Conference of Representatives of the Governments of the Member States of the European Union

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In an intergovernmental conference , in short IGC called changes are negotiated in the contracts and agreed on the basis of which the EU is founded. The legal basis for such a proper contract amendment procedure can be found in Article 48 of the EU Treaty .

An Intergovernmental Conference is convened by the President of the European Council when the European Council decides, by a simple majority, to consider a proposed change. Since the Treaty of Lisbon, it has been provided that the Intergovernmental Conference is preceded by a convention consisting of representatives of the national parliaments , the heads of state and government of the member states, the European Parliament and the Commission , which is to draw up a recommendation on the treaty amendment by consensus . The convening of a convention may be dispensed with with the consent of the European Parliament if the convening of a convention would not be justified in view of the minority of the treaty amendments.

However, the actual decision-making power remains with the Intergovernmental Conference. Contrary to what the name suggests, Intergovernmental Conferences amending the Treaties are not a single session or meeting (conference), but a series of months of talks, meetings and negotiations between senior officials, ministers and heads of government . As soon as an agreement has been reached, the heads of state and government of the member states conclude a treaty under international law at a meeting of the European Council , which contains the agreed changes. The treaty comes into force after it has been ratified by all member states .

Apart from cases in which a simplified contract amendment procedure is provided, as well as in the context of an enlargement of the European Union , the ordinary contract amendment procedure must be followed for all contract amendments.

Furthermore, the judges of the General Court of the European Union as well as the judges and advocates general of the European Court of Justice are each appointed in a conference of the representatives of the governments of the member states of the European Union, since the judges according to Art. 253 and 254 TFEU “by the governments [...] appointed by mutual agreement [...] and not by the Council of the European Union .

Intergovernmental Conference on Treaty Amendment 2003/2004

The 2003/2004 Intergovernmental Conference was opened in Rome on October 4, 2003 under the Italian Presidency and negotiated until June 18, 2004 on the draft EU constitutional treaty drawn up by the European Convention . In addition to the governments of the EU member states, those of the states that joined the EU on May 1, 2004 also took part . Since no agreement on the constitution could be reached at the European Council of December 2003, negotiations continued in 2004 under the Irish Presidency.

This Intergovernmental Conference of 2003/2004 differed from others in that the previous Convention had already published its discussion results, and that is why the negotiating papers of this conference were published (see web links).

On June 18, 2004, political agreement was finally reached on the “Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe”. The work of the Intergovernmental Conference was finally completed with the signing of this Constitution on October 29, 2004 in Rome.

Intergovernmental Conference on Treaty Amendment 2007

Establishment of the Intergovernmental Conference

During the meeting of the European Council on 21./22. June 2007 was the aim of the negotiations to unanimously approve the mandate to the Intergovernmental Conference. The prospect of adoption by majority vote , in this specific case without the consent of the Polish government, was covered by Article 205 of the EC Treaty. But even the unanimous decision reached on the establishment of the conference did not rule out that governments tried to gain advantages during the negotiation rounds before they gave their vote to the unanimous decision required at the end of the conference.

Attendees

In addition to government representatives and representatives of the EU Commission , three EU parliamentarians also took part in the intergovernmental conference on EU treaty reform ; these were the Spaniard Enrique Barón Crespo ( PES Group), the British Andrew Duff ( ALDE ) and Elmar Brok ( EPP-ED ) from Germany. When the heads of state and government met, Parliament was represented by its President Hans-Gert Pöttering . The EU Parliament adopted its position on the RK on July 11, 2007, emphasizing its intention to make the negotiations within the conference publicly transparent.

On the German side, the federal states were represented in the 2007 RK by Federal Council representatives from Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate.

procedure

After the European Council at the summit on 21./22. June 2007 agreed on the key points of the reform of the foundations of the EU, the details of this reform were discussed on the basis of this mandate in an intergovernmental conference in the second half of 2007. The Portuguese presidency pursued the goal of shaping the mandate into the treaty without changing the content.

The Intergovernmental Conference opened at the Foreign Ministers' Meeting on 23 July 2007, when the Portuguese Presidency presented its draft treaty text, which was then discussed by legal experts in the last week of July 2007. The Foreign Ministers' Conference on 7./8. September had to evaluate the status of the work.

The signatories of the contract

At the EU summit in Lisbon on October 18 and 19, 2007, the heads of state and government agreed on the final text of the treaty, taking changes made by the representatives of Italy and Poland into account.

The Lisbon Treaty - also known as the Reform Treaty during the negotiation phase - was signed on December 13, 2007 in Lisbon. When it came into force on December 1, 2009, the existing EU treaties were changed instead of being replaced by the European Constitution which had failed in the ratification process .

extension

As part of the accession negotiations between the European Union and official candidate countries , intergovernmental accession conferences are held. These serve to open and close various negotiation chapters. The negotiating delegations of the EU (the Commission and the Member States) and the candidate country meet at the accession conferences. They are chaired by the respective chair. Every enlargement of the EU leads to a change in the Treaties ( primary law ).

Web links

Intergovernmental Conference 2007
Intergovernmental Conference 2003/2004
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  1. ↑ See an agenda ( PDF )
  2. ↑ http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?language=EN&type=IM-PRESS&reference=20070712IPR09176 Parliament appoints representatives for the Intergovernmental Conference
  3. ↑ Tagesschau: Breakthrough in Lisbon , October 19, 2007