1. Session 1 EU Institutions and Decision Making
European Integration from Today’s Perspective
Process of European integration:
A more and more intensive coordination of more and more activities between more and more European States.
The political character of the EU today?
Between (federal) state and international organization.

2. Recent discussion on widening, deepening and enlargement of European integration:
Eurosceptics:
Want to reduce European integration
want to strengthen the importance of national governments and parliaments
consider European integration a means of power and exploitation whereby powerful Eurocrats make their own politics far away from citizens and the unfettered big capital looks for higher and higher profits to the detriment of the consumer, the workers, the small entrepreneurs, and the natural environment (deficit in democracy).

3. Eurofans:
want to remove all remaining barriers to trade and to the mobility of the factors of production as soon as possible in order to enable all people to benefit from the enormously increased possibilities for mutually beneficial exchanges.
want to coordinate and harmonize more policy issues at the European level

4. General discussion:
free markets versus state intervention
regulation on national levels vs. regulation on EU level

5. 2. Instruments of integration
Law, not money, represents the most important instrument of integration.
We have to distinguish between
primary law i. e. the articles of the EC Treaty (Member States as “Masters of the Treaty”?)
secondary law i. e. regulations, directives and decisions

6. The important role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ):
monopoly to interpret community law (preliminary-ruling procedure, art. 234 EC, integration-friendly interpretation of EC law by ECJ)

7. Important fundamental judgments of the ECJ:
direct effect of EC law (Van Gend & Loos, 1963) (i. e. provisions of binding EC law which are clear, precise and unconditional enough to be considered justiciable can be revoked and relied on by individuals before national courts)
supremacy of EC law with respect to national law (Costa/ENEL, 1964)
the principle that national courts are obliged to interpret domestic law, as far as possible, in the light of and in conformity with community law. (Colson and Kamann/Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, 1984)
the principle of state liability for breach of EC law (Francovich, 1991)

8. 3. Overview of EU decision making
Two types of institutions should be distinguished:
Institutions that represent EU’s intergovernmental element: European Council, Council of the European Union (= Council of Ministers), Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER).
Institutions that represent EU’s supranational element: Parliament, Commission, Court of Justice, Court of Auditors; European Central Bank, European Investment bank.

9. The EU’s decision-making process, i. e
The EU’s decision-making process, i. e. the production of secondary law, involves three main institutions:
the European Commission, which has the agenda-setting power and seeks to uphold the interests of the Union as a whole,
the Council of the European Union, which represents the individual member states,
the European Parliament, which represents the EU’s citizens and is, since 1979, directly elected by them.
According to the codecision procedure which is now used for most EU law-making the Parliament shares legislative power equally with the Council.

10. 4. The European Commission
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4. The European Commission 
The European Commission has four main roles:
To propose legislation to Parliament and the Council (right of initiative). However: Council can modify proposals by the Commission unanimously (Art. 250 EC); Council and Parliament can force the Commission to make a proposal (Arts. 208 and 192 EC).
To manage and implement EU policies and the budget (especially CAP and competition policy),
To enforce European law (jointly with the Court of Justice, Commission as “guardian of the Treaties”),
To represent the European Union on the international stage, e. g. by negotiating agreements between the EU and other countries.

11.   en
European Commission (ctd.)
The Commission and its president are first nominated and then appointed by member countries after approval by the European Parliament. Currently each country has 1 commissioner. The number of commissioners should be reduced in the future.
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Distinguish:
The commission as a collective-decision making body (the political arm)
The “Directorates-General” and “services” (the administrative arm)

12. Area of successful Commission
European Commission (ctd.)
The power of the Commission, resulting from its monopoly of initiative (example: proposal to increase external tariff rate):
Area of successful Commission
proposals
M27 SQ M1
Mp (= SQ)
whereby SQ = status quo(zero tariff rate), M1 = most liberal member state, Mp = pivotal member state, M27 = most protectionist member state.

13. en en 5. The Council of the European Union
All regulations and directives must be approved by the Council, either jointly with the European Parliament or after consultation with it. The Council is the most important legislative authority of the Community.
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The Council is composed of one representative from each country, usually the national minister in charge of the issue under discussion.
The Council decides by unanimity in the most sensitive areas, such as common foreign and security policy, taxation, asylum and immigration policy, and in most cases by qualified majority voting.

14. en en The Council of the European Union (ctd.)
The current qualified majority voting procedure assigns a certain number of votes to member countries as a function of their population size, but weighted in a way that favors small countries relative to strict proportionality.
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General problem:
One person, one vote or one country, one vote.
The current procedure (Treaty of Nice) is a political compromise of both principles.

15. The Council of the European Union (ctd.)
Member states‘ votes and population shares
Country
Votes
% of all votes
Population share
Germany 29
8.41
17.01 UK
12.40
France
12.24
Italy
11.97
Spain 27
7.83
8.34
Poland
7.97
Romania 14
4.06
4.62
Netherlands 13
3.77
3.32
Greek 12
3.48
2.19
Czech Republic
2.13
Belgium
Portugal
Hungary
2.11

16. The Council of the European Union (ctd.)
Member states‘ votes and population shares
Country
Votes
% of votes
Population share
Sweden 10
2.90
1.84
Bulgaria
1.63
Austria
1.67
Slovakia 7
2.03
1.11
Denmark
Finland
1.07
Irland
0.80
Lithuania
0.72
Latvia 4
1.16
0.50
Slovenia
0.41
Estonia
0.28
Cyprus
0.17
Luxembourg
0.08
Malta 3
0.78

17. The Council of the European Union (ctd.)
The Treaty of Nice requires a triple majority for the qualified majority voting procedure:
Majority of states (in case the decision was not made at the initiative of the commission a two third majority of member states is required) > 13 states
Qualified majority of votes, i. e. 255 out of 345 votes (about 74% of votes)
Upon request of a member state: Supporters represent at least 62% of the population of the EU > Mio.

18. The Council of the European Union (ctd.)
Blocking minority (Treaty of Nice):
> 13 states
> 90 votes
Upon request of a member state: > 38% of population, i. e. > Mio.

19. The Council of the European Union (ctd.)
The draft Constitution requires a double majority:
> 55% of states , i. e. > 14 states
> 65% of population, i. e. > Mio.
This implies the following blocking minority:
> 45% of states , i. e. > 12 states
> 35% of population, i. e. > Mio.
Comparison with Treaty of Nice:
Germany and the other three big countries would have gained considerable power,
the relative position of Poland and Spain would have become worse.

20. The Council of the European Union (ctd.)
The Treaty of Lisbon:
From 2014 on, the calculation of qualified majority will be based on the double majority of Member States and people.
However, from 2014 to 2017, a Member State may request that an act can be adopted in accordance with the qualified majority as defined in the current Treaty of Nice.
Only from 2017 on, the double majority will hold without further restrictions.

21. The Council of the European Union (ctd.)
Discussion: Voting power and voting weights
The member of a collective decision-making body has some power if the vote of this member can occasionally change the decision. The voting power is not proportional to the voting weight.
Example 1:
Two members, A with 51 votes and B with 49 votes. With simple majority rule, A’s voting power = 100%, B’s voting power = 0%.
Example 2:
Two members, A with 99 votes and B with 1 vote. With unanimity rule, both members have the same voting power (50%)

22. The Council of the European Union (ctd.)
Understanding voting power
Example:
Three members, A with 30 votes and B with 25 votes and C with 21 votes. Majority of 50 votes is required

23. The Council of the European Union (ctd.)
Understanding voting power I:
The Shapley-Shubik-Index
Permutations
Player A
Player B
Player C
(A,B,C) 1
(A,C,B)
(B,A,C)
(B,C,A)
(C,A,B)
(C,B,A)
Pivots 4
Index
4/6
1/6

24. The Council of the European Union (ctd.)
Understanding voting power II:
The Banzhaf-Index
Coalitions
Player A
Player B
Player C
(A,B,C) 1
(A,B)
(A,C)
(B,C)
(A)
(B)
(C)
Swings 6 2
Index
6/10
2/10
Swing: If a player can change a winning coalition into a loosing coalition by leaving the coalition and vice versa.

25. The Council of the European Union (ctd.)
Penrose’s square root law:
Basic idea: Suppose voters in your country decide upon an issue by referendum (simple majority). Your own vote will change the outcome of the referendum only if the voters are split into equal parts on that matter. This happens with probability approximately proportional to the inverse of the square root of the number of citizens.
If we want to give all citizens in the EU the same influence on the Council’s decision, the country should have a voting power in the Council proportional to the square root of the population and the quota for qualified majority should be set at 62% (Kirsch et al.).

26. The Council of the European Union (ctd.) Square root model
Country
Votes
% of all votes
Difference to draft Constitution
Germany
9.08
9,47
-7.25 UK
7.93
8.24
-4.49
France
7.77
8.10
-4.16
Italy
7.66
7.99
-3.93
Spain
6.61
6.89
-2.01
Poland
6.18
6.44
-1.30
Romania
4.65
4.85
0.47
Netherlands
4.04
4.21
0.90
Greek
3.33
3.47
1.21
Czech Republic
3.20
3.34
1.26
Belgium
3.24
3.38
1.25
Portugal
3.25
3.39
Hungary
3.17
3.31
1.27

27. The Council of the European Union (ctd.) Square root model
Country
Votes
% of votes
Difference to draft constitution
Sweden
3.01
3.14
1.31
Bulgaria
2.78
2.90
1.33
Austria
2.87
2.99
Slovakia
2.32
2.42
1.09
Denmark
2.33
2.43
Finland
2.29
2.39
1.32
Irland
2.05
2.14
1.29
Lithuania
1.84
1.92
1.23
Latvia
1.51
1.57
1.11
Slovenia
1.41
1.47
1.06
Estonia
1.16
1.21
0.94
Cyprus
0.87
0.91
0.76
Luxembourg
0.68
0.71
0.62
Malta
0.63
0.66
0.58

28. en en 6. The European Parliament (EP)
Although the origins of the EP go back to the fifties and the founding treaties, only since 1979 its members have been directly elected (for five years) by the people they represent.
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29. en The European Parliament (EP)(ctd.)
Year
No. of MEPs
No. of MS
Status of MEPs
Title of Chamber
1952 78 6
nominated
ECSC Common Assembly
1958
142
EC Common Assembly
1973
198 9
European Parliament
1979
410
elected
1981
434 10
1986
518 12
1994
567
1995
626 15
2005
732 25
2007
785 27
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30. The European Parliament (ctd.) Distribution of seats in EP in 2007
Country
seats
country
Germany 99
Bulgaria 18 UK 78
Austria
France
Slovakia 14
Italy
Denmark
Spain 54
Finland
Poland
Irland 13
Romania 35
Lithuania
Netherlands 27
Latvia 9
Greek 24
Slovenia 7
Czech Republic
Estonia 6
Belgium
Cyprus
Portugal
Luxembourg
Hungary
Malta 5
Sweden 19
Total
785

31. The European Parliament (ctd.) Party groups in EP in 2007
Political orientation
No. of MEPs (%)
European People’s Party/ European Democrats
Centre-right (Christian Democrats & Conservatives)
278 (35.4 %)
Party of European Socialists
Centre-left
216 (27.5 %)
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats
Liberal
104 (13.2 %)
Europe of Nations
Eurosceptics and generally right-wing
44 (5.6 %)
Greens/European Free Alliance
Environmentalists & some Regionalists
42 (5.3 %)
European United Left/ Nordic Green Left
Left-wing
41 (5.2%)
Independence/ Democracy
Eurosceptic/ Anti-EU
24 (3.1 %)
Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty Group
Right-wing
23 (2.9 %)
Non-attached
Various
13 (1.7 %)

32. en The European Parliament (EP) (ctd.)
The regular plenary sessions are held in Strasbourg. Although he EP has come to base more support staff for the assembly in Brussels, part of the staff is still located in Luxembourg where it was originally based.
The European Parliament still lacks the powers and influence of national parliaments. However, since the 1970’s, Treaty amendments and institutional agreements have greatly enhanced the European Parliaments powers (with respect to budgetary, legislative and personnel decisions):
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33. en The European Parliament (EP) (ctd.)
In the 1970’s: more budgetary powers for EP
1980: Isoglucose judgment of the ECJ: Legislative Council decisions without consultation of EP are void.
1987 (SEA): Introduction of cooperation procedure for some legislation (greater scope for delay, amendment, and blocking laws)
1993 (Maastricht Treaty): Codecision procedure introduced for some legislation; EP given approval power over nominated Commission.
1999 (Amsterdam Treaty): Extension of codecision procedure; EP given formal right to veto nominee for post of Commission President.
2003 (Nice Treaty): Further extension of codecision procedure.
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34. en en 7. The European Council
The European Council, which should not be confused with the Council of the European Union, is the forum where the heads of the member states and the president of the Commission meet to discuss general issues.
Although it has no formal decision-making power, it is the most influential body. It is here that all the major policy guidelines are set and that all decisions on the big issues are taken. The European Council meets at least every sixth months, and it makes all decisions unanimously. The presidency rotates all six months among all EU members.
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Only since Maastricht the European Council is explicitly mentioned in the Treaties (now Art. 4 EU and Art. 99 EC).

35.   en
8. General Discussion
Over-Centralization ? Reference-Model: Theory of Fiscal Federalism More competencies for the Community (Principle of subsidiarity?) Reducing the requirements for qualified majority European Court of Justice Charter of Human Rights
Deficit of Democracy? Criterion: To what extent citizens’ preferences are reflected in the collective decisions.
Lack of Transparency? Access to information, complexity of legal procedure, responsibility and accountability of political authorities. Comitology: temporary expert committees and about 150 standing advisory groups to assist and monitor the Commission.