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Dear colleague,

Please find attached the January issue of Strasbourg Round-up which I hope you will find of interest.
Wishing you all the best for the festive season.

With best wishes
Gary Titley
.......................................
Euro Office
16 Spring Lane
Radcliffe
Manchester
M26 2TQ
Tel 0161 724 4008
Fax 0161 724 4009
www.garytitley.com

Brussels Briefing No. 34

The EU Reform Treaty Unwrapped

INTRODUCTION

Brussels Briefing Nº 33, produced last summer, set out how the new EU Reform Treaty had come about and broadly what was contained within it. During the autumn, the Portuguese Presidency of the EU took charge of working up the detailed text of the new treaty and this was subsequently agreed by EU leaders shortly before Christmas. Now each EU member country has to ratify. In this specially extended issue of Brussels Briefing, we will examine in detail some of the key elements in the Reform Treaty, including the UK’s ‘red lines’ and show how it differs from the old Constitutional Treaty.

The President of the European Council

The leaders of the EU member countries now normally meet four times a year at what are called European Councils to agree policies and action in a range of areas. At present each country takes it in turn to chair these meetings as President of the Council for six months. But these frequent changes inevitably mean a lack of consistency and follow-through and do not help the EU to work effectively.

The Reform Treaty will enable the EU leaders to choose a full-time Council President who will hold the post for two and a half years. The President will chair meetings and help drive through policies agreed by the member states. But it will continue to be the EU’s national leaders, not the President, who will take all the final decisions when they meet together.

The European Commission

It is the role of the European Commission to propose new laws, which are in turn considered by the European Parliament and the member states. The Commission also helps ensure existing laws are implemented fairly. It is headed by a group (or “College”) of Commissioners. At the moment, each EU country nominates its own Commissioner but with 27 members now, this is making the Commission large and unwieldy.

The Reform Treaty will restrict the number of Commissioners to two-thirds of the number of member states from 2014. The change should make the Commission more effective, especially when more countries join the EU.

The European Parliament

The European Parliament’s main role is to consider laws proposed by the Commission and amend and approve them in agreement with the member states. It also has powers of scrutiny over the European Council and the Commission, as well as significant budgetary powers.

The Treaty gives members of the European Parliament more power. At the same time, it reduces and caps the number of MEPs from the existing 786 to 751 no matter how many more countries join.

The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

The UK, like all EU member states, decides its own foreign policy. But when EU member countries take the same view on a foreign policy issue, they can agree to pursue a common policy. At the moment there are two people who can represent the EU where a common policy exists - the existing ‘High Representative’, a post currently held by Javier Solana and the European Commissioner responsible for external relations, currently Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

This dual arrangement can be confusing for countries outside the EU, so the Reform Treaty merges the posts into one job called The High Representative for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy. That will give the EU a more effective voice internationally. The new High Representative will work on the basis of policies agreed by all member states. But Britain will continue to conduct its own foreign policy, and sit on the UN Security Council.

The European External Action Service

The EU already has Commission and Council officials who work in offices around the world on agreed foreign policy issues. They will be brought together under a new External Action Service (EAS) to work under the High Representative. But they will not replace member states’ own diplomats.

European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP)

Closer co-operation across the EU on security and defence has been driven by the UK and France. The two countries wanted, for example, to improve the effectiveness of the EU when involved in peace-keeping and disaster relief operations. The ESDP, which was initiated by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, does not replace NATO nor affect the right of individual countries to take military action. And any proposal for action has to be agreed by all member states, even if they are not all taking part.

The Reform Treaty continues to develop this co-operation. It also sets out that member states should help each other in the event of terrorist attacks or natural disasters on their territory.

National Parliaments

The Reform Treaty strengthens the role of national parliaments by giving them a direct say in the EU’s law-making procedures for the first time. National parliaments will now be able to challenge a proposal if, for example, a third of them decide it affects an area they believe is a matter not for the EU but rather for individual member countries.

Qualified Majority Voting

Most EU decisions are already taken by majority vote - known as Qualified Majority Voting (QMV). A succession of UK Prime Ministers from Margaret Thatcher onwards have supported QMV because they believed it prevented individual countries blocking progress on issues like for example the single market that Britain wanted to see.

The Reform Treaty extends QMV to allow faster decision making and progress in an EU of 27 countries. There are 49 new articles that will use QMV in the Council of Ministers, but as the former Prime Minister Tony Blair explained in the House of Commons on 25th June:

"Thirteen of them do not apply to the UK because they are about the eurozone or judicial and home affairs, which we have opted out of. Six involved issues such as allowing a group of citizens to propose initiatives; the negotiation of a withdrawal agreement; two relate to ending special state aid provisions for Germany post-unification. Nine are minor and technical, including the Council review on the composition of the Committee of the Regions, and the Comitology committee. Nine of them relate to new legal bases, but powers already exist.

“There are nine articles of genuine substance on matters such as the implementation of own resources decisions, which it is in Britain's interests to have QMV on, because it allows us to ensure that countries cannot block that; on the authorisation, co-ordination and supervision of intellectual property rights protection, which, it is absolutely in Britain's interests to have; and on matters such as urgent aid to third countries and humanitarian aid operations."

But the UK has retained the right not to be bound by decisions, on major areas of policy, whatever other members might agree. These areas include justice and home affairs (covering policing, our judicial system and control of our borders), social security, tax, foreign policy and defence.

The Voting System

The Reform Treaty will introduce a new system of majority voting called Double Majority Voting (DMV) from 2014. This is more closely based on population size than the current system so is fairer and also gives the UK a bigger say. Under the new formula most decisions will be taken only if they are supported by at least 15 out of 27 member states (55%) and they represent at least 65% of the EU’s population. As the UK has a large population by European standards, the new system will mean that our share of the vote increases from 8% to over 12%.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights

The Charter of Fundamental Rights brings together in one place, in plain words, the rights of citizens in the member states. It does not create new rights or take away existing ones. The rights it contains will continue to apply in the UK in exactly the same way as they do now.

Legal Personality

The EU already makes international agreements on behalf of member countries where they have decided on a common policy. These include many important agreements on trade rules and international development. The EU has not, however, had up to now what lawyers call a single legal personality so it has signed up to its international obligations in different ways. The Reform Treaty ends this confusion by creating a single legal personality for the EU for the first time.

But the member states, including the UK, will continue to task the EU to negotiate on their behalf in exactly the same way as they do now and will have final say over any agreements.

Simplified Treaty Revision

The Reform Treaty includes three new clauses known as ‘passerelle’ (or bridging) clauses, which allow for existing EU treaties to be amended more easily. But the Treaty makes clear, however, that member states retain control. They, and their national parliaments, must all be content before these clauses can be used. And any fundamental change to the Treaties will still require an Intergovernmental Conference.

Justice and Home Affairs

Under the Reform Treaty, qualified majority voting will apply to justice and home affairs, covering policy areas like policing, judicial systems and control of borders. But decisions taken will not affect the UK unless we believe such co-operation is in our national interest. The UK has won a special “opt-in” which means we can pick and choose where and when we want to co-operate with other member states in these areas. It ensures the UK can keep control of its borders.
The Reform Treaty also states for the first time that national security remains the sole responsibility of each member state and it allows for the possibility of the creation of a European Public Prosecutor. But the UK’s special opt-in also covers this new post and means we can prevent a European Public Prosecutor having any role in the UK.
Exit Clause

For the first time, the Reform Treaty will confirm that any member country can leave the EU if it wants.

What are the UK’s red lines?

The UK has a right not to participate in justice and home affairs measures. Our common law system and criminal and judicial processes therefore is protected.

The UK has a legally-binding Protocol making it crystal clear that the Charter will not change the status quo in the UK. Our social and labour legislation therefore is protected.

There is a clear Declaration, agreed by all 27 member states, stating that the new Treaty will not affect the responsibilities of the member states for the conduct of their foreign and defence policy. There is no question therefore of the UK losing or vacating its UN Security Council seat.

There are stronger safeguards for protecting our social security system. The UK will therefore be able to kill off social security measures that we cannot agree to.

How does the Reform Treaty differ from the Constitutional Treaty?

The key differences are:

• The concept of a "constitution" has been explicitly abandoned.

• The designation "Foreign Minister" has been dropped.

• The symbols (EU flag and anthem) have been dropped.

• The existing treaties will not be replaced by a single codifying document. The Reform Treaty will be a conventional amending treaty similar in form to the treaties of Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice, albeit much less far-reaching.

• The plan to change the terminology for EU legal instruments, with EU regulations becoming "EU laws" and EU directives becoming "EU framework laws", has been scrapped.

• The Charter of Fundamental Rights will not be a full part of the treaty. It will be binding on the EU institutions and on European law with a protocol added to clarify that it does not affect or override UK domestic law.

• The changes to the voting weights in the Council of Ministers will not start to come into effect until 2014.

• An opt-out is given to Britain on criminal law and co-operation on legal matters.

• Foreign policy co-operation has special provisions that make it explicitly subordinate to national governments finding consensus.

Gary Titley MEP
January 2008