The practical guide to the eu labyrinth E-Book

Daniel Guéguen

• Herausgeber: Anthemis
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 143

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

The first edition of the Practical Guide to the EU Labyrinth was published in 1991.

32 years and 16 editions later, Daniel Guéguen and Vicky Marissen now offer an updated and adapted edition.

The Treaty of Lisbon of 1 December 2009 requires a comprehensive reform of this guide to understand the new procedures, new ways of conduct and new practices of the EU.

After reading this guide, enriched with diagrams, examples and summaries, the structures, competences and procedures of the European institutions will no longer hold any secrets for you.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Former Associate Partner of EPPA, Daniel Guéguen has dedicated his whole working life to European public affairs. Daniel set up several businesses specialised in European affairs and after disposing of them in 2012, he founded PACT European Affairs, specialised in the post-Lisbon comitology procedures. Alongside this activity, Daniel Guéguen has published books that have been translated into several languages. Via articles, blogs and tweets widely circulated in international press, he has campaigned for a more operational EU that is closer to citizens. Building upon the educational nature of his books on the EU, Daniel is still today involved in many university programmes, in the USA (Harvard, Georgetown) and across Europe (ULB, Paris Sciences-Po, EDHEC, HEC, INSEAD), and at at the College of Europe in Bruges and Natolin. For his European activities, Daniel Guéguen was in 2005 awarded the rank of “Chevalier” in the order of the Légion d’honneur.


Vicky Marissen’s legal background and long-standing experience in European Public Affairs make her the expert capable of assisting companies, trade associations and organisations active in highly regulated sectors such as food, pharmaceuticals and health, helping them close the procedural gap and regain impact on the EU decision-making process.

Besides providing legal and procedural input on files and assistance in developing and deploying engagement strategies, Vicky provides support in communicating often technical arguments in an understandable form to different target audiences (public, private, media, etc.).

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A new Practical Guide with two authors

It was June 1991 – 30 years ago – when the first edition of the Practical Guide to the Community Labyrinth was published. I had just moved from Paris to Brussels and been appointed Director General of the European Sugar Federation. The objective of the first edition was therefore to help me – and by extension my employers, the European sugar manufacturers – to understand the Community decision-making process.

Around 14 further French and English editions followed, with publication in more than 20 languages. Leafing through the first 1991 edition and comparing it to the more recent one published in 2006, the first thought I had was: “How simpler it all was back then!”

With the Treaty of Lisbon – this poorly conceived treaty – a new era has begun. This required a complete revamp of the Guide, a fundamental re-working allowing for an understanding of the new procedures and the new practices of the European Union.

To do so, this was a job for two people. It was with great pleasure that I invited Vicky Marissen, my trusted associate for the past 15 years, to co-author this work on with me.

Daniel Guéguen

Get in touch with the authors:

[email protected]

[email protected]

Daniel Guéguen and Vicky Marissen have for many years been involved in writing and publishing books on European public affairs, specific policy areas (“The Euro: Europe’s construction or destruction?”) and on the EU Institutions and lobbying.

EU Handbook on secondary legislation

Written jointly with Vicky Marissen and Steven Corocan, this is a technical handbook aimed at professionals to help them understand the complex procedures of post-Lisbon secondary legislation (delegated acts and implementing acts). The fifth edition (February 2020) is still available.

Comitology: Hijacking European Power?

First edition published in February 2010. Translated into French, German and Czech. Written like a detective novel, this book describes the infernal system of post-Lisbon secondary legislation. The sixth edition (September 2014) includes 20 pages on the Orphacol case.

European Lobbying

First edition: 2008. Translated into French, German, Czech, Slovenian, Croatian, Ukrainian and Russian. This book sets out the methodology for European lobbying in the pre-Lisbon era (lobbying structures, tools and strategies).

Reshaping European Lobbying

First edition: 2013. Translated into French, Serbian and Czech. This book analyses the consequences of the Lisbon Treaty and new inter-institutional practices for EU lobbying. In the drafting, adoption and implementation phases of EU legislation, lobbying techniques have been profoundly altered.

Daniel Guéguen and Vicky Marissen

Daniel Guéguen stands out in the world of EU affairs. The length of his career says it all – 45 years in European lobbying – as do the nature and diversity of his posts: former Director General of the European Sugar Federation, then head of COPA-COGECA, the European farmers’ lobby. In 1996, Daniel became a consultant, experiencing undisputed success with CLAN Public Affairs and ETI (European Training Institute), and now with PACT European Affairs.

Vicky Marissen joined CLAN Public Affairs as an intern in 2000, and then participated in all stages of the development of the company and its subsidiaries. PACT European Affairs was founded jointly and equally by Daniel and Vicky: together, they conceived PACT as THE reference in Brussels for delegated acts and comitology.

Together, they have held innumerable ETI trainings and drafted educational material for seminars and coaching. Some of the books authored by Daniel Guéguen owe a lot to Vicky Marissen, being based on their shared vision of modern public affairs and lobbying.

Publicly, Daniel Guéguen has always been a supporter of a Europe of citizens and a European Union that is more proactive and able to be driven forward by its values. These convictions and educational focus have always been shared by Vicky Marissen who has been involved in courses delivered in several international universities, e.g. College of Europe, ULB, KUL, Maastricht University, EDHEC and Georgetown University.

Daniel Guéguen and Vicky Marissen are today Partners in EPPA, the oldest independent consultancy firm in Brussels, with which they fused their activities in 2018.

INTRODUCTION – FROM ROME TO LISBON

CHAPTER 1 – THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

I. Legal basis

II. Structure

III. Composition

A. The College of 27 Commissioners

B. The administrative services

IV. Powers

A. An exclusive right of initiative

B. Implementing power (delegated and implementing acts)

C. Management power: the Commission as the paymaster of the EU

D. Negotiating power

E. Supervisory power: the Commission as guardian of the treaties

CHAPTER 2 – THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL

I. Legal basis

II. Composition

III. Competences

IV. Internal functioning

CHAPTER 3 – THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

I. Legal basis

II. Composition

III. Powers

A. Legislative power

B. Budgetary power

C. Power of economic co-ordination

D. Concluding international agreements

IV. Voting: majority or unanimity

V. Functioning

A. COREPER

B. Specialised committees

C. Council working groups

D. Secretariat of the Council of Ministers

CHAPTER 4 – THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

I. Legal basis

II. Composition

A. President and Vice-Presidents

B. Members of the European Parliament and the political groups

C. European Parliament committees

D. Political bodies

E. Administrative services of the European Parliament

III. European Parliament powers

A. Legislative power

B. Budgetary power

C. Executive oversight

IV. Internal functioning

A. Voting in the European Parliament

B. Working with the European Parliament

CHAPTER 5 – THE LEGAL ORDER AND DECISION-MAKING 73 PROCEDURES OF THE EU

I. The EU legal order

A. Hierarchy of legal acts

B. Types of legal acts

II. EU decision-making procedures

CHAPTER 6 – ADVISORY BODIES OF THE EU

I. The European Economic and Social Committee

II. The Committee of the Regions

CHAPTER 7 – THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF THE EU

I. Legal basis

II. Composition

A. The various functions

B. Court of Justice

C. General Court

D. Civil Service Tribunal

III. Actions and competences

A. Types of action

B. Competences

IV. Procedures at the Court of Justice

A. Procedure for direct actions

B. Preliminary reference

C. Decisions of the Court

V. Activities

VI. The case law of the Courts

ANNEXES

ANNEX I The Golden Rules of EU Lobbying

ANNEX II Addresses of the EU Institutions

Introduction

From Rome to Lisbon

Introduction

1957: THE BIRTH OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY

On 25 March 1957, the six founding countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) signed the Treaties of Rome. The first established the European Economic Community (EEC) while the second founded the European Atomic Energy Community (better known as “Eura­tom”).

Coming into force on 1 January 1958, the Treaty establishing the EEC provi­ded for:

a common market based on free movement of services, goods, capital and persons (the “four freedoms”);a customs union abolishing all internal customs duties and creating a common external tariff for the EEC;common policies, notably the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP);a European Social Fund aiming to modernise economically weak regions via the granting of structural funds. In the same spirit of solidarity, a mechanism was created to aid the development of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries;

from its founding, the European Economic Community was built on a basic model still in force today: a non-national and neutral executive Commission, a legislative power entrusted to Member States and a Court of Justice ensuring observance of EU law. The only element missing was the significant role enjoyed by the European Parliament today.

In the grand process of constructing the EU, four key milestones stand out :

the signing of the Treaties of Rome, on 25 March 1957, giving birth to the European Economic Community;the entry into force on 1 July 1987 of the Single European Act, strengthening the powers and competences of the European Institutions;the Treaty of Maastricht, leading to the creation of the European Union on 1 November 1993;in 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon which replaced the defunct “Draft Constitutional Treaty”.

THE SINGLE EUROPEAN ACT OF 1987: A MAJOR MILESTONE

The Single European Act was the first fundamental revision of the treaties.

It facilitated decision-making in the Council

Initially, qualified majority was intended to be the rule for voting on EEC policies envisaged by the treaties. However, Member States gradually replaced it with unanimity, leading to legislative inertia and blockages.

For the Council of Ministers, the Single European Act meant a return to qualified majority voting.

It increased the powers of the European Parliament

The Single European Act introduced the co-operation procedure, involving the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament (a prelude to the future co-decision procedure).

It strengthened the powers of the Commission

The Act conferred on the Commission an exclusive right of initiative – that is, drafting and proposing legislative texts – in all areas of EEC competence.

It gave the Commission a leading role in the co-operation procedure between the Council and Parliament, and also bestowed upon it broader implementing powers (i.e. comitology).

It opened up new fields of activity

The Single European Act extended the EEC’s competences in the fields of research, finance, economic convergence, social policy and the environment.

It provided for a legal framework for Member State co-operation on foreign policy matters.

It set down a core objective: completing the Single Market

The Single European Act was straightforward: a Single Market guaranteeing free movement of persons, goods, services and capital within the EEC must be achieved by 31 December 1992.

The Act thus strengthened the powers of the three main Institutions, giving major impetus to the EEC as a whole.

ONE STEP FURTHER IN 1993: THE TREATY OF MAASTRICHT

At the European Council in Maastricht on 9-10 December 1991, the Heads of State and Government of the EU agreed to further enlarge the Community’s competences and reinforce the powers of the Institutions.

All you need to know in ten points:

1. Maastricht brought the three Communities (Euratom, European Coal and Steel Community, European Economic Community) under one umbrella, the European Union and offered the prospect of accession to the countries of Eastern Europe.

2. Every national of the twelve Member States became de facto a “citizen of Europe”, in principle free to reside anywhere in the Union.

3. Every European citizen was given the right to vote (and be elected) in municipal and European elections in his or her country of residence.

4. Maastricht was the cornerstone of the future single EU currency.

5. It unblocked the Social Europe framework by allowing the “Eleven” – the United Kingdom having opted out of this agreement – to harmonise their rules on trade union representation in businesses, health and safety in the workplace, gender equality, etc.

6. It extended qualified majority voting within the Council of Ministers (as stated above, unanimity had been a blocking factor).

7. Maastricht substantially reinforced the role and powers of the European Parliament, elevating it to the level of co-legislator alongside the Council of Ministers on numerous issues (e.g. environment, transport, consumer rights).

8. It created a Committee of the Regions, operating in an advisory capacity, in order to allow regional issues to be taken into account during the decision-making process.

9. It strengthened North/South solidarity by creating a development fund for the Mediterranean regions (e.g. a Cohesion Fund).

10. Finally, the Treaty of Maastricht formed the cornerstone, or embryo, of a future common EU policy on defence, security, foreign affairs and home affairs (e.g. justice, policing, civil and criminal law).

Made possible by the success of the Single Market, the Treaty of Maastricht represented undeniable progress and – despite all the criticism, obstacles and stalling by Member States like Denmark and the United Kingdom – marked a further step for European integration.

The Treaties of Amsterdam (1997) and Nice (2000), on the other hand, represented a step backwards for the process of European integration. While the Treaty of Amsterdam postponed agreed reforms to a later date, the Nice Summit saw national interests given priority over the EU interest.

The Member States quickly realised how inadequate the Treaty of Nice was in terms of responding to the challenge of enlargement. This led the Belgian Council Presidency to propose in 2001 the creation of a Convention on the Future of Europe for the purpose of putting forward an in-depth reform of the EU Institutions.

THE TREATY OF LISBON – A VERY LONG SAGA

Between the launch of the Convention on the Future of Europe and the adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon in December 2009, lay a period of almost 10 years of quite impressive stopping and starting!

The Convention on the Future of Europe

The intention of the EU Heads of State and Government was to establish a large forum (105 members representing the Member States, national and European parliaments, the Commission and civil society) to reflect on and discuss what needed to be done.

The questions addressed included: what is the goal of European integration? A federal Europe? A Europe of nations? A Single Market? What are the geographical limits of the EU? How can the Treaties be simplified? How can the balance of power between the Commission, Parliament and Council be adjusted?

The Convention’s final report was sent to the Member States in 2003 and, like for all major treaty revisions, was submitted to an “Intergovernmental Conference”. This led to an agreement on 18 June 2004 on a “Draft Constitutional Treaty”.

The failure of the Draft Constitutional Treaty

The draft treaty still had to be ratified by the 25 Member States making up the EU at the time. Most countries chose the legislative route, ratifying the treaty without any problems. A couple of countries decided to hold a referendum. The Spanish voters said yes, but the French and Dutch voters said no.

As unanimity of all 25 was required, the Draft Constitutional Treaty could not be approved. What should be done now? Political leaders were already talking about a “simplified treaty” as a solution to the defunct Constitutional Treaty, the idea of “simplified” also being an implicit commitment not to waste any time.

Many twists and turns before the final adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon

In June 2007, a new Intergovernmental Conference was convened. It drew up a draft “amending treaty” that was adopted formally by the Member States on 13 December 2007 in Lisbon.

Discouraged by the failed referenda of 2005, France and the Netherlands cautiously chose to ratify through their national parliaments – a route selected by every other Member State except Ireland, which was obliged by its constitution to ratify the new treaty via a referendum. The Irish people voted “no”, so the treaty was slightly modified by among others abandoning the aim of reducing the number of Commissioners by a third. In a second referendum, the Irish voters said “yes”.

Although its goal was to improve decision-making in an EU getting ever larger and more diverse, the “simplified treaty” turned out in practice to be a very complex beast. It modified the institutional architecture put in place by Maastricht, creating a triumvirate at the top of the EU and establishing complex procedures for delegated and implementing acts.

The Treaty of Lisbon finally entered into force on 1 December 2009, bringing numerous changes:

The powers of the European Parliament were expanded: co-decision was extended to around thirty policy areas, and is now the ordinary legislative procedure. Its power to approve the budget was also increased.The European Council became a formal EU Institution, with a permanent president to be elected by qualified majority of Member States for a term of two and a half years, renewable once.The creation of a new position: High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, whose twofold mission would be to represent the EU abroad and chair meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council. The High Representative is also Vice-President of the Commission and is at the head of of the European External Action Service (EEAS).The EU acquired legal personality.The Citizen’s Initiative can encourage the Commission to table a legislative proposal if at least one million EU citizens in a significant number of Member States request it.

In December 2011, the latest accession treaty made Croatia the 28th Member of the EU. It officially acceded on 1 July 2013, bringing the EU’s total population to more than 500 million inhabitants.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

With the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU decision-making process – far from being simplified – has been made considerably more complex and opaque, from the top of the pyramid down to the bottom.

Keeping one commissioner per country has turned out to be especially problematic. Now too numerous, commissioners limit themselves to their own portfolio at the expense of the collegiality principle. In May 2021, a new Conference on the Future of Europe was launched. It is endowed with a complex structure which reflects the institutions’ complexity, and it is supposed to issue a report in May 2022.