Evolution of EU Treaties and Legislation

Evolution of EU Treaties

Each relevant or incorporating a new member joins the club that introduced changes in international treaties:

• Single European Act of 1986
• • EU Treaty of Maastricht, 1992
  • 1997 European Treaty
  • Treaty of Nice, 2001

A text called the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, a constitutional treaty, was presented in Rome in 2004. The treaty was very important because it was submitted to a referendum of what was then the EU (18 states). The referendum had limited participation because the text was very complex.

In other states, it was also submitted to a referendum. It was going well until the French and Dutch votes resulted in negative outcomes. The text could not enter into force as it needed an affirmative vote from all members of the union. To renegotiate the text, the European Council met in Lisbon in 2007 and reached an agreement on a new treaty: the Treaty of Lisbon. This treaty, similar but shortened from the constitutional treaty, entered into force in 2009 and is the current framework.

EU Legislation

• Legislation: Acts that are implemented daily. The Constitution of the European Community provides the basic rules. These rules dictate community insights and are composed of three types: regulations, directives, and decisions (recommendations and opinions).

• EU Regulation: A general, effective standard for a number of subjects or recipients. It is a mandatory standard in all its elements, directly applicable, and more powerful than a dictate.

Institutions: Links to any subject of Community law with a large effective field. It links citizens, member states, public authorities, and individuals. It is a legislative act that regulates a matter and may require some measure of performance. It is a binding rule, but not a full and binding device. It cannot be run with reserves, cannot excuse compliance, and creates accountability to EU institutions. It is effective immediately without the need for internal adaptation (direct application), binding the whole community, and must be published. It enters into force 20 days after publication or on a fixed date.

• Policies: Rule of law which may have general application, requiring states (but not citizens) to achieve goals, objectives, and results. It is an open standard in terms of process, leaving each state to implement the directive and mark the target. States take the policy and apply it; it must be transposed into national law. If the state fails to meet this activity, the state bears responsibility. Business taxation and agricultural policy are governed by policies, although they affect citizens.
• Community Decisions: Normative acts binding in their entirety, mandatory for all recipients. The recipient is one or more states or private actors.
• Recommendations and Opinions: Soft law without explicit legislative nature; they are rules of conduct. The aim is to promote good practices dictated by institutions.

European Community Law