Glossary of Institutions, policies and enlargement of the European Union
(Starting with "U")
©
European Communities, 1995-2007
http://europa.eu/scadplus/glossary/index_en.htm
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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.
See:
[ Back
]
Uniform
electoral procedure for the European Parliament
The Treaty establishing the European
Community requires the European Parliament to draw
up proposals to allow its members to be elected by
direct universal suffrage, either using a uniform
procedure in each Member State or in accordance with
shared principles. However, this is not the currently
the case, as regional lists exist alongside national
ones.
A procedure like this is important
because it would ensure that different European political
tendencies are more faithfully represented in the
European Parliament.
After a number of debates and disagreements,
the Council and the Parliament finally agreed on four
points which harmonise the electoral process in European
elections while taking account of the current situation:
- the uniform voting method is proportional
representation using a list, or a single, transferable
vote (Ireland only);
- the vote can be preferential;
- the different (national or regional)
constituencies may remain unchanged as long as they
do not impede proportional representation. Regional
constituencies should be established at a later
date in States with a population of over 20 million;
- the minimum threshold for obtaining
a seat in the Parliament is 5% of votes cast.
Most of the rules concerning voting
and elections remain distinct, in particular concerning
the dates of elections, constituencies, the application
of proportional representation, the number of mandates
that may be held concurrently, voting and eligibility
conditions and boosting equality. In terms of electoral
constituencies, the majority of Member States have
adopted the system of a single constituency, whereby
the whole country forms one constituency. The other
Member States have a number of constituencies: Ireland,
the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Greece, Belgium,
Poland and France, which passed a law in April 2003
replacing the single constituency system with eight
interregional constituencies.
In the long term the Parliament wants
to move towards having a single constituency at European
Union level. The European Constitution, which is currently
being ratified, requires a European law or framework
law to set out the measures needed to standardise
the election process.
See:
[ Back
]
Universal
service
Universal service is a concept developed
by the Community institutions. It refers to the set
of general interest demands to which services such
as telecommunications and the mail should be subject
throughout the Community. The aim is to ensure that
all users have access to quality services at an affordable
price.
See:
[ Back
]
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