Los tratados de la UE

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What is the EU?

• A political project
• A process...
• Something not yet finished...
• A common market
• 1958 (6) 1973 (12) 1986 (15) 1994 (25) 2007 (27)
• A legal entity
• Less than a state,
• More than an international institution
• A set of institutions
• A set of policies
• A budget

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Treaties and law
The European Union is based on the rule of law.
This means that everything that it does is
derived from treaties, which are agreed on
voluntarily and democratically by all Member
States. Based on the Treaties, EU institutions
can adopt legislation, which is then implemented
by the Member States.
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Treaties and law
Sources of EU Law Primary Legislation ?
Treaties International Agreements ? with third
countries or between the EU countries Secondary
Legislation ? binding and non-binding legal
isntruments
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Treaties and law
Sources of EU Law Primary Legislation ?
Treaties International Agreements ? with third
countries or between the EU countries Secondary
Legislation ? binding and non-binding legal
instruments
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Treaties and law
Sources of EU Law 5th February 1963 Van Gend en
Loos ruling. The European Court of Justice
specifies that the Community constitutes a new
legal order for the benefit of which Member
States have consented to a restriction of their
sovereign rights. 15th July 1964 Costa/ENEL
ruling. The European Court of Justice holds that
Community law overrules national law.
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Treaties and law
The treaties constitute the European Unions
primary legislation, which is comparable to
constitutional law at national level. They thus
lay down the fundamental features of the Union,
in particular the responsibilities of the various
actors in the decision-making process, the
legislative procedures, under the Community
system and the powers conferred on them. The
treaties themselves are the subject of direct
negotiations between the governments of the
Member States, after which they have to be
ratified in accordance with the procedures
applying at national level (in principle by the
national parliaments or by referendum).
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Treaties and law
Previously signed treaties have been changed and
updated to keep up with developments in
society. Moreover, the founding treaties have
been amended on several occasions, in particular
when new Member States acceded in 1973 (Denmark,
Ireland, United Kingdom), 1981 (Greece), 1986
(Spain, Portugal), 1995 (Austria, Finland,
Sweden) and 2004 (the Czech Republic, Cyprus,
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta,
Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia).
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Treaties and law
Two main periods (and a transition phase)
ECSC Treaty (1951) EEC Treaty (Rome Treaty)
(1957) Euratom Treaty (1957) _____________________
_________________ Single European Act
(1986) ______________________________________ Maas
tricht Treaty on European Union (1992) Treaty of
Amsterdam (1997) Treaty of Nice (2001) A
Constitution for Europe (October 2004)
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Treaties and law
The Treaty establishing the European Coal and
Steel Community (ECSC), which was signed on 18
April 1951 in Paris, entered into force on 23
July 1952 and expired on 23 July 2002..
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Treaties and law
The Treaty of Rome, establishing the European
Economic Community (EEC), signed in Rome on 25
March 1957, and entered into force on 1 January
1958. The Treaty establishing the European Atomic
Energy Community (Euratom) was signed at the same
time and the two are therefore jointly known as
the Treaties of Rome.
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Treaties and law
The main purpose of the Treaty establishing the
European Community (EC Treaty) was to bring about
the gradual integration of the States of Europe
and to establish a common market founded on the
four freedoms of movement (for goods, services,
people and capital) and on the gradual
approximation of economic policies. To this end
the Member States surrendered part of their
sovereignty and gave the Community institutions
the power to adopt legislation that would be
directly applicable in the Member States
(regulation, directive, decision) and take
precedence over national law.
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Treaties and law
The Merger Treaty, signed in Brussels on 8 April
1965 and in force since 1 July 1967, which
provided for a Single Commission and a Single
Council of the then three European
The Single European Act (SEA), signed in
Luxembourg and the Hague, and entered into force
on 1 July 1987, provided for the adaptations
required for the achievement of the Internal
Market.
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Treaties and law
The Treaty on European Union, which was signed
in Maastricht on 7 February 1992, entered into
force on 1 November 1993. 'The Maastricht Treaty
changed the name of the European Economic
Community to simply "the European Community". It
also introduced new forms of co-operation between
the Member State governments - for example on
defence, and in the area of "justice and home
affairs". By adding this inter-governmental
co-operation to the existing "Community" system,
the Maastricht Treaty created a new structure
with three "pillars" which is political as well
economic. This is the European Union (EU).
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Treaties and law
The Treaty on European Union (EU Treaty) pursues
two main objectives the creation of a monetary
union by laying down the principles and
arrangements for the introduction of the euro and
the creation of an economic and political union.
This is the treaty that originated the concept of
a three-pillar structure, the first pillar
consisting of the European Community and the
other two of the common foreign and security
policy and police and judicial cooperation in
criminal matters.
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Treaties and law
There is, however, a big difference between the
first pillar and the other two, which have not
given rise to any transfers of sovereignty to the
common institutions as was the case with the
Treaty establishing the European Community. In
these fields the Member States wished to preserve
their independent decision-making powers and
restrict themselves to an intergovernmental form
of cooperation. The most important legal
instruments in these fields are the joint action,
the common position, and the framework decision,
which are almost always adopted unanimously and
are binding only to a limited extent.
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Treaties and law
The Treaty of Amsterdam, signed on 2 October
1997, entered into force on 1 May 1999. It
amended and renumbered the EU and EC Treaties.
Consolidated versions of the EU and EC Treaties
are attached to it. The Treaty of Amsterdam
changed the articles of the Treaty on European
Union, identified by letters A to S, into
numerical form.
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Treaties and law
The Treaty of Nice, signed on 26 February 2001,
entered into force on 1 February 2003. It dealt
mostly with reforming the institutions so that
the Union could function efficiently after its
enlargement to 25 Member States. The Treaty of
Nice, the former Treaty of the EU and the Treaty
of the EC have been merged into one consolidated
version.
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Treaties and law
The most recent one, the draft Treaty
establishing a Constitution for Europe, aims to
replace all the existing Treaties with a single
text and is the result of the work done by the
Convention on the Future of Europe and an
Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). The
Constitution was adopted by the Heads of State
and Government at the Brussels European Council
on 17 and 18 June 2004 and was signed in Rome on
29 October 2004. It needs to be ratified by each
Member State, in line with their own
constitutional arrangements (i.e. by
parliamentary procedure and/or by referendum).
The Constitution will not take effect until it
has been ratified by all 25 Member States.
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Treaties and law

• International agreements are the second source of
  EU law.
• Always agreements concluded between subjects of
  international law (Member States or
  organisations) for the purpose of establishing
  cooperation at international level.
• Agreements concluded by the European Union under
  the first pillar are binding on the institutions
  of the Union and the Member States those
  concluded by the Union under the second and third
  pillars are binding on the institutions but not
  always on the Member States
• Two main types of agreement
• international agreements with third countries or
  international organisations (association,
  coooperation, trade agreements)
• agreements and conventions between the Member
  States.

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Treaties and law
The secondary legislation is the third major
source of Community law after the treaties
(primary legislation) and international
agreements the totality of the legislative
instruments adopted by the European institutions
pursuant to the provisions of the treaties.
Secondary legislation comprises the binding legal
instruments (regulations, directives and
decisions) and non-binding instruments
(resolutions, opinions) provided for in the EC
Treaty, together with a whole series of other
instruments such as the institutions internal
regulations and Community action programmes. The
legal instruments associated with the second and
third pillars, which do not, strictly speaking,
form part of secondary legislation since they
continue to be governed by intergovernmental
relations.
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Treaties and law
Binding Non binding
Primary legislation Treaties
International Agreeements International agreements with third countries or international organisations
Agreements and conventions between the Member States
Secondary legislation Regulations Recomendation
Directives Opinion
Decisions
Joint action (2nd pillar) Joint action (2nd pillar)
Framework decisions (3rd pillar) Framework decisions (3rd pillar)
Common position (2nd and 3rd pillar) Common position (2nd and 3rd pillar)
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Treaties and law
Regulations Adopted by the Council in
conjunction with the European Parliament or by
the Commission alone, a regulation is a general
measure that is binding in all its parts. Unlike
directives, which are addressed to the Member
States, and decisions, which are for specified
recipients, regulations are addressed to
everyone. A regulation is directly applicable,
which means that it creates law which takes
immediate effect in all the Member States in the
same way as a national instrument, without any
further action on the part of the national
authorities.
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Treaties and law
Directives Adopted by the Council in
conjunction with the European Parliament or by
the Commission alone, a directive is addressed to
the Member States. Its main purpose is to align
national legislation. A directive is binding on
the Member States as to the result to be achieved
but leaves them the choice of the form and method
they adopt to realise the Community objectives
within the framework of their internal legal
order. If a directive has not been transposed
into national legislation in a Member State, if
it has been transposed incompletely or if there
is a delay in transposing it, citizens can
directly invoke the directive in question before
the national courts.
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Treaties and law

• Decisions
• Adopted either by the Council, by the Council in
  conjunction with the European Parliament or by
  the Commission, a decision is the instrument by
  which the Community institutions give a ruling on
  a particular matter. By means of a decision, the
  institutions can require a Member State or a
  citizen of the Union to take or refrain from
  taking a particular action, or confer rights or
  impose obligations on a Member State or a
  citizen.
• A decision is
• an individual measure, and the persons to whom
  it is addressed must be specified individually,
  which distinguishes a decision from a regulation,
  
• binding in its entirety.

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Treaties and law
Recomendations A recommendation allows the
institutions to make their views known and to
suggest a line of action without imposing any
legal obligation on those to whom it is addressed
(the Member States, other institutions, or in
certain cases the citizens of the Union).
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Treaties and law
Opinions An opinion is an instrument that
allows the institutions to make a statement in a
non-binding fashion, in other words without
imposing any legal obligation on those to whom it
is addressed. The aim is to set out an
institutions point of view on a question.
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Treaties and law
Joint actions A joint action is a legal
instrument under Title V of the Treaty on
European Union and is thus of an
intergovernmental nature. Adopted by the Council
of the European Union unanimously or, in certain
cases, by a qualified majority, a joint action is
binding on the Member States, which have to
achieve the objectives set unless major
difficulties arise.
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Treaties and law
Framwork decision A framework decision is
binding on the Member States as to the result to
be achieved and leave to the national authorities
the choice of form and methods (like the
directive in the Community context).
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Treaties and law
Common position The common position in the
context of the common foreign and security policy
and police and judicial cooperation in criminal
matters is a legal instrument under Titles V and
VI of the Treaty on European Union and is
intergovernmental in nature. Adopted unanimously
by the Council of the European Union, it
determines the Unions approach to particular
questions of foreign and security policy or
police and judicial cooperation in criminal
matters and gives guidance for the pursuit of
national policies in these fields.
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Treaties and law
Campaign against smoking Immigration - Assylum
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Treaties and law
Recomendations Opinions Joint actions