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Building a Parliamentary Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Extract

The European Parliament is The First Directly Elected international parliament in history. June 1994 marks the beginning of its fourth term of five years. The Treaty on European Union, which came into force on 1 November 1993, strengthens the powers of the Parliament in a number of significant ways. Now is a good time, therefore, to reflect on the development of the European Parliament, and to speculate on its potential.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1994

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References

1 Article 21 ECSC.

2 Article 24 ECSC.

3 Article 22 ECSC.

4 See Articles 137 to 144 EEC.

5 Treaty Amending Certain Budgetary Provisions, Official Journal (OJ) L 2, 2 January 1971.

6 Joint Declaration of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, OJ C 89, 22 April 1975; Treaty Amending Certain Financial Provisions, OJ L 359, 31 December 1977.

7 Council Decision and Act concerning the election of the representatives of the Assembly by direct universal suffrage, OJ L 278, 8 October 1976.

8 For a full commentary on die Draft Treaty see Capotorti, Francesco, et al. (eds). The European Union Treaty, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1986.Google Scholar

9 For the text of the Single Act, see OJ L 169, 29 June 1987.

10 Case 13/83 Parliament v Council, ECR 1513, 1985.

11 OJC 120, 16 May 1989.

12 EC Bulletin, 6/88, 2.3.4–10.

13 For a good description of the activities of the 1984 – 89 Parliament, see Clark, George, Your Parliament in Europe, London, European Parliament, 1989.Google Scholar

14 For a thorough analysis of the development of the Parliament up to Maastricht, see Jacobs, Francis, Corbett, Richard and Shackleton, Michael, The European Parliament (2nd edition), Harlow, Longman, 1992.Google Scholar

15 For a compilation, see the European Parliament, Maastricht: the Position of the European Parliament, Luxembourg, 1992.

16 Article 189c of the Treaty on European Union.

17 For a detailed discussion of these issues, see Duff, Andrew, Pinder, John and Pryce, Roy (eds), The Federal Trust, Maastricht and Beyond: Building the European Union, London, Routledge, 1994 Google Scholar – especially the chapter by Richard Corbett, ‘Representing the People’.

18 Article 158.

19 For example, by Peter Lloyd MP, Minister of State at the Home Office, at a Federal Trust Conference on The Eltectoral Reform of the European Parliament on 30 April 1993.

20 On 13 December 1977 the House defeated the PR option by 319 votes to 222.

21 The Liberal Democrats v European Parliament, Case C-41/92, brought under Article 175.

22 The Seitlinger Report proposed multi-member constituencies of between 3 and 15 seats; OJ C 87, 5 April 1982.

23 OJC 115, 26 April 1993.

24 Declaration on the Role of National Parliaments in the European Union.

25 Declaration on the Conference of the Parliaments.

26 The British Tories were angered by being obliged to sit in party groups and not national delegations, as they had naively anticipated.

27 Conférence des organes specialisée dans les affaires Commiuutaires (COSAC) is made up of six relevant MPs from each member state and six MEPs.

28 House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Europe After Maastricht, Second Report, Vol 1, London, HMSO, April 1993.

29 See Andrew Duff (ed.) Subsidiarity within the European Community, London, Federal Trust, 1993, pp. 29 – 31. For a preliminary argument of the case for more research into UK procedure, see The Report of the Hansard Society Commission on the Legislative Process, Making the Law, London, Hansard Society, 1992.

30 Article O of the Maastricht Treaty gives Parliament the right of assent by absolute majority to the accession of new members.

31 See Documents, Agence Europe, 4 November 1993.