanted to harmonize laws between countries and resolve policy discrepancies - A commission to analyze whether a common market was possible and what steps would be needed drew up proposals that became the Single European Act - The goal was to remove remaining barriers between countries, increase harmonization, increasing the competitiveness of European countries - It reformed the operating procedures of the institutions (which then had 12 members, rather than 6 as initially) and Qualified Majority Voting was extended to new areas - An aim was set of a single market by 1992 - The act introduced European Political Cooperation, forerunner of the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy - The act was signed at Luxembourg on February 17, 1986, and at The Hague on February 28, 1986 - It went into effect on July 1, 1987, under the Delors Commission The Maastricht Treaty (aka the Treaty on European Union) - The Maastricht Treaty (formally, the Treaty on European Union, TEU) was signed on 7 February 1992 in Maastricht, the Netherlands after final negotiations on December 9, 1991 between the members of the European Community and entered into force on 1 November 1993 during the Delors Commission - It created the European Union and led to the creation of the euro - The Maastricht Treaty has been amended to a degree by later treaties - The treaty led to the creation of the euro, and created what is commonly referred to as the pillar structure of the European Union - This conception of the Union divides it into the European Community (EC) pillar, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) pillar, and the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) pillar - The creation of the pillar system was the result of the desire by many member states to extend the European Economic Community to the areas of foreign policy, military, criminal justice, judicial cooperation to the European Community The Amsterdam Treaty - was signed on October 2, 1997 - entered into force on May 1, 1999 - it made substantial changes to the Treaty on European Union, which had been signed at Maastricht in 1992 - The Amsterdam Treaty meant a greater emphasis on citizenship and the rights of individuals, more democracy in the shape of increased powers for the European Parliament, a new title on employment, a Community area of freedom, security and justice, the beginnings of a common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and the reform of the institutions in the run-up to enlargement The Nice Treaty - The Nice Treaty was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003 - It amended the Maastricht Treaty (or the Treaty on European Union) and the Treaty of Rome (or the Treaty establishing the European Community) - The Treaty of Nice reformed the institutional structure of the European Union to withstand eastward expansion, a task which was originally intended to have been done by the Amsterdam Treaty, but failed to be addressed at the time The Lisbon Treaty - The Treaty of Lisbon (aka the Reform Treaty) is a treaty designed to streamline the workings of the European Union (EU) with amendments to the Treaty on European Union (TEU, Maastricht) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC, Rome), the latter being renamed Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) in the process - The stated aim of the treaty is "to complete the process started by the Treaty of Amsterdam and by the Treaty of Nice with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union and to improving the coherence of its action” - Prominent changes introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon include more qualified majority voting in the EU Council, increased involvement of the European Parliament in the legislative process through extended codecision with the EU Council, reduction of the number of Commissioners from 27 to 18, eliminating the pillar system, and the creation of a President of the European Council and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs to present a united position on EU policies - If ratified, the Treaty of Lisbon would also make the Charter of Fundamental Rights (human rights provisions) legally binding - The Treaty of Lisbon was signed on 13 December 2007 in Lisbon and was planned to have been ratified in all member states by the end of 2008, so it could come into force before the 2009 European elections - However, the rejection of the Treaty on 12 June 2008 by the Irish electorate means that the treaty cannot currently be ratified The European Commission - is the executive branch of the European Union - The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union - The Commission operates in the method of cabinet government, with 27 Commissioners - There is one Commissioner per member state, though Commissioners are bound to represent the interests of the EU as a whole rather than their home state - One of the 27 is the Commission President (currently Jose Manuel Durao Barroso) appointed by the European Council with the approval of the European Parliament - The present Barroso Commission took office in late 2004 and should serve a five-year term The European Parliament - The European Parliament (Europarl or EP) is the only directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union - Together with the Council of the European Union, it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the Union's institutions and has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world - The Parliament and Council form the highest legislative body within the Union - However their powers as such are limited to the competencies conferred upon the European Community by member states - Hence the institution has little control over policy areas held by the states and within the other two of the three pillars of the European Union - The Parliament is composed of 785 MEPs (Member of the European Parliament), who serve the second largest democratic electorate in the world (after India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world - It has been directly elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979 - The President of the European Parliament (its speaker) is currently Hans-Gert Pottering (EPP), elected in January 2007 The Council of Ministers - The Council of the European Union is the principal decision making institution in the European Union - It is often informally called the Council of Ministers or just the Council - Within the competencies of the Community pillar, it is the more powerful of the two legislative chambers, the other being the European Parliament - The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers - However the exact membership depends upon the topic being discussed - for example; when discussing the agricultural policy the twenty-seven national agriculture ministers form the Council - The Union's law is limited to specific policy areas, however it does override national law - As the Union operates on supranational and intergovernmental platforms, in some areas the Council is superior to the Parliament, having only to consult to get assent from the body - In many areas, the Union uses the legislative process of co decision procedure, in which The Council does not have a single president in the traditional sense, but the role is rotated between each member state every 6 months (known as the "Presidency"), with the minister from that state then able to set the agenda - Another powerful position is the Secretary General who is also the policy the two bodies are equal in power The European Court of Justice including the Court of First Instance - The Court of Justice of the European Communities, usually called the European Court of Justice (ECJ), is the highest court of the European Union - It has the ultimate say on matters of EU law in order to ensure equal application across the various European Union member states - The body was established in 1952 and is based in Luxembourg City - The court is composed of one judge per member state although only 13 of them hear a case at any one time in the 'Grand Chamber' - The court is led by a president; since 2003 this has been Vassilios Skouris - The court is assisted by a lower court, the Court of First Instance, which has jurisdiction over direct actions brought by natural or legal persons - Its previous jurisidcition over staf cases brought by offices of the European Institutions and agencies was transferred to the Civil Service Tribunal References: http://en...