Constitution of the European Union in Europe
Description of Constitution of the European Union
The Concise Encyclopedia of the European Union describes constitution of the european union in the following terms: [1] The EU is not a legal entity and has no formal constitution, but as it has come increasingly to resemble a federal state, its Treaties, which perform a comparable function, have grown in size and complexity. Its structure revolves essentially round two texts:
The 1957 Treaty of Rome, as modified and extended by the 1986 Single European Act, the 1992 Maastricht Treaty and the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam
The intergovernmental Titles of the Maastricht Treaty, as modified and extended by the Treaty of Amsterdam.
The Treaty of Rome, now styled the Treaty establishing the European Community, governs inter alia the single market, the CAP, EMU, social policyand the supranational institutions of the Community. The intergovernmentalTitles of the Maastricht Treaty cover the Common Foreign and Security Policy, some aspects of Justice and Home Affairs and the flexibility (‘closer co-operation’) provisions which permit some limited exceptions to the principle that all member states must be equally bound by the Treaties. The whole (including the 1951 Treaty of Paris constituting the ECSC and the 1957 Euratom Treaty – both now of historical interest only) is consolidated into the Treaty on European Union, which, confusingly, is also the formal name of the Maastricht Treaty.
The member states accept the acquis communautaire and the supremacy of Community law through their individual Treaties of Accession. There are, however, proposals to replace this entire treaty-based system by a new European constitution. Doubtless such a change would give rise to bitter controversy.
Resources
Notas y References
- Based on the book “A Concise Encyclopedia of the European Union from Aachen to Zollverein”, by Rodney Leach (Profile Books; London)