2.15 The 2007 IGC and the draft “Reform Treaty”

Background to the 2007 IGC

The main events relating to the 2007 Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on the ‘Reform Treaty' are as follows:

In December 2001 the Laeken Declaration set up the Convention on the Future of Europe with the view of making the EU more "democratic, transparent and efficient".
This Convention, which met between March 2002 and July 2003, drew up The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe¹ - the ‘Constitution' - which was intended to replace the existing treaties.
The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe was subsequently submitted to an IGC and was agreed, slightly amended, in June 2004, and signed in October the same year.
In 2005, referenda on the Constitution resulted in two ‘No' votes: France (29 May) and the Netherlands (1 June).
This led the EU to engage in a process of reflection (a "pause for reflection") on future reform.
This resulted in June 2006 (during the Austrian Presidency) in an invitation from the European Council to the future German Presidency (the first half of 2007) to prepare a report on the way forward.
This report, together with the work undertaken by the German Presidency, allowed the European Council at its meeting on 21-22 June 2007 to agree on the convening of an IGC in order to draw up a ‘Reform Treaty' amending the existing treaties with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the enlarged Union, as well as the coherence of its external action.
The German Presidency Conclusions² included a draft IGC Mandate, agreed by the European Council, instructing the forthcoming IGC to carry out its work. See Fact Sheet 2.14.
The 2007 IGC on the ‘Draft Treaty Amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community' - the ‘Reform Treaty' - began on 23 July 2007 under the Portuguese Presidency.
The IGC was conducted under the overall responsibility of the Heads of State or Government, assisted by the members of the General Affairs and External Relations Council. A representative of the Commission participated in the Conference. The European Parliament was closely associated with and involved in the work of the Conference with three representatives. The General Secretariat of the Council provided the secretariat support for the Conference.
The Portuguese Presidency reached agreement on a text for the Treaty at the informal European Council meeting on 18 October 2007 and signed it off at the December 2007 European Council in Lisbon. This allowed for sufficient time to ratify the resulting Treaty before the European Parliament elections in June 2009.

The Reform Treaty

The text of the ‘Draft Treaty Amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community' - the ‘Reform Treaty' - was made available on 23 July at the start of the IGC.³ The Protocols, the Preamble and the Declarations are also available.

The Reform Treaty is a very substantial document and adds most of the proposed changes (‘innovations') specified in the Constitution to the two existing Treaties.^4,5 The two Treaties are:

The Treaty of the European Union (TEU).
The Treaty Establishing the European Community (TEC), which will be renamed the Treaty on the Functioning of the Union (TFEU).

The Reform Treaty's main framework changes are:

The Reform Treaty will give the EU full legal personality for the first time, allowing it to sign international treaties, and EU law will have supremacy over national law. Currently this applies only to the European Community and Community law. The word ‘Community' will be replaced by ‘Union' throughout the Treaties.
The three pillared structure of the EU, introduced by the Maastricht Treaty and modified by the Amsterdam Treaty, will be replaced by a unitary structure. The three pillars currently comprise: European Community domain (1st pillar); Common Foreign & Security Policy (CFSP) (2nd pillar); Police & Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (3rd pillar).
Once this Treaty is enforced, there will quite simply be no more significant powers left solely with the Governments of the Member States and outside the orbit of the EU's formal institutions. There will be no need for further Treaties with significant amending powers. It is unique in this respect.
Moreover, the Reform Treaty will be self-amending (currently amending treaties have to be preceded by an IGC) and enshrines the right to revise the treaties to increase the competences conferred upon the EU.
An Article on voluntary withdrawal of a Member State from the Union is included for the first time.

Institutional changes include:

The European Council will be headed by an elected full-time President, so ending the current 6 monthly rotating Presidency. It will be transformed into an institution.
A new post of ‘Union Minister for Foreign Affairs', with the title ‘High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy', will be created. The Minister will have the power to represent EU in international forums (e.g. UN) and be supported by an EU Diplomatic Service (‘European External Action Service').
Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) in the Council of Ministers ('Council' or 'Council of the EU') will become the general procedure of decision-making. Around 60 vetoes will be abolished including, e.g., transport, energy, space policy, science policy, sport and the yearly budget. The national veto will be maintained in the fields of foreign affairs, defence, national fiscal matters (direct tax), social security and culture.
The Council: Qualified Majority Voting rules will change (from 2014). A 'double-majority' system would be introduced for Council of Ministers decisions, defined as requiring at least 55% of members of the Council representing Member States comprising at least 65% of the EU population. One consequence is that the UK's power to block EU legislation will be reduced.
The Commission: new composition (ending of one Commissioner per Member State, from 2014) and strengthening the role of its President.
The European Parliament: new composition and new powers of veto.
The powers of the European Court of Justice (‘The Court of Justice of the EU') will be increased, especially in the area of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

Extensions of power include:

Charter of Fundamental Rights to be legally binding.
Increased powers over, e.g., social policy.
New powers over, e.g., economic coordination, employment policy, trade and investment, public health, public services, and harmonisation of civil and criminal laws and legal procedures.
The setting up of a European Public Prosecutor.

The main differences between the Constitution and the Reform Treaty are:

Removal reference to a ‘Constitution' and the symbols of statehood - e.g. the anthem, flag and motto. The insistence that the Reform Treaty is an amending treaty and not a Constitution.
The denominations ‘law' and ‘framework law' have been abandoned, the existing denominations ‘regulations', ‘directives' and ‘declarations' being retained.
The removal of the objective of competition from the treaty proper.
A new reference to solidarity in energy supplies.
The new, particular, need to combat climate change at the international level.

The UK "opt-outs" and "opt-ins" are discussed in Fact Sheet 2.16.

References

1. British Management Data Foundation (BMDF), The European Constitution in Perspective, December 2004, provides a thorough analysis of the Treaty.

2. Council of the European Union, Brussels European Council (21/22 June 2007): Presidency Conclusions, Brussels, 23 June 2007, document 11177/07, Annex I: Draft IGC Mandate.

3. Council of the European Union website, July 2007, http://www.consilium.europa.eu/.

4. Open Europe calculates that 96% of the articles have been copied from the original Constitutional Treaty.

5. See Fact Sheets 2.8-2.10 on the Constitution.

Ruth Lea, April 2008