VL IB: European Policy Making

History of European Integration

What was new in the Maastricht Treaty?

  • Factors for the development towards another intergovernmental Conference (IGC) with two aims
(1) political Union and (2) EMU:
  • Driven by the new dynamism of European Integration
  • The prospect of German unification
  • Assertive European Commission
  • Uncertainties of the collapse of the Communist Regimes
  • Treaty fell short of what would normally be considered a Union = political and legal entity with a coherent and uniform structure
    • Pillar structure (unevenness)
    • Opt-outs: e.g. EMU and Social Chapter
  • Other important aspects of the Treaty:
    • Introduction of the co-decision procedure for several issues
    • Subsidiarity

Diskussion