Select Committee on European Scrutiny Fourteenth Report


Glossary

CFSP  Common Foreign and Security Policy, one of the EU's two inter-governmental 'pillars' (see below for 'pillars').

Charter  The Charter of Fundamental Rights, incorporated in the Constitutional Treaty as Part II. See paras 76-95.

Co-decision  A procedure (under Article 251 of the EC Treaty) by which EC draft legislation must be agreed by both the Council of Ministers and the EP.

Constitutional Treaty  Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, adopted on 29 October 2004.

Convention  The Convention on the Future of Europe, consisting of representatives of Member State governments, national parliaments, the EP and the European Commission, together with government and parliamentary representatives from the then candidate countries, which met during 2002 and 2003. It drew up the first draft of the Constitutional Treaty. (An earlier Convention drew up the Charter of Fundamental Rights.)

COREPER  The Committee of Permanent Representatives, in which diplomats from the Member States negotiate on draft legislation, much of which is then agreed by the Council of Ministers without debate.

Council  The Council of Ministers, consisting of Ministers from the Member States—the EU's most important legislative and decision-making body. Not to be confused with the European Council.

Court of Justice  European Court of Justice (ECJ).

EC  The European Community, the EU's first pillar (see below for 'pillars').

EC Treaty  The Treaty establishing the European Community.

ECHR  European Convention on Human Rights. Its full title is the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

ECJ  European Court of Justice.

Emergency brakes  A Treaty provision whereby, in certain circumstances, a Member State may refer a matter from the Council to the European Council, where unanimity is required for decisions. See paras 105-20.

Enhanced cooperation  A procedure whereby fewer than all Member States may use the institutions, procedures and mechanisms of the EU and EC Treaties to pursue a desired objective. See paras 66-75.

Enlargement  Ten countries joined the EU's existing 15 Member States in 2004 — all of them except Cyprus and Malta in central and eastern Europe. Romania and Bulgaria are expected to join in 2007, and Croatia and Turkey are also candidate countries.

EP  European Parliament.

EPP  European Public Prosecutor. Article III-274 of the Constitutional Treaty provides for the establishment of an EPP. See paras 137-8, 140.

ESDP  The European Security and Defence Policy, part of the inter-governmental second 'pillar'.

EU  The European Union.

EU Treaty  The Treaty on European Union.

European Council  The European Council, consisting of the EU's heads of State or Government and the Commission President, and meeting at least twice a year. It is intended to have a strategic role in the EU.

Horizontal clauses  Articles II-111 to II-114 of the Constitutional Treaty, which govern the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. See paras 79-82.

IGC  Inter-Governmental Conference. The 2003-04 IGC adopted the Constitutional Treaty on 29 October 2004.

MEP  Member of the European Parliament.

Pillars  The EU consists of three pillars. Most EU activity falls within the first pillar, the European Community, in which the Commission and the European Parliament play the fullest part. The other two pillars (which derive from the Maastricht Treaty in 1992) are inter-governmental: the second pillar is the Common Foreign and Security Policy under Title V of the EU Treaty; the third is police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters under Title VI of the EU Treaty. The Constitutional Treaty would abolish the pillar structure.

Presidency  EU Member States currently take turns to hold the EU's Presidency for six months, and the Presidency State chairs the European Council and the Council of Ministers. The Constitutional Treaty provides for a longer-term President of the European Council. See paragraphs 53-8.

Primacy  The principle that Community or Union laws in areas of EU or EC competence take precedence over the laws of Member States. The principle is incorporated in Article I-6 of the Constitutional Treaty.

QMV  Qualified majority voting.

Subsidiarity  The principle (incorporated in the EC Treaty) that the EC should take action only in so far as objectives cannot be sufficiently achieved by Member States and can be better achieved by the EC.

Treaties  These currently consist of the Treaty on European Union (EU) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (EC). (A specific Treaty relates to nuclear matters — the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community. The Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community expired in 2002.)


 
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