The European Parliament’s Role in Closer EU Integration

445 Pages·1998·4.584 MB·English

by  Richard Corbett MEP (auth.)

The European Parliament’s Role in Closer EU Integration
Also by Richard Corbett
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT (co-author with Francis Jacobs and
Michael Shackleton)
THE TREATY OF MAASTRICHT: From Conception to Ratification
The European Parliament’s
Role in Closer EU
Integration
Richard Corbett, MEP
Foreword by
Klaus Hänsch
President of the European Parliament, 1994–97
© Richard Corbett 1998
Foreword © Klaus Hänsch 1998
All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of
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Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in hardback 1998
First published in paperback 2001 by
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PALGRAVEis the new global academic imprint of
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ISBN 978-0-333-94938-2 ISBN 978-1-4039-2000-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4039-2000-3
ISBN 978-0-312-21103-5hardback (in North America)
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and
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A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Corbett,Richard.
The European Parliament’s role in closer EU integration /
Richard Corbett ;foreword by Klaus Hänsch.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-21103-5(cloth)
1.European Parliament.2.European Union.I.Title.
JN36.C69 1998
341.24’24—dc21
97–36089
CIP
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
To my parents
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Contents
Acknowledgements xi
Acronyms and Abbreviations xiii
Foreword by Klaus Hänsch xvii
Introduction xix
1 Theoretical Approaches to European Integration 1
Constituent Federalists 3
Gradualist Federalists 12
Neofunctionalists 20
Interdependence Theories 35
Intergovernmentalists 36
A Preliminary Synthesis? 40
2 What to Expect of the European Parliament? 46
Academic Views Prior to Direct Elections 46
Party Attitudes Prior to the First Direct Elections 54
Hypothesis for Testing 58
A Few Words about the Elections 60
3 A New Political Network 66
The Nature and Likely Commitment of the New MEPs 66
MEPs and National Political Parties 71
Transnational Party Federations 76
MEPs and National Parliaments 78
MEPs and their Constituencies 79
Interest Groups 80
Parliament and the Commission 82
International Contacts 84
The Information Market 86
MEPs and the Wider Public 87
Own Infrastructure 89
Assessment 90
vii
viii Contents
4 Exploiting its Existing Powers 92
The Parliament’s Budgetary Powers 93
The Parliament’s Legislative Powers 113
The Parliament’s Powers of Scrutiny and Control 124
5 Reform within the Treaties 131
6 Parliament Turns to Treaty Revision 142
The Crocodile Initiative 144
The Work of the Committee on Institutional Affairs 146
The Evolution of Party Attitudes 153
7 The Draft Treaty 161
Structure and Contents of the Draft Treaty 161
Main Characteristics of the Draft Treaty 168
Entry into Force of the Draft Treaty 170
8 From the Draft Treaty to the 1985 Intergovernmental
Conference 173
The 1984 European Elections and National Political Parties 174
Initial Reactions of Governments 176
The Dooge Committee 180
The Reaction of National Parliaments 185
The EP Delegations to National Capitals 194
Interest Groups and NGOs 202
The Run-up to Milan 204
9 The Intergovernmental Conference of 1985 218
Procedures and Pressures 218
External Influences on the IGC 221
The Substance of the Negotiations 227
Ratification 248
Assessment 251
10 Making the Most of the Single European Act 254
Increased Majority Voting in Council 254
Strengthening the Executive Powers of the Commission 256
Strengthening the Capacity of the Court of Justice 260
The European Parliament 261
Assessment 273
Contents ix
11 Relaunching the Ship 276
Putting Reform back on the Agenda 276
Widening beyond EMU 284
Parliament’s Detailed Proposals 287
The Interinstitutional Preparatory Conference 294
The Parliamentary Assizes of November 1990 296
The Commission’s Opinion 300
The Preparatory Work among Governments 301
Assessment 306
12 The IGCs on Economic and Monetary Union and on
Political Union 308
Procedures and Methods 308
External Attempts to Influence the IGC 312
The Substance of the Negotiations 314
Overall Results 326
Evaluating the Impact of the EP 327
13 Making the Most of Maastricht 343
A New Generation of Interinstitutional Agreements 343
The Co-Decision Procedure and its Spin-off 347
Appointment of the Commission 349
Code of Conduct 350
Changes to Rules of Procedure 353
Right to Vote in European Elections 355
Number of MEPs 355
Seats of Institutions and Organs 356
Adaptation of the Western European Union 357
Institutional Aspects of Enlargement 358
Finance 359
14 Overall Conclusions 361
15 Postscript: The Treaty of Amsterdam 369
Notes 378
Bibliography 407
Index 415