In police and judicial affairs. Matters relating to immigration and asy-

lum (Art. 63), however, fall within the first pillar. The European Court

of Justice has no jurisdiction in relation to the second pillar and has

jurisdiction in third-pillar matters only with the consent of the state

concerned (TEU Art. 39).

The treaties are ‘framework treaties’ that allow the institutions

created by them to develop laws and policies, and indeed other insti-

tutions for the purpose of closer integration between the member states.

The aims of the EC set out in Art. 2 of the EC Treaty are as follows

‘to promote throughout the Community a harmonious, balanced and

sustainable development of economic activities, a high level of employ-

ment and of social protection, equality between men and women,

sustainable and non-inflationary growth, a high degree of competi-

tiveness and convergence of economic performance, a high level of

protection and improvement of the quality of the environment, the

raising of the standard of living and quality of life, and economic and

social cohesion and solidarity among Member States’.

Under the TEU the broader goals of the European Union include

the following:

. To promote economic and social progress and a high level of employ-

ment and to achieve balanced and sustainable development, in par-

ticular through the creation of an area without internal frontiers,

through the strengthening of economic and social cohesion, and

through the establishment of economic and monetary union ulti-

mately including a single currency.

. To assert its identity on the international scene, in particular through

the implementation of a common foreign and security policy.

. To strengthen the protection of rights and interests of the nationals

of its Member States through the introduction of a citizenship of

the Union.

184 General Principles of Constitutional and Administrative Law

. To maintain and develop the Union as an area of freedom, security

and justice in which the free movement of persons is assured in con-

. junction with appropriate measures with respect to external border

controls, asylum, immigration, and the prevention and combating

of crime.

. To maintain in full the acquis communitaire (which means the

accumulated legal principles values and practices of the community)

and to build on it with a view to considering to what extent the

policies and forms of co-operation may need to be revised with the

aim of ensuring the effectiveness of the mechanisms and the insti-

tutions of the Community.

These aims are internally contradictory and are little more than

windy rhetoric. However, as we saw in Chapter 1 the incommensur-

ability of many human values and interests means that the task of any

political organisation is to manage disagreement between competing

goals. In a democracy this means avoiding grand cohesive agendas in

favour of pragmatic trade-offs.

9.2 Community Institutions

The community has lawmaking, executive and judicial powers which

are blended in a unique way which does not correspond to traditional

notions of the separation of powers. There are no clear lines of account-

ability. Power is divided between institutions some of which share the

same functions. Such democratic accountability as there is takes the

forms (i) of a limited degree of accountability to an elected ‘European

Parliament’, and (ii) arrangements made under the constitutions of the

individual states. The balance between the different bodies, particularly

in relation to the Parliament, varies according to the Treaty provision

under which a particular issue arises.

The main institutions are as follows (Art. 7):

1. The Council of Ministers including the European Council (periodic

meetings of heads of state).

2. The European Commission.

3. The European Parliament.

4. The European Court of Justice (ECJ).

There are other important community institutions. They will not be

discussed here in that their impact on the UK constitution is indirect

only. They include, the Committee of Permanent Representatives

185

The European Union

(COREPER) which comprises senior officials who prepare the Coun-

cil’s business and are very influential, the Court of Auditors, and the

European Central Bank (Art. 8). There are also advisory and con-

sultative bodies notably the Economic and Social Committee and the

Committee of the Regions.

9.2.1 The Council of Ministers

The Council’s main function is to approve or amend laws proposed by

the European Commission (although in some cases it can ask the

Commission to make a proposal (Art. 208)). It also decides the budget

and adopts international treaties and is responsible for ensuring that

the objectives of the treaty are attained. The Council is made up of a

minister representing each member state who must be authorised to

commit the government. The actual membership fluctuates accord-

ing to the business in hand. A president holds office for six months,

each member state holding the office in turn. The Council’s proceed-

ings are secret.

The Council is biased towards national interests rather than towards

an overall ‘community view’. The community view is represented by

the Commission creating a distinct kind of separation of powers and a

recipe for political tension. The way in which Council decisions are

made is therefore all-important. Certain decisions, albeit a shrinking

category, must be unanimous, thus permitting any state to impose a

veto. An increasing number of decisions are made by a ‘qualified

majority’, whereby votes are weighted according to the population of

each state. At present the weighting is as follows (Art. 205): UK,

Germany, France, Italy, 10; Spain, 8; Belgium, Portugal, Netherlands,

5; Austria, Sweden, 4; Luxemburg, 2. Under the Nice Treaty which is

not yet in force the weighting will be altered to prevent paralysis in the

enlarged community. Occasionally a simple majority suffices. There

is a convention, known as the Luxembourg Convention, which was

agreed in 1966 according to which where very important interests of a

member state are in issue the Council should vote unanimously. It is,

however, arguable that, given the increasing use of qualified majority

provisions in the treaties, this convention is losing its political

legitimacy. Moreover the Amsterdam treaty makes increased pressure

for majority voting.

The Council is not formally accountable to any other body other

than the Court in respect of legal limits on its powers. In the UK,

under the normal convention of ministerial responsibility, ministers

who attend the Council are accountable to Parliament in respect of