Impact of the Treaty of Amsterdam

Former Article (2) TEU provided that an intergovernmental conference (IGC) should be held in 1996 to examine the provisions which the TEU required to be reviewed. Other issues could also be included on the agenda (Article N(l) TEU). The purpose of the review was to revise the policies and institutional structure of the Union to ensure its effectiveness (Article 2 TEU). This was an issue gaining ever-more relevance with the increase of Union competence under the TEU and the further expansion of Union membership. As the IGC discussions progressed, it became clear that the issues to be decided coalesced round three broad, interlinked themes: democracy, transparency, and efficiency. The review process continued into June 1997, when a draft treaty was agreed at Amsterdam. This treaty, the To A, was signed on 2 October 1997 and came into force on 1 May 1999. Since the ToA renumbered all treaty articles, the new numbers of the treaty articles will henceforth throughout this book be used, with the form­er numbers bracketed alongside them where necessary to clarify the meaning (eg, Article 30 (ex Article 36) EC), save where reasons of historical accuracy (such as art­icles cited in the context of cases) dictate that the original article number be shown. Discussions of changes introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon, which if it comes into force will again renumber the Treaties, will refer to post-Lisbon Treaty numbering.

Strengthening the ec pillar

The ToA, when compared with the ambitious TEU, may seem to achieve little; in­deed, when one considers the stresses to which the EU will increasingly find its decision-making subject in an EU of 27 or more, the ToA could be criticised for failing to deal adequately with the difficult institutional questions involved. Nonetheless, the ToA can still be seen as constituting a cautious but significant expansion of the Union's scope. The first (EC) pillar was strengthened by stream­lining its decision-making powers and by the allocation of new competences. Certain provisions, for example those relating to the admission of third-country nationals, have been moved from the third pillar to the EC pillar. In addition, the Schengen Agreement which dealt with controls at internal borders (an agreement outside the EC/EU framework between a number of the EU Member States) and its associated decisions have, in effect, been incorporated into the EC Treaty. All of these have been combined to form a Title in Part Three of the EC Treaty, Title IV. Some completely new provisions were also introduced into the EC Treaty, such as those relating to unemployment. The Protocol on Social Policy, originally annexed to the EC Treaty by the TEU, has now been incorporated into the main body of the EC Treaty, replacing the existing social-policy provisions.

Equality and fundamental rights

These changes reflect a shift of emphasis away from the mainly economic conception of the EC to a more political idea, founded on fundamental rights and principles. In particular, the provision prohibiting discrimination on grounds of nationality (Article 12 EC) has been developed by the insertion of a new clause (Article 13 EC) authorising the Council to 'take appropriate action to combat dis­crimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation'.

Although not phrased in the absolute terms of Article 12 EC, it reinforces the idea of non-discrimination as a fundamental principle which the ECJ has invoked and used to significant effect in its case law. Further, the promotion of the equality of men and women is now identified in Article 2 EC as a task of the Community. Note that should Lisbon come into force, this requirement would be strengthened as Article 10 TFEU requires the Union, in defining all its policies, to combat discrimi­nation whether based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age, or sexual orientation.

This concern with fundamental principles is also evidenced by amended Article 7 TEU. This provides that any Member State found to have committed a persistent and serious breach of the fundamental principles listed in Article 6 TEU may be suspended from voting in the Council of Ministers, although it will remain subject to obligations arising out of the Union membership, such as compliance with EC legislation. The principles listed in Article 6 TEU are: liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law. Respect for the rule of law, in particular, is evidenced by the expansion of the ECJ's jurisdiction in re­lation to Part Three Title IV of the EC Treaty and to the JHA provisions remaining in the TEU. In both these cases, however, the jurisdiction of the ECJ is subject to serious limitations (discussed further in Chapters 10 and 26). Nevertheless, the ToA extended the scope of Union competence under the EC Treaty and effected signifi­cant changes in the TEU.