English for European Studies Students

Treaty of Nice

Adopted at the Nice European Council in December 2000, and signed on 26 February 2001, the Treaty of Nice entered into force on 1 February 2003.

It is the result of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) that began in February 2000, the objective of which was to gear the working of the European institutions before the arrival of new Member States.

The Treaty of Nice opened the way to the institutional reform needed for the EU enlargement with the accession of countries from eastern and southern Europe. Some of the provisions it contains were adapted by the Accession Treaty, which was signed in Athens in April 2003 and entered into force on the day of enlargement, 1 May 2004.

The main changes made by the Treaty of Nice relate to limiting the size and composition of the Commission, extending qualified majority voting, a new weighting of votes within the Council and making the strengthened cooperation arrangements more flexible.

The Declaration on the Future of the Union, annexed to the Treaty, sets out the next steps to be taken to deepen the institutional reforms and to make sure that the Treaty of Nice is just one stage in this process.

The European Constitution, which is currently being ratified, completes the process of reforming the Union. When the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe enters into force, it will repeal and replace the Treaty of Nice.

Unanimity

The term "unanimity" means the requirement for all the Member States meeting within the Council to be in agreement before a proposal can be adopted.

Since the Single European Act, it has applied to fewer and fewer areas. In the context of the first pillar, voting by qualified majority is now the rule. The second and third pillars, however, still operate largely according to the intergovernmental method and the unanimity requirement, although the Treaty of Nice introduced qualified majority voting in certain areas.

In view of the challenge posed by enlargement and its consequences in terms of unanimity, the European Constitution (currently being ratified) makes qualified majority voting the general procedure. But there are around 60 areas in which unanimity is still required, including taxation linked to the internal market and minimum social security standards. A "bridge" clause provides a basis for changing to QMV in certain cases.

White Paper

Commission White Papers are documents containing proposals for Community action in a specific area. In some cases they follow a Green Paper published to launch a consultation process at European level. When a White Paper is favourably received by the Council, it can lead to an action programme for the Union in the area concerned.

Examples are the White Papers on Completion of the Internal Market (1985), on Growth, Competitiveness, Employment (1993) and on European Governance (2001). More recently, the White Paper on Services of General Interest (2004) and that on a European Communication Policy (2006) have also moulded the development of Community policies.

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