European communities
The designation European Communities (EG/EGen) is a construction of the European Coal and Steel Community (EGKS), the European Economic Community (EEC, from 1993 European Community, EG) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom, also EAG ) formerly linked by common bodies ). However, the joint bodies continue to act on the basis of the relevant founding agreement. In the 1970s and 1980s, the participating states were collectively referred to as the European Community (EG) in colloquial language and in the German media.
Initial situation / need for action
With the founding of the ECSC, the organs High Authority , Special Council of Ministers , Common Assembly and European Court of Justice came into being . This institutional structure was completely unproblematic until 1957. With the founding of the EEC and Euratom in 1957, an institutional double/triple structure then emerged, since both new communities also had four bodies each (Commission, Council, Assembly/Parliament and Court of Justice).
Agreement on common organs of March 25, 1957
As a result of the 1957 agreement on common organs of the European Communities , the newly founded EEC and Euratom shared individual organs with the ECSC , which had existed since 1952 , such as the Parliamentary Assembly, which was constituted on March 19, 1958 as the European Parliament , and the European Court of Justice .
Introduction of further common organs 1967-1975
The merger treaty that was concluded in 1965 and came into force in 1967 also merged the other organs of the three communities, so that they now also shared a common European Commission and a common Council of Ministers , and from 1975 also a common Court of Auditors . The merger treaty represented a "merging of the executives". The civil servants and servants were united in a single administration of the EC/ECs.
Designation as European Community in the singular and as Common Market
A merger of the communities, i.e. a merger of the three treaties into a single treaty with equal powers and thus a single "European Community", was provided for in the merger treaty, but could not be implemented. Nevertheless, in the 1970s and 1980s, colloquial German and the German media referred to the participating states collectively as the European Community , while the plural was not common. In English, the term Common Market was in use, less often the form European Community , but the latter also in the singular.
No further merging of communities
From the mid-1960s, the EGen found themselves in politically turbulent waters. The community of 6 could not come to an agreement about the expansion of the integration. This was based on France's request for a dismantling of the EU in favor of a Europe of fatherlands ( Fouchet plans ). Difficulties arose in the Council over France 's empty chair policy ; the Luxembourg compromise that followed six months later attempted to overcome this. These difficulties in understanding could only be resolved after de Gaulle's resignation at the 1969 summit in The Hague .
The European Council of heads of state and government joined in 1975 as the “super organ” of the EU, formerly the EC. Since 1993 the Court of Auditors has also been a joint body.
Treaty revisions from 1992
Further development by the Maastricht Treaty (1992)
These institutions formed the basis for the European Union established in 1992 ; the European Communities were the so-called “first pillar” in the EU political system . The three communities remained formal. Through the “umbrella” of the European Union and the emphasizing of the EEC as an EC, they actually grew close together.
The functioning of the European Communities differed from that in the policy areas of the second and third pillars, the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and cooperation in the field of justice and home affairs (CJI), from Amsterdam "Police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters “ PJZS , was applied. While CFSP and ZJI were strictly organized intergovernmentally on the basis of cooperation between national governments, supranational , i.e. supranational institutions such as the European Commission and the European Parliament played a more important role in the communities. The methods applied in the area of the European Communities are therefore also referred to as the Community Method of the European Union.
Colloquially, the communities are also referred to in the singular as "European Community"; this designation was mainly used until the 1980s. With the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, however, the EEC, one of the three communities, itself was renamed the European Community (EC). At the same time, beginning with the EEA reform, it received numerous new responsibilities, while the ECSC and Euratom lost much of their importance, since all of their essential tasks could also be fulfilled by the EC.
In 2002 the ECSC Treaty expired , so the ECSC was dissolved; The basis for this is the protocol on the financial consequences of the expiry of the ECSC Treaty and on the research fund for coal and steel, the "Treaty of Nice".
Repeal by Treaty of Amsterdam (1997)
Article 9 of the Treaty of Amsterdam stated that "without prejudice to the following paragraphs, which are intended to maintain the essential elements of their provisions, the Agreement of March 25, 1957 on common institutions of the European Communities and the Treaty of April 8, 1965 establishing a common Council and a common Commission of the European Communities, but with the exception of the Protocol referred to in paragraph 5 (Protocol of 8 April 1965 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities) repealed” the formal cancellation of these two Treaties. This was harmless insofar as the existing Community treaties had already adopted the amendments of the 1957 agreement and the 1965 merger treaty.
Lisbon Treaty (2007)
With the Lisbon Treaty , which was adopted in 2007 and came into force on December 1, 2009 , the European Community was merged with the European Union. The EC Treaty was renamed the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union . Of the three communities, only Euratom remained, which is institutionally linked to the EU in accordance with Article 106a EAG-V. The Euratom Rules for "the Community organs", consisting of "The European Parliament, Art. 107 to 114", "The Council, Art. 115 to 123" and "The Commission, Art. 122-133", with exception of Art. 134, 135 EAEGV and "The Court of Justice, Art. 136-143", with the exception of Art. 144, 145 and 157 are repealed. There are only independent institutional arrangements for the Court of Justice of the European Union , see Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union (OJ EU 2010, C 84/76 et seq.).
The expression "European Communities" does not apply to the current structure of the EU, it is therefore no longer up-to-date.
timeline
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Sign effective contract |
1948 1948 Brussels Pact |
1951 1952 Paris |
1954 1955 Paris Treaties |
1957 1958 Rome |
1965 1967 merger treaty |
1986 1987 Single European Act |
1992 1993 Maastricht |
1997 1999 Amsterdam |
2001 2003 Nice |
2007 2009 Lisbon |
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| European communities | Three pillars of the European Union | ||||||||||||||||||||
| European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) | → | ← | |||||||||||||||||||
| European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) | Contract expired in 2002 | European Union (EU) | |||||||||||||||||||
| European Economic Community (EEC) | European Community (EC) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| → | Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (PJZS) | ← | ||||||||||||||||||||
| European Political Cooperation (EPC) | → | Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) | ← | ||||||||||||||||||
| Western Union (WU) | Western European Union (WEU) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| dissolved on July 1, 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||
itemizations
- ↑ BGBl. 1957 II, 1156
- ↑ BGBl. 1965 II, 1454
- ↑ Merger Treaty. In : bpb.de. 2013, retrieved October 24, 2017 : "The F. was signed on April 8, 1965 and came into force on July 1, 1967."
- ↑ Cf. Art. 32 para. 1
- ↑ True German Dictionary. Edition 1986, unchanged edition 1991. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh/Munich
- ↑ European Community . Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 30 January 2009: "The term also commonly refers to the "European Communities," which comprise..."; Introduction to EU Publications . In: Guide to European Union Publications at the EDC . The University of Exeter. Archived from the original on September 24, 2007. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved 30 January 2009: "The European Community originally consisted of three separate Communities founded by treaty..."; Derek Urwin, University of Aberdeen: Glossary of The European Union and European Communities . Retrieved 30 January 2009: "European Community (EC). The often used singular of the European Communities."
- ↑ See Art. 1 No. 11 VvA
- ↑ Federal Law Gazette 2001 II 1693, currently Protocol No. 36 on EUV / AEUV .
- ↑ Article 106 paragraph 1 EAG-V: Article 7, Articles 13 to 19, Article 48 paragraphs 2 to 5 and Articles 49 and 50 of the Treaty on European Union , Article 15, Articles 223 to 236, the Articles Articles 237 to 244, Article 245, Articles 246 to 270, Articles 272, 273 and 274, Articles 277 to 281, Articles 285 to 304, Articles 310 to 320, Articles 322 to 325 and Articles 336, 342 and 344 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Protocol on the Transitional Provisions also apply to this Treaty.
