1

San Beda College, Alabang

School of Law

Midterm Research Paper in

Public International Law

Submitted to: Atty. Juan Ruffo D. Chong, B.S.C (DLSU), JD ( ADMU) LL.M
(NYU, NUS)

Submitted by:
DESINGANO, Harris Jayson U.
MIRANDA, Ma. Christina
RAMOS, Alexandrea D.
VALERIANO, Charles Daniell B.
VENTILACION, Vernis S.
VILLAR, Isabelle Louis

Date Submitted:
May 18, 2020
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Table of Contents

Topic Page Number

Concept of the European Law 1

By: Villar, Isabelle Louis
1. European Union Law
• Structure of the European Union Law
• European Union Treaties
• European Union Regulations. Directives, Decisions
2. European Union Laws Over National Law

Seven Institutions of the European Union 4

By: Desingano, Harris Jayson U.
1. Seven Institutions of the European Union
2. European Parliament
3. European Council
4. Council of the European Union (CEU)
5. European Commission
6. Courts of Justice of the European Union
7. European Central Bank
8. Courts of Auditors

Treaty of Rome 9
By: Villar, Isabelle Louis
1. Historical Account Leading to the Treaties of Rome
2. European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM)
3. European Economic Community (EEC)
4. Assessment of the Treaties of Rome
 3

Maastricht Treaty 13
By: Ramos, Alexandrea D.
1. Brief Background
2. The twelve signatory states
3. Amendments on the treaty
4. Establishment of Euro
5. The integration of European Countries

Monetary Union 21
By: Desingano, Harris Jayson U.
1. Monetary Union
2. What is the Monetary Union?
3. Who governs the Monetary Union?
4. How to be a member of the Monetary Union?
5. The four convergence criteria
6. When is the assessment of the criteria done?
7. When was it introduced as sole currency?
8. What are the disadvantages of European Monetary Union?

Schengen Area 24
By: Miranda, Ma. Christina
1. History
2. Schengen Convention
3. EU member states vs Schengen Countries
4. Integration Management
5. A common External Border
6. Preservation of Wealth and Resources
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Lisbon Treaty 34
By: Ventilacion, Vernis S.
1. Background
2. Key Changes implemented by the Lisbon Treaty
3. Strengths and Benefits
4. Criticisms

North Atlantic Treaty Organization 40

By: Valeriano, Charles Daniell B.
1. Brief history of NATO
2. Members of NATO
3. Structure of NATO
4. NATO in a new millennium: A commentary
• Resurgence of Russian Federation
• Ukranian Problem
• Crimean Annexation
• America’s wavering commitment with NATO
• NATO and Terrorism in the 21st century

Brexit 48
By: Valeriano, Charles Daniell B.
1. Brexit Timeline
2. Brexit: The Right Decision?
• Failure of the Common Market

Conclusion 50

Bibliography 52
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Concept of European Law

European Union Law
The European Union was initially composed of Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany,
France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in 1951. Since then, several countries have joined such
as: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland,
Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
From a 6-member community to 27-member community, the European Union has proven
the effectivity of its laws in maintaining their policies and objectives.

Structure of the European Union Law

European Union Law is divided into Primary and Secondary. Primary EU Law comprises the
Treaties and General Legal Principles while the Secondary EU Law comprises Regulations, Directives
and Decisions approved by the European Parliament.

European Union Treaties

European Union Treaties are agreements between Member-States and they identify the
objectives and limitations of the European Union in the formulation of secondary EU laws. EU
Treaties may be classified into Founding Treaties, Amending Treaties and Accession Treaties. The
Founding Treaties are the Treaty on European Union, The Treaties of Rome in 1957 namely: Treaty
establishing the European Economic Community and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic
Energy Community, and the 1951 Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community.
(Founding Treaties, n.d.) Accession treaties pertain agreements whereby the member countries accept
acceding countries into the European Union and apply to them the benefits, restrictions, obligations
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and rights of being a Member-State (Treaty of Accession, n.d.). Amending Treaties are scattered
throughout history as the Founding Treaties are amended to allow the entry of new Member-States,
and to cater to emerging matters of the generation when they affect the operations of the EU.

European Union Regulations. Directives, Decisions

According to Article 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning European Union(TFEU) EU
Regulations are enactments binding upon member states indicating the detail of their obligations and
rights derived from the Treaties. EU Directives are issuances which require Member-States to enact
local laws for the attainment of the objectives of the Treaties but they do not have the force of law
like regulations. Meanwhile, EU Decisions are not applicable to all Member-States but only to
specifically addressed Party-States. (Raish, 2014)The same article mentions the existence of
Recommendations and Opinions which form part of the EUs legal instruments but that they have no
binding effect on Member-States. EU Regulations, Directives and Decision are enactments of the
European Parliament alongside the European Union Council after it gets approval under the Ordinary
Legislative Procedure.
The Ordinary Legislative Procedure is a product of Articles 289 and 294 of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union. It indicates that the European Commission (EC) is tasked
submit its proposals to the Parliament and the Council and the latter parties are tasked go through it
for a First Reading and thereafter communicate their approval, or disapproval of the proposal within
three months, otherwise the proposal shall be deemed adopted by the Parliament and the Council.
When in the First Reading the proposal is denied or rejected by majority of component members of
either the Council or the Parliament, each shall communicate to the other their position; and if either
of them proposes amendments to the proposal of the EC, there shall be a Second Reading upon which
they shall express their approval or rejection. If after the two readings the EU Parliament and the EU
Council failed to agree on the amendments proposed by either side, a Conciliation Committee (CC)
shall convene for a maximum of six weeks to agree on a joint text and the decision of the CC shall be
by a qualified majority. The joint text produced by the CC shall go into a Third Reading for the final
majority approval. If no joint text is produced nor agreed upon by the qualified majority, the proposal
cannot be adopted. (Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.,
2012)
In Article 289 of the TFEU, a special legislative procedure is established to allow the EU
Council to cater to specific sensitive cases with the no definite procedures. (Legislative Procedures,
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2017)The provisions allowing the use of special legislative procedure are found in Article 89 of the
TFEU which provides that the EU Council may consult with the EU Parliament for the establishment
of conditions and limitations on cross-border police operations and Article 86 of the TFEC provides
that the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office would be acted upon by the EU
Council after consent of the EU Parliament, against crimes in relation to the financial interest of the
European Union.

European Union Laws over National law

With the primary objective of the European Union being the economic integration of member
states, there is the issue of the loss of constitutional identity of Member States. In the Constitutional
Review and development of the EU law written by Vreugdenhil, he indicates that legal scholars
delineate which law is primary depending on the legal system established, whereby the monist
recognizes the international law or the EU law over local laws while the dualist require that a local law
indicate the incorporation of international law into the local law. On the other hand, there is also the
Constitutional Review that serves as a State’s reservation of its agreement with international law
subject to the provisions of its Constitution. This delineation is expanded by the identity clause
embedded in Article 4 of the Treaty of the European Union respecting the national identity of each
Member State, and treating them as equal in the European Union. In Vreugdenhil’s assessment of the
constitutional review in relation to the EU Law, he stated that while monist states like the
Netherlands, have limited role in the development of EU law, dualist states who would argue on the
constitutional review of an EU law would be able to maneuver its claims with the European Union.
On the downside, Vreugdenhil stated that for monist states who fail to assert the constitutional review
of an EU treaty, the state fails to protect their people who do not expect gain from the EU integration.
(Vreugdenhil)

European Union Law Actions

Going into the general principle of pacta sunt servanda, Member States have obligations to
comply with as they reap benefits of membership from the European Union. Failure to fulfill these
obligations lead to consequences. Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning European Union.
Robert Schutze, in his Introduction to European Law categorizes the judicial actions of the European
Union into four namely, enforcement actions, actions for failure to act, annulment actions and action
for damages.
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Enforcement Actions are found on Articles 258 and 259 of the TFEU which entitles the EU
Commission or any Member State to observe actions of other Member States and bring the issue to
the Court of Justice. Annulment Actions are governed by Article 263 of the TFECU which pertains
to a judicial review of the legality of legislative acts of institutions of the EU. To have a legal standing
for the annulment, the legislative act or decision must either be directly addressed to the person,
directly concerning to the individual, or directly concerning and requires no implementation. Actions
for Failure to Act are found on Article 25 of the TFEU whereby the action is directed on the EU itself
or its institutions for unlawfully failing to act, that is, failing to act after being called to act. Action for
damages is founded on Article 340 of the TFEU whereby a Member State is entitled compensation
for damages caused by EU institutions and servants. (Judicial Review and the European Union, 2016)

Seven Institutions of the European Union

Seven Institutions of the European Union
According to Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union, the institutional framework
comprises 7 institutions:
• the European Parliament;
• the European Council;
• the Council of the European Union (simply called ‘the Council’);
• the European Commission;
• the Court of Justice of the European Union;
• the European Central Bank;
• the Court of Auditors.
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European Parliament
The European Parliament is the legislative branch of the European Union. It is one of the
legislative branches who adopt legislation for the European Union together with the Council of
European Union as co-legislator. It is composed of 705 directly elected parliament members (each
country is allotted seats in the EP). There are 22 committees within the parliament (such as Foreign
Affairs, Human Rights, Development Budgets, International trade, budgetary control and etc.) The
members of the parliament are divided not by citizenship, but by political affiliation, unlike the
Philippines there are only 7 Political groups within the European Union. There are also 44 delegations
that maintain the relations with non-European Union countries. The delegations extend from the
different continents, From America to Mexico, up to China in Asia. The European Parliament
headquarters are in Strasbourg, France. The administrative office of the "General Secretariat" is
located in Luxembourg City. Meetings of the whole Parliament, plenary sessions takes place in
Strasbourg and in Brussels, Belgium.
The European treaties granted the Parliament powers of a wide range as it is the European
Union directly elected body. It is responsible for adopting legislation co-equal with the Council of EU.
It also has the power to approve budget allocation with the Council of EU. The Parliament has the
power to oversee the work of other European Institutions especially the European Commission who
acts as the executive arm of the European Union.
The Lisbon treaty initially known as the Reform Treaty, it amends the two treaties which form
the basis for European Union. The treaty of Lisbon took effect on January 1, 2009. The Lisbon Treaty
brought new-law making powers to the European Parliament and it put it on an equal footing with
the Council of Ministers. The Lisbon treaty have added Citizens Initiative as a participatory
democracy, it may be compared to the Philippines plebiscite or referendum, wherein citizen initiative
is the source of a new local, whether in local form or national.
The European parliament may be compared to the Philippines House of Representatives with
members directly-elected by the people, and its co-legislator the Senate of the Republic of the
Philippines.
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European Council
The European council brings together the European Union leaders, It defines the priorities of
the EU. The members are the Heads of State or government of EU countries, European Council
President, European Commission President. It is located in Brussels, Belgium. The President of the
European Council is elected by the European Council itself for a term of two and half year. The
President is the chairman of the council, and also the representative of the council to the world. The
European Council meets at least four times a year, but the president may call a special meeting if
necessary.

Council of the European Union (CEU)

The CEU is composed of the government ministers from each European Union country.
Unlike the European Council, it has the power to discuss, amend and adopt laws. It is the co-legislative
branch of Parliament. The CEU is the main decision making body of the EU. The council meets
depending on the policy to be discusses, and each country then sends a minister responsible for the
certain policy. The presidency of the Council is on a rotation basis, wherein a member country has
the opportunity to the presidency for 6 months. The national government ministers have different
policy areas such as justice and home affairs, agriculture and fisheries, education, youth culture and
sport, general affairs, foreign affairs and etc.
Under the European Rules of Procedure, all discussions and votes shall take place in public.
In order for a decision to be made or policy to be passed, qualified majority of 55% of the countries
member representing at least 65% of the total EU population must be achieved. But, to block a
decision at least 4 countries are needed, representing at least 35% of the total EU population. However
an exception to the qualified majority is provided in sensitive topics such as foreign policy and taxation,
wherein it must have a unanimous vote. In procedural and administrative issue only simple majority
is needed.
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European Commission
The European Commission is an independent executive arm of the European Union located
at Brussels, Belgium. The EC is composed of 27 Commissioners led by a Commission President who
assigns commissioners to different policy areas. The President is elected by the majority of the
European Parliament. Under the European Commission’s law it must have a college of
commissioners, such as the President of the Commission, 8 Vice-Presidents, with 3 executives, and
representative of the union for foreign affairs and 18 commissioners responsible for a portfolio. The
leaders in the positions in college of commissioners are selected by the President to be approved by
the European Council. The President provides for the policy direction to be followed by the
commissioners in producing work program. The European Commission is one of the branches
assigned to enforce the EU law and protect the interests of EU and its citizens through proposal of a
new law. It manages EU policies and allocates EU funding. It also speaks on behalf of all EU countries
in international bodies. The current President is Ursula von der Leyen, together with a team of College
of Commissioners, 1 from each EU country. To summarize the main function of the European
Commission it has 4 major roles, right of initiative, policy implementation, international
representation, and guardian of treaties.
The European Commission, may be compared to the Executive branch of the Philippine
Government, headed by a President, which also has the capacity to appoint department heads, or
leaders for different sectors, commonly known as cabinet members as compared to the 27
commissioners in EU. Both president from EU and Philippines represent their nation to the
international bodies. They both implement the law but unlike in EU the president is elected by the
European Parliament, the Philippine president is voted directly by the people.

Courts of Justice of the European Union

The CJEU is divided into two branch, the Court of Justice and General Court. It is located in
Luxembourg. The Court of Justice has 1 judge from each EU country, plus 11 advocates general. The
General court is composed of 2 judges from each EU country. The CJEU interprets the law and settles
the legal disputes between national governments and institutions. It enforces the law thru
infringement proceeding, it may also annul EU legal acts if proved to violate treaties. It also serves as
a court that sanctions EU institutions if there is an inaction reported by other EU institutions. The 2
courts have different jurisdiction, the Courts of Justice under the EU law may deal with the request
for preliminary rulings from national courts, and certain actions for annulment and appeals. While
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General Court, may rule on actions for annulment brought by individuals, companies, or in other
cases EU governments. The judge in each court has a renewable term of 6 years, appointed by the
national government. In each court, they elect a President who serves a renewable term of 3 years.
The CJEU may be compared to the Philippine Judicial department, except that it has 2 courts
with different jurisdiction, wherein the Philippines there is one Supreme Court. The Supreme Court
of the Philippines ensures the action of other co-equal branch through declaring a law or action null
and void or unconstitutional. Compared to the checks and balances in the Philippine government,
CJEU has the power to declare a law or action of other institutions null and void. It may also sanction
any person or even the EU institutions.

European Central Bank

The ECB is the central bank of the 19 EU countries which have adopted the Euro. It is
composed of executive board from all member countries national central bank governors. It is owned
by the 19 EU countries consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia,
Slovenia, and Spain. It is located in Frankfurt, Germany. The ECB is headed currently by Christine
Legarde. The ECB plays important role in the management of economic and monetary policy of the
EU. The ECB keep the prices stable throughout the 19 countries, by setting interest rate in lending
commercial banks in the Eurozone, as well as controlling the money supply, to manage the inflation.
ECB supervises financial markets and institutions, it also has the authority to produce banknotes. The
ECB is composed of 3 decision making bodies, the Governing Council as the main decision making
body, the Executive Board who handles the daily operation, the General Council advisory and
coordination board. The ECB works with the national central banks of all EU countries in the
Eurozone. Eurozone is the area that has adopted the euro currency.
The ECB’s equivalent in the Philippines is the Philippine Central Bank (PCB). The 3 pillars of
central banking of the Philippines is price stability, stable banking system, a safe and reliable payment
system, is similar to the mission of the European Central Bank. The PCB is also has the power to
authorize production of bank notes. The PCB plays a very important role in the growth and inflation
of the Philippines, by controlling money in the economy, it also handles the problems within
commercial banks in the Philippines.
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Court of Auditors
The EU independent external auditor. It has the role to oversee the interest of EU taxpayers.
Under the treaty creating it, it does not have legal power, but it aids the European Commission in the
effective management of the budget of the EU. It may be compared to an auditing firm, but operated
by the government to audit all the finances of the 19 countries comprising the Eurozone. It audits the
EU revenue and expenditure, it also checks if the funds are correctly spent. It also has the power to
report corruption, fraud or other illegal activity to the European Anti-Fraud Office. It is important to
note that Court of Auditors is an independent body. It is free to decide on what it will audit, how it
will audit, and when to present its reports and findings. The court is created mainly to audit EU funds
handled by the EU Commission , by carrying out 3 types of audit, Financial audit, Compliance audit,
and Performance audit. The ECA is composed of court members appointed by the Council, after
consulting the European Parliament, for a renewabl term of 6 years, and a President for a 3 year term.
The ECA may be compared to the Philippine Commission on Audit, which oversees if the
budget allocated is properly spent by the national and local officials in the executive department. It is
also an independent body established by the constitution of the Philippines, having the similar
function with ECA to examine, audit and settle all accounts and expenditures of the Philippine
government.

Treaty of Rome
Historical Account Leading to the Treaties of Rome
The end of World War II marked a significant change in history. While the United Nations
was established by more than 50 country-signatories to defeat the aggression of Germany, Japan and
Italy, the center and nearby countries of the war were left in ruins with their futures untold. Germany
was divided into East Germany, which was occupied by the Soviet Union, and West Germany, which
was occupied by the United States, Great Britain, and France. In 1949, West Germany declared its
independence from the control of the Allied powers and was formally declared as the Federal Republic
of Germany. While the United States and the Soviet Union fell into the Cold War, the ruins and
economic distress left by World War II were rebuilt by the affected and surrounding countries. This
led to the formulation of the Treaty of Rome.
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(Signing-Treaty of Rome) at the http://www.makemeaware.com/a-detailed-timeline-on-the-history-of-europe/signing-

treaty-of-rome-forbes-2/

On March 25, 1957 six countries greatly damaged by World War II convened in the Sala Degli
Orazi e Curiazi of the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome to establish a community that would increase
trade and wealth and a community that invests in nuclear energy. These countries were Belgium,
France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany and they established the European
Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM). While
not incorporated in the same treaty the EURATOM was established parallel with the EEC. They are
coined as the Treaties of Rome.
While governing different topics, the EEC and the EURATOM are governed by the same
institutional structure. Both communities are administered by the same European Parliament,
Council, Commission, Court of Justice and Court of Auditors but differ on the powers they exercise
for each community depending on the treaties applicable.

European Economic Community (EEC)

The Treaty establishing European Economic Community (EEC) was initially limited to the
provisions on the Free Market of Goods, Common Agricultural Policy, Free Movement of Persons,
Services and Capital, Progressive Abolishment of Restrictions on the movement of Capital and the
Common Transport Policy (https://www.ab.gov.tr/). The Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union (TFEU) added wide range of provisions establishing guidance on unaddressed matters of the
 15

initial EEC Treaty such as: Freedom, Security and Justice, Policies on Border Checks, Asylum and
Immigration, Judicial Cooperation in Civil and Criminal Matters, Police Cooperation. (EUR-LEX)
The Free Market of Goods refers to the establishment of the Customs Union which prohibits
the imposition of customs duties, charges on importation and exportation of goods within and among
Member States, and internal taxation restricting the movement of goods. For products originating
from third party countries, they are subjected to Common Customs Tariff duties without
discrimination after proper classification. Products from Third Party Countries only pay once for
customs tariffs and once their products reach a Member State, they may already be traded freely within
the Union This is enshrined in Articles 9 and 10 of the EEC Treaty, now in Articles 28 and 29 of the
TFEU.
The free market of goods is but one of the four freedoms that established the Single Market
of the European Union. The other freedoms include that of Persons, Services, and Capital.
Freedom of Persons gives the right of establishment for non-wage earners and the free
movement of workers for wage earners. indicated in Article 52 and 48 of the EEC Treaty, and in
Article 49 and 45of the TFEU. The right of establishment indicates that a person, natural or juridical
may engage in non-wage activities and manage enterprises within the EU so long as, in accordance
with article 58 of the EEC treaty, the main establishment of the enterprise or company is within the
EEC. For wage earner or employees, the EEC Treaty provides the prohibition on discrimination
based on nationality and discrimination in relation to employment conditions and remuneration
received. On the free movement of Capital, the Article 68 EEC Treaty has already been surpassed by
the TFEU in the way that Article 63 thereof has already laid down the total prohibition on restrictions
on the movement of capital between Member State and between Member States and third party
countries. However, in Article 64 of the TFEU an exception on the total prohibition is made with
respect to measures on direct investment of third party countries which would need a unanimous
decision of the EU Council following the special legislative procedure; and Article 65 thereof, tax laws
of Member States are still given a preference over the free movement of capital.
The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Economic Community in Article 39 of
the EEC aims to increase the agricultural productivity of Member States and the individual earnings
of people in the agriculture industry, to stabilize the market, to ensure regular flow of supplies, and
to ensure reasonable prices to consumers. To achieve the objectives, common competition rules,
coordination of market organizations and the establishment of a European Market organization are
provided by Article 40 of the Treaty of the EEC.
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The Common Transport Policy of the EEC was a directive, embodied in Article 75 of the
Treaty establishing the EEC, on the Commission to establish common rules applicable to international
transport of Member-States and rules applicable to residents of non-member States transporting to
Member-States. The directives of the Treaty, however, were limited by Article 84, only to
transportation by road, rail, and inland waterways while the sea and air transportations were left in the
hands of the European Council as long as approved unanimously, in the EEC Treaty, but with the
TFEU, the provisions of sea and air transport must undergo the ordinary legislative procedure, as
provided in Article 100 thereof.
From the vague but ideally envisioned free trade, the EEC had several amendments made to
it for the efficiency of its operation.

European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM)

The establishment of the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) is founded, as
indicated on its Preamble, on common recognition that use of nuclear energy will result to
advancement of industries and later on to the betterment and prosperity of their countrymen but that
the research on nuclear energy poses great health hazards and a need for provision of resources and
it can only be achieved with the cooperation of the community. (EURATOM, 2016)
Without diving too much into the provisions of the EURATOM Treaty, the practice and
threat of supranationalism is evident. This is in relation with safety control provisions of the treaty.
The EURATOM Treaty is clear that the nuclear materials are not intended to be diverted from their
purpose to contribute to the prosperity of relevant countrymen. Nevertheless, the Security Provisions
of the EURATOM Treaty in Article 24 thereof limits itself to the nondisclosure of research program
information that may be harmful to the interest of the community (Union O. J.).
The outdatedness of the EURATOM has led to its ineffectivity and it is slowly being
abandoned with the investments made on renewable energy. However there is yet to be a total
abandonment nor will abandonment be in the near future because the amount of investment made by
participating countries creates a political arena that keeps the chase for nuclear energy alive.
(Antonucci, 2019)
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Assessment of the Treaties of Rome

Smith states that, initially, Member States have been overly cautious in their dealings and that
the lack of expectation or concrete goal limits the fangs of the treaty. (Smith, 1970) Brabandere, on
the other hand, states that supranationalism is but a consequence of a conscious State exercising its
right to assign or delegate part its state competences on matters of interdependence with other
countries but it does not transfer part of its sovereignty. Although International Organizations like the
European Union operate, on the basic sense, upon the consent of the state, it has gained legitimacy
by the democratic legitimacy seen in the election of Members of the EU Parliament. The popular
legitimacy of International Organization cannot be measured at an absolute but it is part of its
evolution where the state is the primary actor retaining sovereignty but the fall of the state in dealing
with international organizations lies on the hands of the governed. (Brabandere, 2013) Surely, the
world has moved on from its traditional closed-door state sovereignty and paved way for the rise of
International Organization.

Maastricht Treaty
Brief Background
Maastricht Treaty, formally known as Treaty on European Union, is an international
agreement approved by the heads of government of the states of the European Community (EC) in
Maastricht, Netherlands, in December 1991. The Treaty was signed in the Dutch city of Maastricht,
which lies close to the borders with Belgium and Germany; this was the result of several years of
discussions between governments on deepening European integration. It was signed on February 7,
1992, and came into force on November 1, 1993. The treaty established a European Union (EU), with
EU citizenship granted to every person who was a citizen of a member state, thus allowing citizens to
reside in and move freely between Member States and it enabled people to vote and run for office in
local and European Parliament elections in the EU country in which they lived, regardless of their
nationality. The treaty also provided for the introduction of a central banking system and a common
currency, the euro; in addition to that, committed members implemented common foreign and
security policies, and called for greater cooperation on various other issues, including the environment,
policing, and social policy. It was marked the beginning of “a new stage in the process of creating an
ever closer union among the peoples of Europe” (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004).
 18

Article A of the Treaty on European Union states that:

Article A
By this Treaty, the High Contracting Parties establish among themselves a European
Union, herein after called' the Union'.
This Treaty marks a new stage in the process of creating a never closer union among the
peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen
The Union shall be founded on the European Communities, supplemented by the policies
and forms of cooperation established by this Treaty. Its task shall be to
organize, in a manner demonstrating consistency and solidarity ,relations between the
Member States and between their peoples.

In her statement, Her Majesty the Queen of UK and of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
emphasized the following agendas of the said Treaty, (1992. Treaty on European Union p. 3-4)
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF
GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND,
RESOLVED to mark a new stage in the process of European integration undertaken
with the establishment of the European Communities,
RECALLING the historic importance of the ending of the division of the European
continent and the need to create firm bases for the construction of the future Europe
 19

CONFIRMING their attachment to the principles of liberty, democracy and respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms and of the rule of law,
DESIRING to deepen the solidarity between their peoples while respecting their history,
their culture and their traditions,
DESIRING to enhance further the democratic and efficient functioning of the institutions
so as to enable them better to carry out, within a single institutional framework, the tasks
entrusted to them,
RESOLVED to achieve the strengthening and the convergence of their economies and to
establish an economic and monetary union including, in accordance with the provisions of
this Treaty, a single and stable currency,
DETERMINED to promote economic and social progress for their peoples, within the
context of the accomplishment of the internal market and of reinforced cohesion and
environmental protection, and to implement policies ensuring that advances in economic
integration are accompanied by parallel progress sin other fields,
RESOLVED to establish a citizenship common to nationals of their countries,
RESOLVED to implement a common foreign and security policy including the eventual
framing of a common defense policy, which might in time lead to a common defense, thereby
reinforcing the European identity and its independence in order to promote peace, security
and progress in Europe and in the world,
REAFFIRMING their objective to facilitate the free movement of persons, while ensuring
the safety and security of their peoples, by including provisions on justice and home affairs
in this Treaty,
RESOLVED to continue the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples
of Europe in which decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen in accordance
with the principle of subsidiarity.
 20

The Twelve Signatory Countries

Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands,
Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom are the twelve different countries, which signed the Treaty
on February 7, 1992 through the country’s plenipotentiaries. The signing of the Treaty of Maastricht
was held in Maastricht, Netherlands, which was lead by the Dutch government, by virtue of holding
Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the negotiations in the second half of 1991,
arranged a ceremony inside the government buildings of the Limburg province on the river Maas
(Meuse) (Five things you need to know about the Maastricht Treaty. Feb. 1, 2020).

(On 7 February 1992 in Maastricht, the Foreign and Finance Ministers of the 12 Member States of the European
Communities sign the Treaty on European Union.)

The parliaments in each country then ratified the Treaty. Some of them held referendums, the
three countries that held referendums are the following: France, Denmark and Ireland and they have
all been required by their respective constitutions. The process of ratifying the treaty was fraught with
difficulties in three states (Parsons, 2006). In the United Kingdom, the Maastricht Rebels within the
governing Conservative Party opposed an opt-out from the treaty’s social provisions in Parliament by
the opposition Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs and the treaty itself. The number of rebels exceeded
the Conservative majority in the House of Commons, and thus the government of John Major came
close to losing the confidence of the House (Goodwin, 1993). According to the British constitutional
 21

convention, with regard to parliamentary sovereignty, ratification in the UK was not subject to
approval by referendum.
On 1 November 1993, the Maastricht Treaty officially came into force and the European
Union was officially established. Since then, 16 more countries have joined the EU and adopted the
rules laid down in the Maastricht Treaty or in the treaties that followed later.

(The Treaty of Maastricht, shown at an exhibition in Regensburg. The book is opened at a page containing the signatures
and seals of the ministers representing the heads of state of Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Greece)

Amendments on the Treaty

The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union and created its pillar structure, which
remained in place until the Lisbon Treaty came into force in 2009. It also greatly expanded the
competences of the EEC/EU and led to the creation of the single European currency, the euro.
The treaties establishing the European Communities were reformed and amended by the
Maastricht Treaty. Later on it was renamed European Economic Community to European
Community to reflect its expanded competences beyond economic matters. The creation of the two
new pillars of the EU on Common Foreign and Security Policy and Cooperation in the Fields of
Justice and Home Affairs was also established, which replaced the former informal intergovernmental
 22

cooperation bodies named TREVI and European Political Cooperation on EU Foreign policy
coordination.
Today, the Maastricht Treaty and all of its pre-existing treaties has subsequently been further
amended by the following treaties:
• Treaty of Amsterdam (1997),
• Treaty of Nice (2001),
• Treaty of Lisbon (2007).

Establishment of Euro
The euro is the official currency for 19 of the 27 EU member countries. A long preparatory
path of over 40 years led to the introduction of the euro in 2002. Tangible proof of European
integration, the single currency has a specific history of design, implementation, and policies. Although
the switch to the euro took place almost 20 years ago, in some countries it is still possible to exchange
old national notes and coins with the single European currency.
The Maastricht Treaty facilitated the creation of a single European currency, which is called
the euro. The euro is the national currency of the EU member states that have adopted it, including
Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, and Slovenia. These countries form
the Eurozone, a region where the euro serves as the common national currency. It was the
culmination of several decades of debate on increasing economic cooperation in Europe. The Treaty
also established the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European System of Central Banks and
describes their objectives. The main objective for the ECB is to maintain price stability, i.e. to
safeguard the value of the euro. The European Central Bank and the European Commission are in
charge of maintaining its value and stability, and for establishing the criteria required for EU countries
to enter the euro area (The Euro, 17, 2020) (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica .2007).
 23

Treaty also established rules on how the euro would work in practice. This included how to determine
if countries were ready to join the euro. The purpose of these particular rules, sometimes referred to
as the Maastricht criteria or the convergence criteria, is to ensure price stability is maintained in the
euro area even when new countries join the currency. The rules work to ensure that countries joining
are stable in the following areas:
• Inflation
• Levels of public debt
• Interest rates
• Exchange rate (Five things you need to know
about the Maastricht Treaty, 2020).

The Integration of European Countries

The Maastricht Treaty on European Union was a major overhaul of the founding treaties. It
established the "three pillars" of the European Union, as it exists today.
• Pillar One incorporates the three founding treaties and sets out the institutional requirements
for EMU. It also provides for supplementary powers in certain areas, e.g. environment,
research, education and training.
• Pillar Two established the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) which makes it
possible for the Union to take joint action in foreign and security affairs.
• Pillar Three created the Justice and Home Affairs policy (JHA), dealing with asylum,
immigration, judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, and customs and police
cooperation against terrorism, drug trafficking and fraud.
 24

(http://www.xanthi.ilsp.gr/kemeseu/ch1/treaties.htm)

European countries have grown closer together because of the existence of the Maastricht
Treaty, although some policy areas such as economic and fiscal policies remain at national level. The
European leaders have acceded on additional steps to further promote the integration between
European states:
• The Stability and Growth Pact was agreed in 1997 to ensure that countries followed sound
budgetary policies
• The European Stability Mechanism was established to provide financial assistance to euro area
countries experiencing or threatened by severe financing problems
• The Single Supervisory Mechanism and the Single Resolution Board were created after the
financial crisis to make the European banking system safer, as well as to increase financial
integration and stability
Since the creation of the Maastricht Treaty, over 440 million citizens from 27 Member States
enjoy the benefits of European cooperation. One of the major impacts was EU citizenship, which
allowed people to run for local office and for European Parliament elections in the EU country they
lived in, regardless of nationality. Today, the euro has become the world’s second most traded
currency and is part of the daily life of million citizens not only in these 19 countries but also people
of other countries who are benefited by the euro currency (Kenton. 2020).
 25

Monetary Union
Monetary Union
The Economic and Monetary Union in European countries, was formed by the European
Council in 1992 through the signing of a treaty in Maastricht City. In the later years, the European
Union took a step further to develop the European Union economy. It integrated all the economic
and fiscal policies as well as the currency of the member countries. The currency is also known as
“Euro”. There are only 19 European Union countries that have adopted the Euro currency. Nine
member countries of the EU, did not change their currency into Euro.

What is the Monetary Union?

It is when nations joined together and formed a trading bloc where they agreed to treat trade
freely between themselves, to adopt the same currency, the same central bank, the same monetary
policy.

Who governs the Monetary Union?

The European Central bank governs the monetary union. It is composed of three bodies, the
general council, the executive board and the governing council. The Governing council is composed
of governors from central banks of all nations forming the monetary union.

(The above picture shows the European Central Bank in Frankfurt Germany)
 26

How to be a member of the Monetary Union?

In order to make sure that a country is ready to adopt the euro, the treaty created the high
degree of durable convergence criteria. It was put in place to measure progress in the countries
preparedness to adopt the euro, defined as a set of macroeconomic indicators, which focus on:
• Price stability
• Sound public finances, to ensure they are sustainable
• Exchange-rate stability, to demonstrate that a Member State can manage its economy without
recourse to excessive currency fluctuations
• Long-term interest rates, to assess the durability of the convergence

The four convergence criteria

What is Price stability Sound and Durability of Exchange rate
measured: sustainable convergence stability
public finances
How it is Harmonised Government Long-term Exchange rate
measured: consumer price deficit and debt interest rate developments in
inflation ERM II
Convergence A price performance Not under Not more than 2 Participation in
criteria: that is sustainable excessive percentage points ERM II for at least
and average inflation deficit above the rate of 2 years without
not more than 1.5 procedure at the three best severe tensions, in
percentage points the time of performing particular without
above the rate of the examination Member States in devaluing against
three best terms of price the euro
performing Member stability
States

The Treaty also calls for an examination of other factors relevant to economic integration and
convergence. These additional factors include the integration of markets and the development of the
balance of payments. Their assessment is also seen as an important indication of whether the
integration of a Member State into the euro area would proceed smoothly.
 27

When is the assessment of the criteria done?

Under the Treaty, it is done every two years or upon request of a member state, with the
Commission and the European Central Bank assessing the progress made by the Euro-area candidate
countries, after the assessment they publish their respective reports.

When was it introduced as sole currency?

It was introduced in the year 1999, but it only came into circulation in 2002. At first only 11
countries passed the criterion implemented by the European Central Bank. According to the
European Union website there are 19 countries that form the Eurozone, consists of Austria, Belgium,
Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.
There are 28 European countries, 9 out of 28 are not members of the monetary union,
including Denmark, although there is an exchange currency agreement with Denmark and EU
countries that are members of the Monetary Union.
The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland came into European Union in 2004, but the
remained outside the Euro Area, but they maintain a floating exchange rate with the Euro

What are the advantages of European Monetary Union?

The advantages of the introducing Euro, is one does not need to exchange money when
travelling within the European countries. Online shopping has become easier for the producers and
consumer; there is no need for conversion. It was also a boost for the economy, as one can compare
jobs, based on salaries on different European countries. It gave benefit not only for the livelihood of
workers and their citizen, but it has also increased the competition between companies. The countries
have boosted each other as they share the same currency; they grew close to each other.
National transaction was the same as inter-country transaction, as there is no need for
conversion.

What are the disadvantages of European Monetary Union?

The loss of monetary policy autonomy, monetary policy is a tool that may be used by the government
to control the performance of the domestic economy. The monetary autonomy is lost, because the
Eurozone is under mutual stability pact, which limits the power of the country to control prices and
mainly the economy. The countries in the Eurozone cannot control their exchange rate and interest
 28

rate. A fall of one economy of a member country may affect the economy of all the countries in the
Eurozone. Although the European Monetary Union prove itself to be successful, it is still on a big
international risk of failing, because a country cannot adjust to its independent situation because it is
bound and forced by the European monetary policy, and it cannot respond to a decline in demand by
lowering interest rate.

Schengen Area
History
Geography plays a big part in the movement and diplomatic affairs of different states. This
and other political agendas made the European countries open a discourse over the free movement
among their respective nations. But it was only after the second World War that this ideology brought
the European communities to debate on their free movement and exclusivity (The Schengen
Agreement - History and the Definition, 2019).
The United Kingdom, which is composed of four nations—England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland, became hostile to this abolition of border checks. It then suggested that France and
Germany pioneer a gradual abolition of borders among them. On June 17, 1984 these two countries
took the initial step within the European Council in Fontainebleau where they later approved to define
conditions for the free movements of its people (Yurtoğlu, 2018). The following year, on June 14,
1985 in the city of Schengen in Luxembourg, the Schengen Agreement was signed by the five
European countries namely, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands, later known
as the Schengen Area. This agreement contemplates that these signatory countries function as if they
are as a single state .
Its subsequent agreement developed a common visa where it has removed border controls
between the member states for the entire zone also known as the Schengen Visa. This includes twenty-
two (22) European Union (EU) countries and four (4) non EU-countries, which makes it the largest
visa-free zone in the world.
 29

The Schengen Convention

The other countries of the EU joined the founding group, Italy in 1990, Spain and Portugal in
1991, Greece in 1992, Austria in 1995, and Sweden, Denmark and Finland in 1996. Countries outside
the EU but members of the Nordic Passport, Norway and Iceland acceded to the Schengen as
associate members in 1996.
The abolition of borders between States is the central objective of the Schengen Agreement,
being offset however by an operative surveillance of their external borders. Like many treaties, the
Schengen establishes simple measures such as the simplifying of internal border checks and teaming
up against drug trafficking and crime. By the same token, it offers long-term measures like the
coordination of legislative and regulatory provisions with regard to drugs and arms trafficking, police
cooperation and the integration of visa policies.
On June 19, 1990, the Governments of the Kingdom of Belgium, Federal Republic of
Germany, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the French Republic, and the Kingdom of the
Netherlands signed the Schengen. This Convention implements the Schengen Agreement to
strengthen external border checks and define procedures for the issuance of uniform visas and
coordinate procedures regarding the right of asylum, to establish a Schengen Information System (SIS)
and bring an end to the long-running plight against drug-trafficking (The Schengen acquis 2000).
 30

photo from: https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/e-

library/docs/schengen_brochure/schengen_brochure_dr3111126_en.pdf

EU member states vs. Schengen countries

The EU is a political union that likewise involves boosting economic affairs among all member
states. It consists of 27 members that are under obligations and given privileges arising from their
membership.
As seen in the illustration, being a member of the EU does not necessarily mean an association
with the Schengen Area. The unresolved conflicts arising from political issues left these countries
outside of the Schengen Agreement.
The case of Cyprus is one example. Cyprus is a member of the EU since 2004, however, not
yet included in the Schengen Area because of its issue on its divided island and other political
controversies which, if unresolved while being a member of the Schengen, would greatly affect the
latter’s ideals and might bring about problems to other signatory countries. Other countries like
Bulgaria and Romania also desire to be part of the Schengen but were rejected by the Council of
Ministers as two Schengen members, Finland and Germany expressed their dismay with respect to
 31

their corruption issues and criminality, not to mention the illegal admission of Turkish people from
the same countries towards the Schengen region (The Schengen Agreement - History and the
Definition, 2019).
Likewise, Croatia is a member state of the EU but has not yet become a member of the
Schengen. Last 2015, the country showed its willingness to be part of the Agreement through its
technical evaluation that was expected to end the following year. However, there was a doubt in its
sustainability of the area as there had been illegal entries from the increase of migrations from Greece.
Since Croatia needed to find a resolution to this, Hungary expressed that it could vote against the
accession of Croatia in the Schengen, hence its non-membership. The United Kingdom and Ireland,
on the other hand, have a “special status” as set in the provisions in the Amsterdam treaty and opt-
out in Schengen.
Thomas Diez (2016) elaborated on the intricacies that lie between these two groups, he
explained:
The EU is a system of what has sometimes been called “variable geometry”
not all member states participate in all policy integration, while some non-
member states are part of some EU policy areas. Take the example of the
common border area of Schengen: the UK and Ireland as EU members have
opted out of this policy area, other EU members (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,
Romania) have for various reasons not yet become part of Schengen whereas
Norway and Switzerland while not EU members are in Schengen. The reason
for this complex set-up is partly to be found in the process character of
European integration, the effects of which are compounded by path
dependency. Integration remains a contested concept even within Europe.
The pursuit of integration is an atlas in part a result of the inter-war debates
about the future of Europe and the applicability of federalist and functionalist
ideas. (p. 294)
 32

Integrated management
Schengen’s border is founded on strict yet open perimeters to ensure both the security and
safety of its citizens, as well as an easy trade of goods between regions. This management strategy is
what they call integrated border management. It presupposes that borders are made open but at the
same time secured through effective operational and organizational coordination, laws and policies,
and the cooperation of common visa and asylum measures (Jeffray, 2017). This asylum refers to the
Common European Asylum System (CEAS) wherein Schengen and EU states follow a protocol in
welcoming an influx of refugees.
Not only does the integrated border provide trouble-free merchandising but it also ensures
that passport holders will not have trouble or delay in going through checkpoints across Europe. To
reassure the effectiveness of this external border, Schengen members proposed to lift short-stay visa
requirements such as in the case of the citizens of Western Balkan states wherein south-eastern border
remains to be open. At the same time, this strategy will give their government an opportunity to
improve their migration and customs standards (Parkes, 2017). These conditions or “enlarging”
Schengen are used to invite nearby countries to help in guarding its outer borders and in return for
“faithful cooperation” with the EU. It can be concluded that the EU shares a border with every state
around the world, provided that its member states have extensive international air links.

A common external border

Since there is the absence of internal border controls in the Schengen Area, there is a share of
a common external border which obligates the States to protect and ensure security within
Schengenland. This external border does not turn Europe into a “fortress”, as others may describe,
but it is created for business, travel and promote tourism for the affluence of the European economies.
This imaginary border needs to hold open for people who come in and out for work or seek refuge
from persecution or war.
The Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission released an online brochure
to help applicants know more about the Schengen Area and the visa needed. It explained that nationals
from certain non-EU countries like Iceland, Switzerland, and Norway need to apply for a visa to enter
into the Schengen Area. The Schengen States likewise laid out common rules for issuing short-stay
Schengen visas valid within the entire Area. This allows a person to stay in the regions of Schengen
States for 90 days maximum in any 180-day duration. These rules also contain a local border traffic
 33

regime that makes it easier for citizens of non-EU countries living near the border to enter into the
Schengen Area.
It should be understood that this Agreement does not hamper travel across Europe but
ensures security and safety among signatory states. Thus, agreements can be made between Schengen
states and their neighboring non-EU countries to allow its residents near the border to cross into the
Schengen area without undergoing the regular border verifications or without applying for a Schengen
visa, that is there is an urgent or the frequent need to do so.

Criticism: Preservation of wealth and resources

The five countries that put forth the Schengen Agreement had this objective of abolishing the
imaginary line that separates the inner from the outer states. They mean to act as a single state and
form general guidelines for the individuals who wish to enter the Schengenland. It has its advantages
like a regulated trade of goods, entrance of foreigners, and the prevention of criminality that may be
brought upon by immigrants. Perhaps, more states should likewise enforce the same policy as a
precaution against attacks and persecution. While this benefits mostly the economy of Schengen
member states, it leaves behind foreigners or refugees who seek to find shelter in another country.
What this treaty lacks is a consideration on the welfare of people outside their communities. The
common denominator of these non-Schengen members is that they are not stern about accepting
immigrants, which several signatory countries of the Agreement detest. Among other controversies
that these countries are facing at present, it has always been their lax management in their influx of
refugees that’s affected their potential membership. From this we can see how the Schengen’s main
agenda is to collect and preserve wealth sufficient to sustain their reign as a single and powerful state
worldwide.
 34

Lisbon Treaty
Background
The Lisbon Treaty was established to accommodate the enlargement of the EU without
sacrificing efficiency and effectiveness (Fondation Robert Schuman, 2009). It was made to basically
modify the founding treaties of the European Union (EU), the 1957 Treaty of Rome and the 1992
Maastricht Treaty. The Treaty of Rome created a new set of policies for market trading and
transportation among EU members while the Maastricht Treaty created the three pillars of the EU
(which the Lisbon Treaty will merge): the first pillar or the community pillar; the second pillar or the
pillar dedicated to foreign and security policy; and the third pillar dedicated to police and judicial
cooperation in criminal matters.
There was an already rising need to review the constitutional framework of the EU. This
process, once begun, eventually led to the treaty. The EU faced challenges in receiving new Member
States, and alongside this the complexity of the decision-making process among the Member States
was lacking efficiency. To address these issues, the Laeken Declaration was made in 2001 to drive the
process of drafting and putting into law a new constitution (European Union, 2001). The Convention
on the Future of Europe, otherwise known as the European Convention, was formed with the sole aim
of doing an extensive consultation across Europe in order to draft a constitution. Once this goal was
attained, a signing ceremony was held in 2004 for the new Constitutional Treaty. However, during the
process of ratification held in the separate Member States, the Constitutional Treaty was rejected in
two referendums held in France and the Netherlands (Maganza, 2007). The treaty could not be put
into force because of the lack of unanimity, and given this outcome, the European Council had a
‘reflection period’ lasting two years. The Berlin Declaration was then made announcing that an
agreement must be made in time for the 2009 Parliamentary elections. This would only be possible if
a new treaty were to be signed by the end of 2007.
While the Constitutional Treaty was a good attempt at making a simple and comprehensive
text to replace the previous treaties, it nonetheless resulted in making things more difficult. With that,
a treaty revision approach was taken by the Member States, or to simply amend the existing treaties
previously mentioned. The Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) was the body tasked with producing
a ‘reform treaty’ amending the two founding treaties of the EU. In October 2007, the Portuguese
presidency finalized the Lisbon Treaty, and ratification in the individual Member States took place
soon after. However, Ireland rejected the treaty on its initial referendum—the only member of the
EU to do so—in 2008. Almost a year, later, another referendum was held and the treaty was
 35

successfully ratified. In addition to this, the president of the Czech Republic at the time withheld
signing the treaty despite its parliament already ratifying it. The president eventually signed it in
November 2009, and the Lisbon Treaty was put into force in December of the same year.

Key changes implemented by the Lisbon Treaty

There are numerous changes the treaty made to reform the concerned institutions and its
constituents. One of the primary changes implemented is the Union becoming a single legal entity,
replacing and succeeding the European Community (EC). Furthermore, this treaty also merges the
three pillars of the EU, thus suppressing the pillar structure introduced by the Maastricht Treaty (EUR-
Lex, 2017). As a consequence, the EU acquired the membership of the World Trade Organization
previously held by the three pillars of the EC.
Changes were also made in the decision-making process in the Council of Ministers. This was
particularly an area of difficulty that the EU had been facing since the 1990’s (Fondation Robert
Schuman, 2009). Prior to the Lisbon Treaty, the method employed in decision making was a qualified
majority (50 percent plus one of votes) calculated using a weighting of votes, as stated in the Treaty of
Nice. The respective weight of votes of each Member State was according to their demographic
weight. With the Lisbon Treaty in place, the double majority rule replaces the qualified majority. Double
majority implies that both population majority as well as Member State majority are taken into account.
More specifically, 55 percent of Member States (i.e., 15 States out of 27) and 65 percent of the EU’s
population make a double majority. A blocking minority must include at least 4 Member States, according
to the treaty. The Ioannina Compromise, however, allows the group of states who are close to being
a blocking minority, but do not qualify as such, to request for the reexamination of the decision agreed
upon by the qualified majority. This rule on voting applies to all matters except those of defense, tax,
and revenue, which still employ unanimity-based voting.
The treaty also reinforces the role of the European Parliament (EP), increasing its political
weight in the institutional triangle. This is considered as a means for strengthening representative
democracy. The decision rule between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament was
reintroduced as the ordinary legislative procedure and extended to almost 50 areas including but not
limited to agriculture and fisheries, border control, asylum and immigration, matters under the then-
third pillar of the EU, and economic and monetary policies. Moreover, the EP, under the treaty, now
has equal right to decision in budgetary matters as the Council of Ministers. This includes the annual
 36

budget of the EU. The EP also now has the power to elect the President of the European Commission
based on the nominee proposed by the European Council.
Though not one of the legislative arms of the institutional triangle like the European
Parliament, the European Council remains to have an important role in deciding the political direction
which the EU follows. This body is also tackled in the Lisbon Treaty. With the 2001 Treaty of Nice
that preceded the treaty being discussed, there was an issue with stability in the European Council due
to the six-month rotations that the Member States had chairing the Council. The Lisbon Treaty
addresses this with the creation of a stable presidency. The European Council shall elect the president
by qualified majority and shall hold a term of two and a half years, allowed to renew their term only
once. The presidency does not only have a term four times as long as before, but it is also a full-time
position in that the elected may not hold a national office. The elected president shall represent the
EU itself even in international relations, and thus chair the Council’s work.
Apart from the president of the Council, another position has been created. Under the Lisbon
Treaty, the functions of two positions, namely the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy and the European Commissioner for External Relations, are merged. The marriage of these
positions give rise to the position of High Representative. By doing so, coherence and unity may be
provided to the EU’s realm of external action. They are appointed by the European Council by
qualified majority, and then approved by the EP. They will oversee the Foreign Affairs Council and
also serve as a vice president of the European Commission.
Policies about citizens’ rights were also included in the treaty, notably the Charter of
Fundamental Rights. These are human rights recognized by the EU, including one’s right to engage
in work and freedom to choose their occupation, right to protection in case of unjustified dismissal,
and the right to collective bargaining and action. New policies regarding protection of children’s rights
and other kinds of discrimination were also set. Because of the desire to increase EU citizens’
participation in democratic affairs, the Lisbon Treaty creates the right for citizens’ initiative. Through
the European Citizens’ Initiative, EU citizens may gather a minimum of one million signatures from
different Member States in order to request the European Commission to create a draft law. With the
importance of citizen participation in mind upon creating the Lisbon Treaty, it recognizes that avenues
for dialogue between the EU institutions and the citizens must exist.
Going back to one of the primary issues that the Lisbon Treaty attempted to address, the
enlargement of the EU, policies were set to simplify and clarify the complications around enlargement.
Three criteria must now be met in order to join the EU. According to the European Commission,
 37

these are: 1) political criteria, the country having “stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule
of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities”; 2) economic criteria, such as “a
functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competition and market forces in the EU”;
and 3) community aquis criteria, shown in their “ability to take on and implement effectively the
obligations of membership, including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary
union”. These criteria, though not explicitly stated in the treaty, are nonetheless referenced in it.
Withdrawal from the EU, on the other hand, is a decision that must go through the European Council
who then votes by qualified majority on the withdrawal. Should the same State seek to join the EU
after leaving, they must go through the process of applying and fulfilling the aforementioned criteria
once again. This is the first time that a clause on withdrawal has been included.

Strengths and benefits

It is worth noting that much of the available discussion on the strengths of and benefits from
the Lisbon Treaty is from before it was put into force, meaning it talks about the would-be benefits
of the treaty prior to its implementation. The new EU voting system was said to be one such would-
be benefit. It is more representative of the nation’s population size and is considered to be much
simpler than the voting system before. Outside of the Council of Ministers, the shift from unanimity
to majority voting is also beneficial because the time for decision making can be shortened by a
significant amount because the need for all to be in agreement is abolished. This is in line with the
goal of the Lisbon Treaty to increase the efficiency of the different institutions of the EU.
Another measure to increase efficiency is the ability of national parliaments to give an ‘early
warning’. Proposals on EU legislation must first go through each Member State’s national parliament
before moving up to the bigger legislative institutions. Each parliament will have eight weeks to
formulate their opinions on said proposal and whether or not it follows the principles of subsidiarity.
Should a significant number of national parliaments object to the proposal, an ‘early warning’ will be
given, yet the proposal is still subject to the prerogative of the Commission (Clementi, 2008).
Under the Lisbon Treaty, the Charter of Fundamental Rights becomes a legally-binding
document. These rights and freedoms, which are updated to include more modern rights such as data
protection, are guaranteed for each citizen of the EU with the exception of countries such as Poland.
Because of the newly acquired legal quality of the Charter, the acts of the EU will also have to adapt.
And with the introduction of such elements, the treaty is able to enhance the social dimension of the
EU (Fondation Robert Schuman, 2009). Similarly, because of the citizens’ initiative, the voices of
 38

ordinary citizens are given an avenue to be heard. This empowers the EU citizens and shifts the locus
of control more towards them. It can be seen that there is more emphasis on the citizen and their
rights, further enhanced by a social clause that demands the consideration of social requirements in
any of the EU's policies. The Court of Justice is allowed to declare void any European law that does
not do so.
Other advantages that come with implementing the Lisbon Treaty include improvements in
security policy and matters of justice. Under the treaty, the means of the EU to fight illegal immigration
and human trafficking are enhanced. Moreover, control of external borders as well as asylum are also
improved because of how the EU can use the qualified majority rule to decide on such matters and
ultimately develop a common asylum policy. There is now also a principle of ‘mutual recognition’
through which different legal systems acknowledge the validity of the decisions made by other
Member States (Foundation Robert Schuman, 2009). As a consequence, there is an increase in legal
cooperation among the different States in both civil and criminal matters.
The process of withdrawal from the EU was also detailed in the Lisbon Treaty for the first
time in European history. Including this in the treaty allows Member States to cease their membership
in the EU should they deem it appropriate based on constitutional requirements. This paved the way
for Brexit, or the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU. A referendum held in June 2016 in the
UK showed that 52 percent of voters opted to leave and 48 percent voted to remain (BBC News,
2020). Brexit was the first ever instance of a Member State leaving the EU.

Criticisms
The treaty does not go without criticism from the constituents of the EU. Despite one of the
goals of the treaty being improvements in the EU’s democracy and efficiency, some would say that
there is no significant difference in these areas even with the Lisbon Treaty in force. In terms of
democracy, Bonvicini (2011) says that the effectiveness of the treaty in reducing the distance between
its institutions and constituents “remain[s] to be seen” even after two years. Another view is that the
Lisbon Treaty is a treatment for a ‘faulty diagnosis’ of the issues of the EU regarding democracy,
efficiency, and transparency (Kelemen, 2019). This renders the treaty generally ineffective, though not
completely so. In terms of efficiency, more specifically with legislative productivity, analysis shows
that there has been no significant increase in this aspect after the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty
(Kirpsza, 2018). This may be due to the consensus-seeking norm within the Council which ultimately
slows down the legislative process, however.
 39

One of the biggest criticisms of the Lisbon Treaty is the ambiguity present in a number of its
provisions. One such area is the provisions that aim to bolster the European Parliament. Said
ambiguities have led to inter-institutional conflict (Kelemen, 2019). Instead of the process of electing
a Commission President going as intended—that is, the Council proposing a candidate for the
Presidency and the EP electing said President, the EP has transformed it into a contest for the
Presidency.
Ambiguities with positions are also seen. The treaty created a more permanent, 2.5-year-term
presidency for the European Council. However, it did not abolish the institution of the Council
Presidency, or the six-month rotations among member governments. To remedy this to an extent,
three member governments who are assigned to hold the Council Presidency in succession shall agree
to a joint 18-month term as a ‘trio Presidency’. Though this setup is said to have improved legislative
efficiency compared to before (van Gruisen, 2019), it nonetheless creates a confusing leadership setup
and may not be the best way to maximize the decision-making process of the Council. To add to the
confusion, the differences between the roles of the Council president and the president of the
Commission were not delineated, particularly when it comes to representing the EU externally. This
is seen in the situation between Herman van Rompuy, the first permanent president of the European
Council, and Commission President Barroso (Dauvergne, 2011).
This problem with role ambiguity extends to the new position of High Representative. Apart
from issues with delineation of responsibilities for the role such as with the Council president, the
High Representative performs several functions that may be difficult to keep track of. The High
Representative is considered a “three-hatted” position because they are: 1) to handle foreign policy in
the Council; 2) to act as a vice-president of the European Commission; and 3) to be the president of
the Foreign Ministers’ Council and head of the European External Action Service. Such a position
entails overlapping, and technical and budgetary difficulties (Dauvergne, 2011).
Even the citizens’ initiative is not exempt from vagueness and ambiguity. As previously
mentioned, EU citizens are allowed to gather at least a million signatures from a sufficient number of
Member States so that they may request the Commission to create a draft law. While this provision is
meant to increase the participation of the citizens in matters of democracy and is considered a benefit
for the citizens, the way in which it was deliberately written proves to be problematic. The treaty does
not state how many Member States can be deemed ‘sufficient’, nor does it say how many minimum
signatures there must be from each state. Similarly, there is no mention of the minimum age
requirement for the signatories or the duration during which collecting signatures can take place
 40

(Dauvergne, 2011). The three legislative arms of the EU (the Commission, the Council, and the
Parliament), after some time, fortunately discussed these points of ambiguity. The decision was that
for a petition to be valid, signatories must be of voting age (16 in Austria, 18 in other Member States),
and must be from at least one-fourth of all Member States (i.e., 7 out of 27).
Whether the Lisbon Treaty does more good than bad or vice versa is still up for debate. There
is still the issue of whether or not it was the appropriate move to address the challenges faced by the
EU in the late 90’s to early 2000’s, especially since it was drafted with a set deadline (i.e., before the
2009 Parliament elections) and may have been rushed. This does not change, however, the fact that it
has been entered into force and the EU for the past years has been working under the provisions of
this treaty. In spite of the criticisms seeming to undermine the benefits of the treaty, it is only right
that citizens of the EU remain critical and vigilant with its implementation.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Brief History of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an international organization founded on
April 4, 1949 by members of the Western Allies—like the United States, Canada, United Kingdom
and others—after the signing of its namesake treaty known as the “North Atlantic Treaty” (NATO,
n.d). This treaty came after a series of events like the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia (History,
2009) and the Soviet blockade of the allied-controlled West Berlin that led to the “Berlin Airlift” where
the Western Allies airlifted a total of 2,3 million tons or 8,000 tons of supplies near the end. (History,
2011) These events led Western European democracies to band together and increase cooperation to
deal with the new troubles in the post-World War II leading to the establishment of NATO and the
European Union which still forms the backbone of European diplomacy today.
During the Cold War, cooperation between European states was essential especially with the
rise of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or more popularly known as the “USSR”. The rise of
the USSR was brought by the defeat and eventual divide of Nazi Germany as the USSR had to fight
tooth and nail to not be occupied as seen in its population loss of 24 million—both civillian and
military—which is a very huge number compared to the losses of the Western Allies with the United
Kingdom having 450,700, France 567,600 and the United States having 418,500. (The National WW2
Museum, n.d) Despite the great loss of land and resources in the opening stages of Operation
 41

Barbarossa, the USSR was still able to beat back Nazi Germany from the City of Stalingrad back to
their capital in Berlin. And with the territories gained under the Yalta conference and Potsdam
declaration solidified the USSR’s political and military might.
The establishment of NATO rightfully put the USSR on its toes as one of the main reasons
of the creation of NATO is the “collective defense” which means that “an attack against one Ally is
considered as an attack against all Allies” (NATO, n.d). A few years after the creation of NATO, the
now independent West Germany joined the alliance and as a response to this the USSR headed the
formation of the “Warsaw Pact” which is another collective defense treaty but this time its members
are communist states aligned with the USSR. These two organizations naturally started an arms since
which lasted the entirety of the Cold War as they are both ideologically opposed (NATO, n.d).
However, when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, communist governments started to fall along with it
including the USSR which made the Warsaw Pact untenable. That is why the Czechoslovak President,
Vaclav Havel, formally ended it on July 1, 1991 (NATO, n.d) leaving NATO as the only “collective
defense” in Europe where some of the former communist states also joined like East Germany when
it reunited with West Germany.

The Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization being a military alliance is composed of thirty
independent members of the European continent including international partners such as the United
States of America. During its inception on April 4, 1949. Twelve countries signed what is known as
the Washington treaty; these countries will be the founding members of NATO itself and these are
the following nations: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
During the hype of the cold war period, the military alliance saw an unprecedented increase
of applicants trying to become a bona fide member of NATO (Hope, 2018). Due to the looming
threat of Russian aggression and its counter alliance which is the Warsaw pact these series of events
became known to defense scholars as the “Enlargement” and it was divided in seven waves and it
continues to exist even today.
The first wave was the inclusion of Greece and Turkey in February 18, 1952 this is an
important milestone for the alliance as these two states are located in the Mediterranean Sea and the
alliance could use their ports as a springboard against Russia's black fleet which was based in Crimea.
(Tardy, 2018). Turkey’s application was also crucial despite the NATO charter which prevents
 42

unlawful use of force against Cyprus but the conflict was resolved and in 1980 these two states rejoined
the alliance. ( Rumford, 2012) The second wave marks the end of the cold war as Germany was
reunified and the Berlin wall fell the German Parliament or Bundesrat was reorganized and a formal
application for membership was passed this is considered as a pinnacle moment in history as giving
NATO members access to German industrial complex located in the Rhineland would give a
tremendous advantage against Russia as the Bolshevik regime is on the brink of collapse. The
remaining waves of enlargements are the result of former Soviet satellite republics now joining the
European Union such as Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland all joined in 1999. The latest nations to
join NATO are North Macedonia and Montenegro.

Structure of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization as a military alliance is composed of three branches:
the civilian structure, military structure and the attached support agencies; these three components of
NATO are essential in order to function both in times of war and during peacetime. The organization’s
headquarters is stationed in Brussels, Belgium.
First is the civilian structure, like many other international organizations such as the United
Nations NATO is headed by a secretary- general which will serve as its figurehead with a term of four
years he is selected through an informal deliberation among foreign dignitary members of the alliance
(Hendrikson, 1969). The scope of function of the Secretary- General as its highest civil servant is to
become the chief spokesperson of the NATO community he also oversees the different committees
that are primarily tasked with the formulation of the defence- policy making of NATO.( Lindley-
French, 2019) The civilian branch of NATO is an indispensable aspect of its existence and the
Secretary General must in all occasions upheld the office with high regard for its members and
Although it can be observed that the secretary general can be any person even without a military
background it was agreed by the founding members that civilian authority is superior to the armed
forces commanders. Hence, a common value that is shared among liberal democracies of western
countries. ( Tertaris, 2019)
 43

The second one is the military branch of NATO, considered as the largest military alliance
made in history. This branch is composed of representatives of the highest military officials of the
member states and it is tasked to upheld the foundation of the alliance which rest squarely with Article
5 of the NATO charter:
“ The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North
America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if
such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective
self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the
Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other
Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and
maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. Any such armed attack and all measures
taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such
measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary
to restore and maintain international peace and security” (excerpt of Article 5 of the
North Atlantic treaty Organization Charter)

Keeping in mind that the alliance’s sustainability and direction is this piece of provision which
was ratified in Washington (Jordan, 1987) The military branch is spearheaded by the Supreme
Headquarters of the Allied Powers in Europe ( SHAPE) ; its predecessor is much similar to that which
was formed in World War II under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Its main base
is located in the city of Mons, Belgium and has been operating there since 1967. (Gottemoeller, 2019)
The three top officials of SHAPE are the Supreme Allied Commander (SACEUR), the Deputy
Supreme allied commander (DSACEUR) and the Chief of Staff (COS). They serve concurrently and
usually hold the rank of a four-star general in their home states. The position of SACEUR is reserved
only for the United States of America while the remaining two positions are shared by the other
NATO member states such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
The last branch of NATO is its support agencies such as the NATO support and procurement
agency (NSPA), NATO Science and Technology Organization ( STO), Senior Civil Emergency
planning Committee (SCEPC) and all other bureaus under its command these groups function under
the supervision of the Secretary- general and they have offices across the European Continent with
the mission of promoting the values and ideas of NATO as well as to support it throughout the
military alliance existence.
 44

NATO in a new millennium: A Commentary

The current situation of NATO is far from its formative and peacetime years. For the authors,
the complacency of NATO and its member countries could undermine the viability of the European
Union as a regional organization. With the advent of the cyberage and the ever-expanding field of
globalization, it remains to be seen how national security will be viewed by NATO officials, but rest
assured that new threats are just around the corner.

Resurgence of the Russian Federation

The disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 was believed to be the nail in the coffin for the
ambition of a “Tsarist Empire” .The Soviet Union took control of more than a half of Europe’s land
mass through its own territory and it’s so called “Soviet Satellite Republics”. Although the Russian
Federation is now only but a mere shadow of its former self, to tackle it head on is no easy challenge.
The Russian Federation has over 144 million population and a land mass of over 14 million
kilometers. It also belongs to the top 10 nations of the world which have large quantities of oil reserves
that are primarily located in the Siberian and Arctic Regions of the Federation, with that in mind, any
country would want to take precautions. Hence, to counter such strength, the NATO and European
Union used the mechanics of “soft power” to tame the Russian bear through the use of soft power
which is defined as the persuasive approach in international relations as opposed to the use of military
force (Nye, 2004). Using the economy as a leverage to put pressure on Russia to follow the rules of
“jus cogens” worked well at first for NATO and its allies, particularly, the United States of America.
Another example of soft power is when the United States Congress adopted the CAATSA
Bill of 2017, otherwise known as “Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act”. This
important piece of American legislation had serious effects over European countries, which are also
members of NATO. Under the said law, any nation who purchases weapons of war to any of
America’s military industry competitors such as Russia will be dealt accordingly, through the
imposition of economic sanctions and other restrictions in dealing with any violation.
How does this domestic law create or change the political climate among NATO members?
The answer is that members should not stray from the herd. For many years, this is how discipline
was imposed upon erring members and even potential applicants such as Turkey. But was it enough
to curb the ongoing Russian aggression? For the authors, the answer is in the negative as we would
present two case studies which would pinpoint the failures of NATO to keep Russia in check.
 45

“The Ukrainian Problem”

Although Ukraine is not considered as a member country of the NATO alliance, nevertheless,
it maintained its status as a partner country by virtue of the program entitled “Partnership for Peace”
or PFP which was created in 1994 shortly, after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The program was
made to address the issue of cooperation among Eastern bloc countries which are also former Soviet
republics.
The factual background behind Ukraine’s civil unrest crisis dates back in 2013. When its
former president Victor Yanukovych rejected a deal from the European Union calling for a deeper
economic, financial and juridical tie with the supranational organization. The deal also includes a closer
cooperation of the Ukrainian Army with the NATO alliance and led to his ouster in 2014 and he fled
to Russia. .He was replaced with a more European Union friendly administration, and it was able pass
a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) which will allow the country to gain access
over the common market of the EU, a pivot against decades of Russian influence on its own domestic
economy.

“The Crimean Annexation”

Russia took advantage of the civil unrest and annexed Crimea, a small peninsula in the
southern region of the country. What is the interest of Russia for annexing by force such a tiny piece
of land strip?
The answer is geographical location. Crimea is the only nearest land port that the Russian
could access in order to sail towards the Black Sea and a Ukrainian government which is friendly to
the NATO alliance could threaten the national border that is shared between Ukraine and Russia. The
conflict escalated into a full armed conflict with rebel groups backed by the Russian military started
taking over the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk both cities which form part of the Ukrainian republic.
This conflict was made known only in the international stage with the infamous shooting of Malaysian
Airline Flight 17 (MH17) which was hit with a surface to air missile killing all 176 passengers on board.
What is the implication of these events unfolding in Eastern Europe? Why should the European
Union or NATO in that matter be concerned with what is happening in its eastern side? The answer
is it should be worried, as we have previously discussed, Ukraine’s decision to move away with Russia’s
sphere of influence cost it an armed conflict. This blatant disregard of the Doctrine of State Neutrality
shall serve as reminder to everyone that Russia will not hesitate to break the rules of jus cogens to
promote its national interest as such was the case between the U.S and Nicaragua in 1989 and that any
 46

traditional eastern bloc countries who will dare to switch sides with the European Union and NATO
will suffer the same fate.

The United States of America’s wavering commitment with NATO

The election of Donald Trump as the president of the United States of America has caused
major concerns for its long-time partners, especially the top brass of NATO officials. The constant
rhetoric of the president that it would no longer pursue international agreements such as the
environment treaty of Paris accord and the slashing of funding in NATO research and development
as well as reducing the number of stationed American military personnel throughout NATO bases in
Europe. This is brought by the shift into policy-making of the Americans reverting to a domestic
oriented government adopting a Wilsonian approach into its international law commitments
(Ambrosius, 2017) and this cannot come at such perilous times as Russian’s ambitions grew larger
everyday with the aim of reclaiming its former territories during the height of the Soviet Union.
The former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once quoted that a policy of active containment
under the theory of “Domino Effect” is an effective method to keep Russian aggression at bay
(Kissenger, 2014) and as previously stated, the Americans should honor their commitments to the EU
and NATO under established treaty obligations in which it is a signatory. There is no goal that will be
achieved if American military planners will consider abandoning their allies in Europe to play politics
at home. It must be reminded that the national security of the American public is also dependent upon
a stable political climate in Europe because the trend of globalization means that every nation’s affair
could have an impact with the rest of the world and a credible military alliance is a critical component
in the law of nations.
 47

NATO and Terrorism in the 21st century

Retrieved from: https://www.statista.com/chart/9846/terrorism-in-europe-map/

The recent surge of violent terrorist acts across Europe has seen a constant rise over the years
as evidenced by the graph above. How does NATO fit in this situation? As a military alliance,
intelligence gathering is key in identifying potential threats and NATO has expanded its network.
The attack on the World Trade Center on September 2001 and America’s war on terror has
triggered the invocation of ( Article 5 of the NATO Charter) which states that “An attack on one is
an attack on all” and prompted NATO to adopt three (3) principles for its counter-terrorism strategy,
namely: (1) awareness; (2) capabilities; and (3) engagement. This new complex problem has not been
anticipated by the original drafters of the NATO charter. Nevertheless, a call for flexibility is a must
as a new threat is lurking which is an enemy that does not bear any national flag and is hiding among
the local population.
Terrorism has been defined as the use of violence as means of attaining a political objective
(Smith 1994). Although we often associate terrorism with Islamic extremism, there are some cases
were these acts of violence are caused by homegrown terrorist who espouse ideas of anti-Semitism
and other xenophobic activities and they see current the migrant crisis as an opportunity to spread
their ideology among their fellow citizens who felt that these immigrants who are using the ayslum
corridor in the miditerrean sea and are natives from neighboring failed states, such as Somalia,
Syria and Libya are the root cause of terrorism in Europe.
 48

Brexit
The Brexit Timeline
The stunning decision of the British government to leave the European Union has left
thousands of international correspondents and its own citizens to ask how this unfortunate event
could have happened? We will first begin with June 23,2016 as the country was divided between the
Nigel Farage’s United Kingdom Independence Party (Usherwood, 2019) movement which opted to
leave the union and the Prime minister Cameron’s administration campaigning to remain under the
sphere of Brussels in the end Farage’s movement won with a slim margin of 51.9 percent of the
population who voted in the referendum to leave the Union (Armstrong and Portes, 2016).
Facing a growing tension in the house of commons and pressure from the public David
Cameron announced his resignation the following day and was replaced by Theresa May the
incumbent home secretary and a member of the conservative party her first order of business is to
ensure that the decision to leave the Union will not bring the economy of the United Kingdom to
another recession and to reconcile her differences with other members of parliament to steer the
country into the new age of independence prompting her to create a coalition with the Democratic
Unionist Party (DUP) to maintain a majority in the house of commons (Tonge, 2017). For her part,
May invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty in January of 2017 which allowed her to gradually withdraw
from the common market system and to supplement her political position in making a deal to leave
the Union she introduced a twelve-point plan to the house of commons as a legislative guideline that
will ensure that the United kingdom is ready to leave before the trade deadline (Mathisen, 2010).
However, on June 24, 2019 May resigned from her post after failing to capture the majority of the
members of Parliament. And the following month of July she was succeeded by Boris Johnson who
won the conservative party nomination as Prime minister and in a stunning political move asked her
majesty Queen Elizabeth II to suspend parliament this is in lieu with her address to the nation which
is scheduled on October 14 for many this request by the new minister is to ensure that no legislation
will be proposed to prevent the United Kingdom from withdrawing in the Union.
The pervasive use of Prime minister Johnson’s “politicking” tactics has paid off and on January
31, 2020 after three years of negotiation with the Union. The United Kingdom has announced that it
will formally leave the organization backed by a majority number of conservative ministers that now
occupy most of the seats in the house of commons.
 49

Brexit: The Right Decision?

The great French political commentator Alexis Tocqueville, in his book Democracy in
America, warned about the dangers of granting sovereignty over the people as judgment can be based
through misinformation. For the authors, the decision to leave the European Union is both misplaced
and irrational. Considering that a referendum is made, none of the electorate were fully informed of
the consequences of leaving the union.
One of the avid supporters of BREXIT movement is Nigel Farage, a leader of Britain’s United
Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) which led the bloody referendum that divided the UK. During
the campaign season of the referendum, immigration is a hot topic among the electorate. By choosing
to remain in the union, visa requirements must be relaxed in order to allow other European nationals
or other nationals of different ethnicity to find employment in the British economy. It is a policy that
the local population considers as a threat because it would create a competition to the unemployed
British citizens.

“Failure of the Common Market”

The foregoing discussions on the creation of the European common market system has been
a success over the past decades as evidenced by the increased economic activities between members
of this supranational institution. Nevertheless, not all systems are created to perfection and problems
may arise in which the authors have contributed for the United kingdom to leave the Union.
The first problem is immigration that has resulted in a more competitive labor market. This has caused
outrage among the local population in the Schengen area including Britain because immigrants have
started to take control a sizeable number in the workforce and are extended by not only working
visas but also a pledge they can be granted full citizenship in the country in which they chose to
practice their profession or open up their own business. A move that for many local political parties,
such as UKIP, an opportunity to stoke xenophobic views that has paved the way to change public
opinion to vote for leaving the EU.
During the Financial Crisis in 2008 which began in the United States of America. Europe also
felt the brunt of the economic fallout many European industries relied on Anglo-American capital.
Even after most countries have recovered, other countries like Greece were not able to get back on
track and plunged its own domestic economy into a free-fall. This culminated into a Union problem
that required the intervention of the European Monetary Union to send aid in a form of economic
stimulus in order to jumpstart Greece’s affected industries.
 50

Basic political economy doctrine provides that aggressive public spending is one method to
revitalize a failing economy and such notion is proven by John Meynard Kaynes in his book
“Employment, Interest and Money”. However, from Greece's standpoint it's referred to as the
“Austerity Protocol” because basic services are cut-off to divert funds on public infrastructure
projects. This policy of economic bailout has put the United Kingdom in the spotlight as the country
itself does not want to become involved to help Greece.
For the British it is contrary to the basic principles of law that the funds of the Union which
are sourced from its members are to be used by countries like Greece who failed to manage their
economy during the crisis. They believe that if such mishap will be tolerated by the administrators of
the Monetary union it could send the wrong message to all members that the Union will always pay
for their mistakes.

Conclusion
“Democracy is the end of history” the political commentator Francis Fukuyama summarizes
that the development of civilization rest firmly in the propagation of liberal values espoused by the
west in his book entitled “ The End of History and the Last Man” he predicted that there would be
no other system of government that is able to guide mankind after the end of the cold war.
The European Union with its more than thirty state members and international partners
operate under the belief that a supra-national organization is key to promote global trade under the
creation of a common marketplace but such ambition can never be a reality if not all member states
adhere to a single code of conduct. Seamless integration among the European States is a role model
for the rest of the international community and in fact similar type of cross-boundary cooperation is
trying to be achieved in South east asia through the ASEAN ( Association of South East Asian
Nations). Attributing its success for decades worth of experience and shared common history the
European Union is far from perfect as many member states deals with domestic politics at home and
the growing culture of Xenophobia for many international observers the fear that the Union may
collapse not as a result of war but to be discredited by the very citizens that created it. For instance,
the country of Hungary both a long time member of NATO and the union has rejected the call of the
European Parliament to accept refugees displaced by the ongoing civil war in Syria its Prime Minister
Viktor Orban in a statement for the British Broadcasting Center ( BBC) told that they will be detaining
 51

any migrant or asylum seekers entering their country without proper documentation, the minister also
expressed its dissatisfaction with members of the European Union under the leadership of German
Chancellor Angela Merkell for being too accommodating to migrants which they blame for the
increase terrorist attacks in Europe.
Although the European Union Law as existed for over 60 years and evolution of the laws are
evident with the amending treaties, Member States have yet to claim primacy of their own
Constitutions over EU laws. This may be seen as a benefit of coinciding local and international laws
but it remains to be an undiscovered argument that has to be opined upon to guide future endeavors
of member states
 52

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