The European Council: Decision-making in European Politics

187 Pages·1987·18.093 MB·English

by  Simon Bulmer, Wolfgang Wessels (auth.)

THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL
AlsobySimon Bulmer
THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY AND THE
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (with W.Paterson)
THEDOMESTICSTRUCTUREOF EUROPEANCOMMUNITY
POLICY-MAKING IN WEST GERMANY
Alsoby Wolfgang Wessels
EUROPEAN POLITICAL CO-OPERATION
(editor withD. AllenandR. Rummel)
The European Council
Decision-making in European Politics
Simon Bulmer
LecturerinEuropean Studies
UniversityofManchesterInstituteofScienceandTechnology
and
Wolfgang Wessels
Director,lnstitutflir Europdische Po/itik,Bonn; DirectorofAdministrativeStudies and
Professor, CollegeofEurope, Bruges
©Simon Bulmer and Wolfgang Wessels 1987
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1987 978-0-333-36841-1
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
of this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied
or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance
with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended).
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and
civil claims for damages
First published 1987
Published by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
Reprinted and bound 1995
in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Bulmer, Simon
The European Council: decision-making in
European politics.
I. European Council - History
I. Title II. Wessels, Wolfgang
341.24'22 JN30
ISBN 978-1-349-07230-9 ISBN 978-1-349-07228-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-07228-6
Contents
List ofFigures Vlll
Preface
IX
Acknowledgements
List ofAbbreviations xii
1 TheEuropeanCouncil:SaviourorVillain
ofEuropeanIntegration? 1
TheEuropeanCounciland the European
Community 4
Between interdependenceand the domestic
political economy 8
TheEuropeanCouncil: a basicchecklist 10
Argumentsand Methods 13
2 SummitMeetingsand the European
Council: Concepts,Conceptionand Creation 16
Impulses towardssummitryin the European
Community 16
Theexperienceofadhocsummit meetings 27
Thedebateconcerninginstitutionalised
summitry 36
The 1974Parissummitand the creationofthe
EuropeanCouncil 41
Conclusion:towards co-operativefederalism? 46
3 TheEuropeanCouncil'sOrganisation:An
Exercisein PiecemealEngineering 48
Composition 48
Preparations forsessions ofthe European
Council 50
Multiple bilateralism and preparingthe
EuropeanCouncil 54
Decision-making 55
v
VI Contents
TheorganisationofEuropeanCouncilsessions 56
Conclusionsofthe sessions 57
4 TheEuropeanCouncil'sMajorDecisions: A
DecadeofStabilisationand Integration 59
Themajorareas ofactivities 59
Economicand social issues 60
Internationaleconomicand monetaryissues 64
Internationalpolitical issues 65
Communityissues 66
Institutional and proceduralchanges 70
Constitutional matters 72
TheEuropeanCouncil: stabiliserofthe status
quo 73
5 TheEuropeanCouncilin Practice:The
EvolvingFunctionsofSummitry 75
TheEuropeanCouncil'sintended functions 76
TheEuropeanCouncil'sfunctionsin practice 80
Conclusion: 'Strongon discussion not sostrong
on decisions' 100
6 TheEuropeanCounciland its Policy
Environment:ACuckooin the Community's
Nest? 103
The EuropeanCounciland the Councilof
Ministers 103
The EuropeanCounciland the EC Commission 109
The EuropeanCouncil and the European
Parliament 113
TheEuropeanCouncil and the CourtofJustice 118
TheEuropeanCouncil, the Economicand
Social Committeeand non-governmental actors
in the Community 120
TheEuropeanCounciland European Political
Co-operation 122
TheEuropeanCounciland bilateral relations in
theEC 124
Theimpactofthe EuropeanCouncil.some
conclusions 129
Contents
Vll
7 Conclusion:AVital IngredienttoEuropean
Decision-Making 132
Acommitmenttointernational co-operation 134
Domesticpoliticalmanoeuvrability 135
A balanced agenda 137
The personalitiesinvolved 138
The EuropeanCouncil: surplus to
requirements? 140
Futuredevelopmentand effortsat reform 142
Appendix1: Communiqueissuedafterthemeetingof
theHeadsofStateandGovernment, Paris, 10
December1974 147
Appendix2: LondonDeclarationontheEuropean
Council (1977) 148
Appendix3:Solemn DeclarationonEuropean Union
(1983) 150
Appendix4:SingleEuropeanAct(1986) 151
Appendix5: Meetings, oftheEuropean Council
1975-85 152
Notes andReferences 153
Index 169
List of Figures
1.1 Thelinesofpolitical authorityofthe
EuropeanCouncil 12
Vlll
Preface
European policy-making and. the institutional development of
the European Community have been the focus ofmuch political
and academic attention. The establishment in 1975 of the
EuropeanCouncil has proved to be a majorstep in the evolution
ofthe Community.Yet this new body has not received anywhere
near the amountofattention that iswarranted by its importance
and that is given to summitry in the media. This book aims to
contribute to the gap in the literature. Itexamines the European
Council'sorigins and subsequentdevelopmentduring the period
from 1975 up to 1985, culminating in the Luxembourg treaty
revisions.
Although this isan Anglo-German project, it started lifeas an
enterpriseofWolfgang Wessels, initially as doctoral research. In
1980a German-language book by him was published by Europa
Union Verlag covering the early phase of the European
Council's work. In view of the continuing gap in English
language material on the subject, the current project was set up
following the intervention ofDr William Paterson, University of
Warwick, as academic 'matchmaker'. The result is a volume
which takes into account important new directions of the
EuropeanCouncil'swork as well as recent research publishedon
Western economic summits, which have similar origins to the
European Council.
As with any projects thanks are due to numerous people. In
West Germany these include Professor Hans Peter Schwarz,
University of Cologne, for academic advice, colleagues in the
Institut fiirEuropaische Politik, Bonn, for reading chapters and
adding comments and staff at the Forschungsinstitut der
Deutschen Gesellschaft filr Auswartige Politik, also in Bonn. In
Great Britain thanks are due to colleagues in the Department of
European Studies at UMIST and in the Department of
Government of the University of Manchester. Andrew Scott,
Heriot-Watt University, made some helpful comments and
Helen Bulmer read parts of the manuscript from the non
specialist's perspective. We must also acknowledge the forbear
ance of Susan Spence in coping with the preparation of a
IX