Building The European Union

In Building European Union, Trevor Salmon and William Nicoll draw upon twenty years experience, one as an academic, the other as a practitioner of European policy to bring together over 100 key documents on european integration in one volume. each document or group of documents, is preceded by commentary which locates the document in its historical context and explains its provenance, purpose and impact upon the development of European Union.

A revisionist interpretation of the post-war evolution of European integration and the European Union (EU), this book reappraises and reassesses conventional explanations of European integration. It adopts a federalist approach which supplements state-based arguments with federal political ideas, influences and strategies. By exploring the philosophical and historical origins of federal ideas and tracing their influence throughout the whole of the EU's evolution, the book makes a significant contribution to the scholarly debate about the nature and development of the EU. The book looks at federal ideas stretching back to the sixteenth century and demonstrates their fundamental continuity to contemporary European integration. It situates these ideas in the broad context of post-war western Europe and underlines their practical relevance in the activities of Jean Monnet and Altiero Spinelli. Post-war empirical developments are explored from a federalist perspective, revealing an enduring persistence of federal ideas which have been either ignored or overlooked in conventional interpretations. The book challenges traditional conceptions of the post-war and contemporary evolution of the EU, to reassert and reinstate federalism in theory and practice at the very core of European integration.

This book charts the evolution of EU law (both internal market and institutional law) through the jurisprudence of one of its leading jurists. Few have as close an eye-witness view of the evolution of European Union law as judges at the ECJ. They not only observe, however, but actively work towards its development. This collection assesses the momentous contribution to European Union law made by José Luís da Cruz Vilaça. Taking those areas of law which were directly shaped by his judgments (institutional law/internal market/free movement of persons and judicial review), leading scholars assess his legacy. Through this prism, the story of EU law can be charted.

Maastricht and Beyond is a critical assessment of the European Union brought into being by the Treaty of Maastricht. A team of experts provide a clear and thorough appraisal of the main provisions of the Treaty - including the three pillared structure of Economic and Monetary Union, common foreign and security policy and home affairs and justice - showing how these elements will change the function and eventually the character of the European Union. The book draws conclusions from the Maastricht process for the next reform of the Union in 1996, and it examines the practicalities of achieving a fully-fledged federal democracy, making proposals for a constitutional settlement. Maastricht and Beyond will appeal to both informed generalists and to students and scholars who want a fresh approach to the stale arguments over Maastricht, who seek enlightenment over what the Treaty is for and who have the curiosity to look forward to 1996 and beyond.

The main objective of this publication is establishing an understanding of the process of European integration and hence the current European Union that has resulted from this process. As this is a complicated development that includes many different areas, this book will focus on the main fields in which the integration has been settled; politics, economy, law, and social aspects. Thus, a comprehensive approach to all these fields will provide both general and professional readers with sufficient knowledge to understand the process and form their own opinion about it. Each chapter has been developed independently, and hence can be read autonomously in order to understand a specific topic, policy, or problem in the European Union. Reading of the full book will provide a wide perspective of the process, as the chapters are connected; forming different groups based on similar themes, the combination of these wider groups providing the general approach to the whole process of European integration.

How can one convince potent nation-states to put their sovereignty at risk in common European policies? EU cohesion policy, now one-third of the EU budget, provides such a puzzle. Until 1988 the European Commission shared out money to national governments with few strings attached. Since the reform of 1988, national governments are required to negotiate with the Commission and regional authorities on how to use the money. Has this European-wide policy eroded national sovereignty in favour of a stronger role for the Commission and more power for Europe's regions? The first part of the book probes into the policy dynamics at the European level. In the second part, eight country studies evaluate the impact of uniform EU policy on territorial relations by comparing policy making before and after the reform. The concluding section explains persistent variation in EU cohesion decision making and implementation.

Relying on internal sources, Wilfried Loth analyses the birth and subsequent development of the European Union, from the launch of the Council of Europe and the Schuman Declaration until the Euro crisis and the contested European presidential election of Jean-Claude Juncker. This book shines a light on the crises of the European integration, such as the failure of the European Defence Community, De Gaulle’s empty chair policy, or the rejection of the European Constitution in France and the Netherlands, but also highlights the indubitable successes that are the Franco-German reconciliation, the establishment of the European common market, and the establishment of an expanding common currency. What this study accomplishes, for the first time, is to illuminate the driving forces behind the European integration process and how it changed European politics and society. “An enlightening work. Arequired reading for all who doubt the unfinished history of Europe.” – Rolf Steininger, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “This book will become an indispensable standard work.” – Jörg Himmelreich, Neue Zürcher Zeitung.