The modern origins of the EU stem from the events and aftermath of the two world wars, particularly the second, and from the bitter effects of the interwar recession and the 'beggar my neighbour' policies adopted by most countries.

1951 six countries, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg (Benelux), France, Italy and West Germany, signed the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty and formed the ECSC which still exists and whose treaty has to be redrawn by 2002.

1957 the same six signed the Treaties of Rome to create (1) The European Economic Community (EEC) and (2) Euratom. The treaties came into operation in January 1958. Since then the European Community and its derivative The European Union have consisted of the three bodies, 1. ECSC, 2. EEC (called the European Community since 1987) and 3. Euratom.

1972 Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom acceded with effect from 1 January 1973 (The Nine').

1979 Greece acceded with effect from January 1981 (The Ten').

1985 Portugal and Spain acceded with effect from January 1986 (The

Twelve').

1990 the newly unified Germany was incorporated as a single state into theCommunity on 3 October.

1994 Austria, Finland and Sweden acceded with effect from 1 January 1995 (The Fifteen').Other important landmarks are:

1986 The Single European Act (SEA) was signed in February and came into force in July 1987. It established the Single European Market from 1 January 1993.

1991 The European Economic Area (EEA) was formed by an agreement
signed in October. It joined the EC to EFTA (minus Switzerland) and came into force on 1 January 1994. Liechtenstein joined late in 1995.

1991 The Maastricht Treaty on European Union was agreed in December and signed in February 1992. After ratification delays it came into force 1 November 1993.

1996 An Intergovernmental Conference proposed reforms to the Maastricht Treaty. It led to the Treaty of Amsterdam, June 1997.

1.2 The EU's Decision-making Process

The European Union has five main institutions: the Commission, the Council, the European Parliament, the European Court of Justice, and the

European Court of Auditors. Figure 19.1 shows a simplified outline of decision making and institutional relationships in the EU.The relationships in the diagram have evolved over time and will change again as the Maastricht Treaty is revised and as new members join. At the moment, decisions are made by the Council, sometimes in conjunction with the European Parliament. The word Council covers several formats for meetings. It can be the heads of government and/or state meeting twice (or more) a year in what is called The European Council'. Or it can be the ministers for a particular subject such as agriculture or transport, meeting as The Council of Ministers' or it can be 'Council working groups' who are officials from the member states. The term also includes the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) whose members are senior diplomats and civil servants. They meet weekly and aim to smooth the passage of decisions so that only the final or most contentious issues are decided by their political masters.

Some decisions require the Council and the Commission to consult the Economic and Social Committee or the Committee of the Regions which have an advisory role.

Generally speaking the European Parliament's role is also advisory because it is not a law-making body in the way that other parliaments are, but there are two procedures called the co-operation procedure and the codecision procedure that give the European Parliament more say and authority.

In practice, the Commission, which is the executive or civil service of the Union, is the most important of the institutions if only because of the continuity of its existence and the sheer quality of its permanent staff. It currently has 20 Commissioners, two from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom and one from each of the other states. It has about 15 000 staff and is divided into Directorates General (DG). The Commissioners, who are now appointed for five years, are obliged to be completely independent of their national government. The Commission is the main source of initiatives in the EU and the role of President of the Commission is extremely important, as Jacques Delors showed during his period of office to 1994. He was responsible for the Single European Act and for the Treaty on European Union and for the initiatives on European Monetary Union which will lead to a single currency (probably).

When decisions are made they are formulated in different ways. Put simply they are:

regulations which are directly applied and no national measures are
needed to implement them;
directives which bind member states on the objectives to be achieved but
leave it to the individual government to achieve them through modifying
their own laws;
decisions which are binding, in all their aspects, on those they are
addressed to, whether individuals, firms or member states;
recommendations and opinions which are not binding.

Member states vary significantly in the speed and effectiveness with which they implement directives and this difference is a major cause of dissension between members. The process of making European Union laws is long drawn out and full of opportunities for consultation, representation and protest, so there is no real excuse for national governments to talk as if they are being overridden by 'Brussels' which is a short-hand term for the Commission. The United Kingdom Government has developed a reputation for being over-pernickety or over-enthusiastic in interpreting the application of directives and for adopting an excessively bureaucratic approach to changing UK law to comply with them.

A high proportion of European Union legislation requires unanimous agreement in Council but the Single European Act introduced a method of qualified majority voting which was extended by the Maastricht Treaty. There are proposals to extend this majority voting system further but the UK Government of Mr Major strongly opposed the idea. The numbers are modified with each accession of new members but, in 1997, were as follows:

	№, of votes
Germany, France, Italy, UK	10
Spain	8
Belgium, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal	5
Austria, Sweden	4
Ireland, Denmark, Finland	3
Luxemburg	2
Total	87

When a Commission proposal is being considered, at least 62 votes must be in favour. In other cases, the Qualified Majority Vote (QMV) is also 62 but at least 10 states must vote in favour. In 1994 only about 14 per cent of the legislation adopted in the Council was passed by QMV. Whether the proposed legislation is subject to a QMV or not depends on the relevant Act or treaty under which it is discussed and which 'pillar' of the European Union it appears under. Items under the first pillar may or may not be subject to the QMV depending on whether they are designated for that under the Single European Act or the Treaty on Union. Items under the second pillar, that is Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and under the third pillar, that is Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) are not because they rely on what is called 'intergovernmental cooperation'. See Figure 19.2. for the so-called pillar structure of the EU since the Maastricht Treaty.

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