Glossary of Institutions, policies and enlargement of the European Union
(Starting with "L")
©
European Communities, 1995-2007
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Laeken
Declaration
One year after the Treaty of Nice
and the Nice Declaration, which calls for institutional
reform to be pursued beyond the 2000 Intergovernmental
Conference (IGC 2000), the European Council, meeting
in Laeken, adopted a Declaration on the Future of
the European Union, or Laeken Declaration, on 15 December
2001, committing the Union to becoming more democratic,
transparent and effective.
This Declaration poses 60 targeted
questions on the future of the Union, around four
main themes: the division and definition of powers,
the simplification of the treaties, the institutional
set-up and moving towards a Constitution for European
citizens. It convened a Convention bringing together
the main stakeholders to examine the fundamental questions
raised by the future development of the Union so as
to prepare in as broad and transparent a way as possible
for the 2004 IGC.
The Convention concluded its work
on 10 July 2003 after reaching agreement on the proposed
Constitutional Treaty. On 18 June 2004 the Heads of
State or Government of the Member States reached a
compromise agreement on the draft European Constitution
prepared by the Convention.
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Legal
personality of the Union
The two Communities (European Community
and Euratom) making up the European Union each have
legal personality. However, the Treaty on European
Union does not contain any provisions on the Union's
legal personality even though the Union comprises
the two Communities and two areas of intergovernmental
cooperation, namely common foreign and security policy
(CFSP) and police and judicial cooperation in criminal
matters.
The European Community has the power
to conclude and negotiate agreements in line with
its external powers, to become a member of an international
organisation and to have delegations in non-member
countries.
The question of the Union's legal
personality has essentially been raised in connection
with international relations, especially the power
to conclude treaties or accede to agreements or conventions.
The Union does not have institutionalised treaty-making
powers, i.e. international capacity to enter into
agreements with non-member countries. However, it
pursues its own objectives at international level,
whether by concluding agreements through the Council
of the European Union or by asserting its position
on the international stage, especially in connection
with CFSP.
The Constitution, which is in the
process of ratification, provides for the European
Union to have legal personality.
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Lisbon
Strategy
During the meeting of the European
Council in Lisbon (March 2000), the Heads of State
or Government launched a "Lisbon Strategy" aimed at
making the European Union (EU) the most competitive
economy in the world and achieving full employment
by 2010. This strategy, developed at subsequent meetings
of the European Council, rests on three pillars:
- An economic pillar preparing the
ground for the transition to a competitive, dynamic,
knowledge-based economy. Emphasis is placed on the
need to adapt constantly to changes in the information
society and to boost research and development.
- A social pillar designed to modernise
the European social model by investing in human
resources and combating social exclusion. The Member
States are expected to invest in education and training,
and to conduct an active policy for employment,
making it easier to move to a knowledge economy.
- An environmental pillar, which
was added at the Göteborg European Council
meeting in June 2001, draws attention to the fact
that economic growth must be decoupled from the
use of natural resources.
A list of targets has been drawn up
with a view to attaining the goals set in 2000. Given
that the policies in question fall almost exclusively
within the sphere of competence of the Member States,
an open method of coordination (OMC) entailing the
development of national action plans has been introduced.
Besides the broad economic policy guidelines, the
Lisbon Strategy provides for the adaptation and strengthening
of existing coordination mechanisms: the Luxembourg
process for employment, the Cardiff process for the
functioning of markets (goods, services and capital)
and the Cologne process on macroeconomic dialogue.
The mid-term review held in 2005,
for which a report was prepared under the guidance
of Wim Kok, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands,
showed that the indicators used in the OMC had caused
the objectives to become muddled and that the results
achieved had been unconvincing.
For this reason, the Council has approved
a new partnership aimed at focusing efforts on the
achievement of stronger, lasting growth and the creation
of more and better jobs. As far as implementation
is concerned, the coordination process has been simplified.
The integrated guidelines for growth and employment
will henceforth be presented jointly with the guidelines
for macroeconomic and microeconomic policies, over
a three-year period. They serve as a basis both for
the Community Lisbon Programme and for the National
Reform Programmes. This simplification in programming
makes it possible to monitor implementation more closely
by using one single progress report.
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Luxembourg
compromise
The Luxembourg Compromise, signed
on 30 January 1966, provides that "Where, in the case
of decisions which may be taken by majority vote on
a proposal of the Commission, very important interests
of one or more partners are at stake, the Members
of the Council will endeavour, within a reasonable
time, to reach solutions which can be adopted by all
the Members of the Council while respecting their
mutual interests and those of the Community".
It ended the crisis between France
and its five Community partners and the European Commission,
caused by the gradual transition from unanimous voting
to qualified-majority voting as provided for in the
Treaty of Rome with effect from 1966. The French Government,
which gave precedence to the intergovernmental approach,
expressed its disapproval by applying the "empty chair"
policy, i.e. abstaining from Council proceedings for
seven months from 30 June 1965 onwards.
However, the Compromise, which is
only a political declaration by Foreign Ministers
and cannot amend the Treaty, did not prevent the Council
from taking decisions in accordance with the Treaty
establishing the European Community, which provided
for a series of situations in which qualified-majority
voting applied. Moreover, qualified-majority voting
has been gradually extended to many areas and has
now become normal procedure, unanimity being the exception.
The Luxembourg Compromise remains in force even though,
in practice, it may simply be evoked without actually
having the power to block the decision-making process.
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