Abstract
A wide range of institutional and legal questions were debated in the IGC-PU. Among the most important were proposals for developing the role of the European Court of Justice, strengthening the role of the court of auditors and the establishment of a committee of the regions. There was also much discussion of the institutional arrangements necessary to make common policies effective in the key Justice and Home Affairs areas of frontier controls, internal security, and asylum and immigration policies. These debates were linked by two key factors. The first of these was the question of the pillared structure of the proposed EU and whether it should have one institutional mix of responsibilities, competences and decision-making procedures which would be used for all issues which it handled. The alternative to this was a different mix of Commission, EP and ECJ involvement, depending on the policy sector in question. The second factor which linked the institutional debates of 1990 to 1991 was concern over the legitimacy and democratic credentials of existing institutions. This meant that the institutional debates were closely bound up with discussions at the IGC-PU of how to strengthen the legitimacy of decision-making, discussions in which the role of the European Parliament played a pivotal part.
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Notes
David Andrews, ‘The Global Origins of the Maastricht Treaty on EMU: Closing the Window of Opportunity’, in A. Cafruny and G. Rosenthal, The State of the European Community: the Maastricht Debates and Beyond, London, Longman, 1993, pp. 107–42.
See William Wallace and Julie Smith, ‘Democracy or Technocracy? European Integration and the Problem of Popular Consent’, West European Politics, July 1995, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 137–57.
Martin Westlake, The New European Parliament, London, Pinter, 1994, p. 28.
Though the two issues were not formally linked the SEA required EP assent for enlargement. See Juliet Lodge, ‘The European Parliamentfrom “Assembly” to Co-legislator: the Changing Institutional Dynamics’, in Lodge (ed.), The European Community and the Challenge of the Future, London, Pinter, 1989, pp. 58–82.
For the academic conventional wisdom see Shirley Williams, ‘Sovereignty and Accountability in the European Community’, in Robert O. Keohane and Stanley Hoffmann (eds), The New European Community: Decision-making and Institutional Change, Boulder, Col., Westview, 1991, pp. 155–76;
Otto Schmuck and Wolfgang Wessels (eds), Das Europäische Parlament im dynamischen Integration prozess, Bonn, Europa Union Verlag, 1989.
Anne Deighton, ‘Une maladie imaginaire: England’s Europäische Dilemma’, in Beatrice Beutler (ed.), Reflexions über Europa, Munich, Akteul, 1992, pp. 52–63, p. 56.
For the concern that Euro elections one day might work against an incumbent Labour government mid-term see Denis McShane, ‘Europe’s Next Challenge to Britain’, Political Quarterly, vol. 66, no. 1, January–March 1995, pp. 23–35, p. 30.
Geoffrey Howe, ‘Sovereignty and Interdependence: Britain’s Place in the World’, International Affairs, vol. 66, no. 4, 1990, pp. 675–96.
See Stafford T. Thomas, ‘Assessing MEP Influence on British EC Policy’, Government and Opposition, vol. 27, no. 1, 1993, pp. 3–18, pp. 13–15.
See Karl-Heinz Neunreither, ‘The Democratic Deficit of the European Union’, Government and Opposition, vol. 29, no. 3, Summer 1994, pp. 299–314, p. 307.
Charles Reiss, ‘Split Threat to “Scared” Major’, Evening Standard, 11 June 1995.
Boris Johnson, ‘Blue Print Unveiled for Federal Europe’, Daily Telegraph, 21 June 1991.
George Jones and Philip Johnston, ‘Tories Rally to Major’s Euro Stance’, Daily Telegraph, 13 June 1991.
Boris Johnson, ‘Row Over EC Deal on Single Currency’, Daily Telegraph, 11 June 1991.
Colin Pilkington, Britain in the European Union, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1995, p. 116.
Author’s interview with a Cabinet minister. For this argument see Colin Pilkington, Britain in the European Union, 1995, p. 116.
Noel Malcolm, ‘Lies Damned Lies and Federasts’, Spectator, 22 June 1991, pp. 8–9.
George Brock, ‘Draft Treaty Puts Federal Rule at Top of EC Agenda’, The Times, 22 June 1991.
K. Middlemas, Orchestrating Europe: the Informal Politics of the European Union, London, Fontana, 1995, p. 193.
Robin Oakley, ‘Delors Sets Tongues Wagging Again in Europe’, The Times, 16 May 1991.
For the background to this see George Jones, ‘Major Postpones the Showdown’, Daily Telegraph, 25 June 1991.
George Brock, ‘Major Adopts Macawberist Policy to Dodge European Pitfalls’, The Times, 18 June 1991.
See Wayne Sandholtz, ‘Monetary Bargains: the Treaty of EMU’, in Rosenthal and Cafruny, State of the European Community, pp. 125–42.
See Boris Johnson, ‘Euro Court Wins Right to Fine Governments’, Daily Telegraph, 13 November 1991.
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David Buchan, ‘UK Signals Flexibility on EC Law Making Powers’, Financial Times, 13 November 1991.
See Simon Heffer, ‘Mr Major Prepares to Don His Tweeds for England’, Spectator, 9 November 1991.
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Robin Oakley, ‘Major Secures Mandate for Maastricht’, The Times, 22 November 1991.
The best narrative account of these negotiations is Monica den Boer, ‘The Quest for European Policing: Rhetoric and Justification in a Disorderly Debate’, in Malcolm Anderson and Monica den Boer (eds), Policing across National Boundaries, London, Pinter, 1994, pp. 174–196, p. 175.
Lutz G. Stavenhagen, ‘Durchbruch zur politischen Union — vor dem Maastrichter-Gipfel’, Integration, vol. 14, no. 4, 1991, pp. 143–50.
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© 1999 Anthony Forster
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Forster, A. (1999). Institutional Reform: the European Parliament. In: Britain and the Maastricht Negotiations. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780333984178_6
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