2.6 Amsterdam Treaty

The new aspects of the Treaty of Amsterdam were:

Extension of QMV in the Council of Ministers to the following fields: employment guidelines and incentive measures; social exclusion; free movement of persons (after 5 years); special treatment for foreign nationals; public health; equal opportunities & equal treatment for men & women; R&D; countering fraud; customs cooperation; statistics; data protection and the peripheral regions. The intention was that QMV would become the normal procedure.
A new "flexibility" clause was added, enabling groups of member states to use the Community institutions to co-operate more closely on specific areas not within the exclusive competence of the EC.
It created "constructive abstention", where a member can abstain without blocking an otherwise unanimous decision.
Structural development: visas, asylum, illegal immigration and judicial co-operation in civil matters were brought within the Community framework, therefore transferring much of the decision-making for JHA from Pillar 3 to Pillar 1. The 3^rd pillar was henceforth limited to police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, focusing on cooperation in law enforcement and combating racism.

Institutional changes:

Limited the number of members of the EP to 700, however big the EU may grow. The EP's powers were extended, giving it the right to co-decision with the Council over the majority of EU legislation. "Co-decision" was therefore extended.
Nomination of the Commission President by member states must be approved by EP.
The role of the President of the Commission was upgraded: he would have to approve of other members of the Commission (with governments) and he was to define the Commission's general political guidelines.
ECJ given direct responsibility for ensuring that human rights were respected and its jurisdiction extended to the fields of immigration, asylum, visas & the crossing of borders, and police & judicial & criminal cooperation.
EU Court of Auditors given new investigative powers.
QMV in the Council of Ministers was extended to include research, employment, social exclusion, equal opportunities & public health (see above).
Repealed the 1965 Merger Treaty.

Development of CFSP:

Provided for greater cooperation between member states in pursuit of a Common Foreign & Security Policy. The provisions for CFSP were, therefore, strengthened.
Empowered the Union to carry out humanitarian aid & peacekeeping tasks, known as Petersberg (sic) tasks, to devise common strategies, general foreign policy guidelines, joint actions & common positions.
The WEU was brought further into the EU.
The EU to be represented by a group (called the troika) consisting of the Presidency of the Council, the Commission & the Secretary-General of the Council, who will act as the Union's "High Representative for the Common Foreign & Security Policy". This "High Representative" was a new post.

Social policy and civil rights:

Empowered the Council to take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation & provided measures to combat discrimination based on disability. Made a furtherance of gender equality a Community task.
Provided for permanent & regular collaboration, within the Community framework, on employment & unemployment. An employment chapter was, therefore, added to the treaty.
The Protocol on Social Policy and an Agreement on Social Policy (The Social Chapter), which was appended to the Maastricht Treaty, was signed by the UK and a single framework for social policy was included in the Treaty of Amsterdam. The Social Chapter was, therefore, incorporated into the treaty.
Protected individuals from the processing of personal data & the free movement of such information by institutions & administrations that handle it.

Internal security (3^rd pillar):

Provided for closer cooperation between police forces and customs authorities and directly with Europol, the European police network.
Established a legal requirement to have closer cooperation between member states' police and judicial authorities to combat and prevent racism, xenophobia, terrorism, organised crime, trafficking of persons and offences against children, drug trafficking, corruption and fraud.
Established a common minimum standard for rules, and penalties for organised crime, terrorism and drug trafficking to be adopted across the EU.

Border controls, asylum and immigration:

Incorporated the Schengen Agreement, into the acquis communautaire. The Schengen Agreement was previously an inter-governmental accord. It also provided for the removal of all controls on people crossing internal borders - whether EU citizens or nationals of non-member countries. The contents of the Schengen Agreement were divided between the first and third pillars.
In respect of controls at all the EU's external borders, the establishment of common standards and procedures for checking people, common rules on visas for intended stays of no more than 3 months, a common list of non-member countries whose nationals must hold visas when crossing external borders, and a list of non-member countries whose nationals are exempt from this requirement, common procedures and conditions for the issue of visas by member states, and a definition of the terms on which nationals of non-member countries shall be free to travel within the EU for 3 months (it should be emphasised that the Treaty obliged the member states to develop these; it did not draw them up).
Defined minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers in member states and for classifying nationals of non-member countries as refugees.
Laid down the terms of entry and residence of immigrants in the EU, and standards for procedures for the issue of long-term visas and residence permits by member states, standards for dealing with illegal immigration and illegal residence, and the repatriation of illegal residents, and the rights of citizens of non-member countries who are legally resident in a member states and the terms on which they may reside in other member states.

The environment, public health and consumer protection:

Stipulated that a high level of human health protection must be assured in the definition and implementation of all Community policies and activities.
Provided for a high level of consumer protection.
The environment must be taken into account into all Community policies. Commission obliged to conduct an environmental impact assessment of its own proposals. Environment, public health and consumer protection legislation now covered (with rare exceptions) by the co-decision procedure, giving the EP some power over these areas.

Main sources: Steven McGiffen, The European Union: a critical guide, Pluto Press, 2001; and Dick Leonard, Guide to the European Union (8^th edition), Economist, 2002.

RL, February 2007