INTRODUCTION TO EUROPEAN POLITICS Dr Simona Guerra simona

INTRODUCTION TO EUROPEAN POLITICS Dr Simona Guerra simona. guerra@nottingham. ac. uk

KEYNOTE SPEECH The School of Politics and the Centre for the Study of European Governance present A keynote speech by Simon Duffin Head of Press UK Office of the European Parliament On the EP, the EU and the British press and the EU 2 -3/3. 30 pm @ C 16, Pope Building, Wednesday, 11 March 2009

POLICIES § WHY common policies – the European Policy Agenda § WHY AND HOW – range and diversity; regulatory emphasis; different degrees of EU policy involvement; patchy uncoordinate nature? , internal and external policies § CAP – (why? ) – redistributive, controversial, source of tension and disputes, difficult to reforms § CAP – and the neofunctionalist approach § Regional and Structural Policies – economic disparities, expanding, Europe of regions – and the intergovernmentalist approach

POLICIES § Since the Founding Treaties, MSs agreed on ‘internal tariffs, agriculture and ovs developments’ § Developed (spillover&subsidiarity): ü ü ü ‘Treaty obligations’ ‘Pressures to harmonise’ ‘Legislative pressures’ ‘Policy evolution and spillover’ ‘Institutional pressures’ ‘International law’ ‘Political initiatives’ ‘Public opinion’ ‘Internal pressures’ ‘External pressures’ ‘Emergencies or crisis’ (Bache and George 2006: 353 -377; Mc. Cormick 2008: 94 -118)

POLICIES § Range and diversity: many centred on ‘the promotion and defence of an internally free and externally protected market’ – but still barriers, interventionism/regulation – others on non-economic fields (foreign policy, defence, broadcasting, combating crime) § The regulatory emphasis: regulatory (rules governing behavior), redistributive (transfer financial resources) and distributive (allocate resources, BUT not from one side to the other) § Different degrees of EU policy involvement: No EU (Housing, Civil liberties…), Marginal EU (Health, Education, Defence, Social welfare), Shared (Regional, Competition, Environment, Working conditions, Energy, Transport, Cross -border crime…), Considerable EU (Market regulation, Monetary), Extensive (Trade, Agriculture, Fishing) § Patchy uncoordinated? : national/political differences (Nugent 2006: 383 -391)

COMMON AGRICULTURE POLICY (CAP) Why? § (Internal) First ‘redistributive’ policy; one of the four common policies that had its own Title in the Treaty of Rome § Important: both politically and economically (CAP and France (NL)) § ‘Despite the ‘supranational’ or common format, MSs’ preferences are the main factors driving this policy system’ (Bache and George 2006: 378 -402)

CAP DECISION-MAKING § European Commission and Agriculture Council § EC – draft the legislation (request of the Council or voluntary from the EC) § EP – just consultation (+ Committee of Agricultural Organisations in the EC – COPA, interest groups – European farmers, Committee of the Regions § Council – takes decisions (unanimity informally, but QMV formally) http: //europa. eu/pol/agr/index_en. htm (Cini 2007: 340 -355)

CAP as a ‘proxy’ of European Integration § Just negative integration? § ‘Entails positive entitlements to public assistance in the form of fixed prices and transfers’; ‘Negative restrictions on MSs’ § Based on (i) Market unity, (ii) Community preferences and (iii) Financial solidarity § ‘National systems of agricultural support became supranational’ (Rieger in Wallace, Wallace and Pollack 2005: 161 -190; Cini 2007: 340 -356)

CAP as a political rationale § Details of the policy not included in the Treaty of Rome § Agreed in 1958 that the CAP ‘would be based on a system of common prices (cereals, Germ vs. FR) § Basically, since then ‘it has remained the same’ § ‘Politically driven and defensive strategy to modernise European agriculture against the internal threat of an expanding industrial society and the external…of vigorous US competition’ (Bache and George 2006: 378 -402; Rieger in Wallace, Wallace and Pollack 2005: 161 -190)

THE MANSHOLT PLAN § 1968, restructuring agriculture § Encouraging farmers to leave (grants or pensions; cut of price levels), amalgamation of holdings § Domestic politics (FR, Germ) and internal pressures (enlargement: EI, DK and UK) § Farmers in the streets (1971) § 1972 -3 harvest; 1973 oil crisis (Bache and George 2006: 378 -402)

PERMUTATIONS OF THE CAP § External pressures (1980 s) – GATT and US (eschewing competition with the rest of the world; ‘quotas’) § Shift in policy: Mac. Sharry reform (1990 s) (direct support to farmers, individual direct payments, decoupling) - not so ‘innovative’ § Agenda 2000 (10 new regulations, environment, sustainability, multifunctionality, new reform plan in 2002, reformed in 2003 to avoid a clash with the WTO, Single Farm Payment – decoupled from production) § Challenges: Environmental issues (enlargements), Social dimension (equity) (Cini 2007: 340 -356)

Signing an agreement Brussels, 1 December 2008: Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel with Stephen Smith, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (agreement governing the wine trade between Australia and the EU) © European Union: http: //ec. europa. eu/avservices/download/photo_download_en. cfm? id=239711&type=4 Licensed for Reproduction only: http: //ec. europa. eu/avservices/about/index. cfm? sitelang=en&pagesection=about&page=copyright

CAP & NEOFUNCTIONALISM § Cultivated spillover (fixing prices, supporting more efficient farmers, new technologies, food surpluses, rationalisation) § Pressure for the adoption of other common policies (exchange rates) § But national gov’ts’ pressures (British rebate) § So, economic interests of gov’ts? (IG, LIG) § System of multi-level governance, impact of political, economic and global changes (Bache and George 2006: 378 -402)

REGIONAL POLICY § A European regional policy discussed (1961) § 1970 s: convergence towards a regional policy with the opposition of Britain, Thomson Report (agreement, 1975) § The 1988 Reform (on Structural Funds: concentration – obj. 1, 2, 3 and 4, programming, partnership and additionality) § The 1993 Reform and the Cohesion Fund § Post-2000 and Post-2006 (convergence, regional competitiveness and employment, European territorial co-operation) (Bache and George 2006: 456 -487)

Regions in the EU 9 May 2007: Commissioner Danuta Hübner at the Launch of 2007 -2013 European Structural Funds Programmes "Strong Regions - Building Bridges for Europe“ © European Union: http: //ec. europa. eu/commission_barroso/hubner/photos_en. htm Licensed for Reproduction Only: http: //ec. europa. eu/avservices/about/index. cfm? sitelang=en&pagesection=about&page =copyright

Cohesion Policy 2007 -2013 Convergence Regions Phasing-out Regions Phasing-in Regions Competitiveness and Employment Regions © European Union: http: //ec. europa. eu/regional_policy/atlas 2007/index_en. htm Licensed for REPRODUCTION ONLY: http: //ec. europa. eu/geninfo/legal_notices_en. htm

REGIONAL POLICY AND NATIONAL ACTORS § European Commission (redistributive) vs. Council (‘protecting MSs’ allocations and gov’s’ control over the distribution of funds’) § 1988 as turning point (because of the latest enlargement and preferences of the new MSs? ) § IG as the most explanatory (Bache and George 2006: 456 -487)

CAP & REGIONAL POLICY IN THE EU FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK § Since 1998 (up to then annual negotiations) the EU adopts multi-annual ‘financial perspectives’ § The Commission makes proposal, the Council and the EP negotiate agreements (custom duties, shares of harmonised VAT, contribution based on GNI, ceiling now set at 1. 24%) § EU budget 2009: Sustainable growth (45%); Natural Resources (31%); Competitiveness for growth and employment (11%); A global player (6%)… http: //ec. europa. eu/budget/index_en. htm

FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK 2007 -13 © European Union: http: //ec. europa. eu/budget/prior_future/fin_framework_en. htm Licensed for REPRODUCTION ONLY: http: //ec. europa. eu/geninfo/legal_notices_en. htm 18 December 2008: Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaitė signing the change in the Interinstitutional agreement for the 2009 EU budget during the European Parliament Plenary session in Strasbourg © European Union: http: //ec. europa. eu/commission_barroso/grybauskaite/photogallery_en. htm Licenced for REPRODUCTION ONLY: http: //ec. europa. eu/geninfo/legal_notices_en. htm

NEXT WEEK Internal policies II: § Economic and Monetary Union Ø Growth and Stability Pact § Social Policy