The EU Beyond Amsterdam: Concepts of European Integration

161 Pages·1998·1.16 MB·English

by  Martin Westlake

The European Union beyond Amsterdam
The European Union is undergoing a period of fundamental change. With the next stages
of enlargement and debates to determine the financial contributions of each member state
underway, the European Union faces painful and protracted negotiations over its
evolution and its future.
The European Union beyond Amsterdam explores the fundamental structural
challenges that the EU will continue to face in the twenty-first century. The
contributors—all acknowledged experts in their field—look beyond the 1997 Amsterdam
Intergovernmental Conference and such current problem areas as Economic and
Monetary Union. They explore those crucial issues which they feel will be the subject of
debate long after the pressing issues of today have been resolved. In the search for the
factors that will determine the shape of the EU the contributors examine key problems
and issues such as: democratising the Union; establishing a common foreign policy; the
rule of law; and constitutional change.
The theoretical approaches developed in this volume offer fresh and far-reaching
contributions to the continuing debates surrounding the European integration process.
Including a preface by Jacques Delors, it will be valuable reading to students, teachers,
politicians, and journalists seeking insights into the evolution of the EU in the twenty-
first century.
Martin Westlake is Head of Unit for Institutional Relations in the European
Commission, an Associate Member of the Centre for Legislative Studies at the University
of Hull, and author of several authoritative works on the European Union and its
institutions.
The European Union
beyond Amsterdam
New concepts of European
integration
Edited by Martin Westlake

London and New York
First published 1998
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1998 Martin Westlake for the collection; individual chapters
the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
The European Union beyond Amsterdam: new concepts of
European integration/edited by Martin Westlake.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-415-16879-1 ISBN 0-415-16880-5 (pbk.)
1. European Union. I. Westlake, Martin.
JN30.E9415 1998
341.242'2–dc21 98–5089
CIP
ISBN 0-203-19611-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-19614-7 (Adobe e-Reader Format)
ISBN 0-415-16879-1 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-16880-5 (pbk)
‘Point n’est besoin d’espérer pour entreprendre ni de réussir pour
persévérer.’
(William of Orange)
A CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE AND WORK OF JACQUES VANDAMME
Photograph: Jacques Vandamme (centre) presiding over a
recent TEPSA Conference. To his right are: Jacques
Santer, President of the European Commission, and
Wolfgang Wessels, Professor at the University of Cologne
and TEPSA President. To his left are: Gil Carlos
Rodriguez Iglesias, President of the Court of Justice, and
Jean-Victor Louis, Professor at the Free University of
Brussels and long-standing TEPSA member.
Contents
Contributors viii
Foreword

Jacques Delors ix
Editor’s note xi
1 The book and the man

Martin Westlake 1
2 The European Union’s ‘blind watchmakers’: the process of
constitutional change
Martin Westlake 14
3 Britain and Europe: the different relationship

Andrew Duff 31
4 From closed doors to European democracy: beyond the
intergovernmental conferences
John Pinder 43
5 Making European foreign policy work

Gianni Bonvicini 55
6 Flexibility, differentiation and closer cooperation: the Amsterdam
provisions in the light of the Tindemans Report
Wolfgang Wessels 68
7 The rule of law

Jean-Victor Louis 89
8 For a democratic Europe

Robert Toulemon 104
9 Dreams come true, gradually: the Tindemans Report a quarter of
a century on
Leo Tindemans 117
10 European federalism: opportunity or Utopia?

Jacques Vandamme 128
Index 138
Contributors
Gianni Bonvicini is Director of the Institute for International Affairs, Rome
Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission, is President of the
College of Europe, Bruges, and Head of ‘Notre Europe’
Andrew Duff is the Director of the Federal Trust, London
Jean-Victor Louis is Professor of Law at the Free University of Brussels
John Pinder, OBE, is Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges
Leo Tindemans, a former Belgian Prime Minister, is a Member of the European
Parliament
Robert Toulemon, a former Commission Director-General, is President of the French
Association for European Union Studies, Paris
Jacques Vandamme, Honorary President of the Trans-European Policy Studies
Association, is Professor Emeritus of European Law at Leuven University
Wolfgang Wessels is Professor at the University of Cologne and President of the Trans-
European Policy Studies Association
Martin Westlake is Head of Unit for Institutional Relations in the European
Commission and Associate Member of the Centre for Legislative Studies at the
University of Hull
Foreword
We are all Europeans but—if I may paraphrase George Orwell—some are more
European than others. This book is a tribute to a man whose life and work sum up the
richness and diversity that makes we Europeans what we are. In another time, Jacques
Vandamme’s career could, like his ancestors’, so easily have gone another way; scion of
two good military families, resistance member, British soldier… The tradition seemed set
yet, as with so many of his contemporaries, Jacques emerged from the war period imbued
not with militaristic fervour but with European militancy.
Over many years, and in various guises, Jacques has fought for a good Europe. In his
vision, Europe is strong and united, prosperous and competitive, firm and fair. But his
Europe is also compassionate and understanding, consensual and inclusive, and—perhaps
above all—culturally diverse. Jacques’ life has mirrored this vision, as all who know him
and his family will attest.
In intellectual terms, Jacques has devoted his energies to furthering his general vision,
not by force-feeding his views on a potentially sceptical audience, but simply by
encouraging exchanges of views and ideas in a European context. To give an example,
TEPSA, the think-tank he helped found, now has a long-established tradition of pre-
Presidency conferences in the member state concerned. Given the frequently fervently-
held views of the participants, these conferences could so easily degenerate into
pontification, with pro-integrationists earnestly telling forthcoming Presidencies what
they should do. The reality is far from this. The exchanges are never less than two-way.
TEPSA learns as much as the Presidency. It was ever thus: Jacques has always been a
good teacher, but he has also always been a good listener.
In this volume Martin Westlake has brought together contributions from a selection of
some of Jacques’ closest friends and associates. Each contributor was given the same
brief; to look beyond Amsterdam, beyond the obvious challenges of EMU and
enlargement, to the underlying structural challenges which the EU will continue to
confront as it advances into the twenty-first century. The result is a rich and rewarding
collection of analyses, stretching from consideration of the process of constitutional
change itself, through to the vital importance of democratisation and the rule of law, to
the concept of differentiated integration. The contributors push boundaries and explore
limits. They write very much in the tradition of Jacques’ quest for honest exchange. I
cannot pretend to agree with everything they write, but I do agree with their general
approach and, indeed, with the underlying theme of this work.
Many of us might wish for some sort of constituent assembly and a fixed
constitutional settlement. The frustrations of Maastricht and Amsterdam and of the
‘diplomatic method’ in general have led to repeated calls for such a settlement, and these
calls will continue. It is no secret that I myself found the Amsterdam Treaty deeply
disappointing. However, realism dictates a two-pronged approach. We could and should
address ourselves to the question of what an ideal fixed European constitutional
settlement might be. But, as Leo Tindemans’ chapter reminds us, we are unlikely to see