Historical Process of European Union
The Second World War, with its devastation, has led to the questioning of all the rules of law, human rights, the modern state and even positive sciences. After the war, Europe acted to achieve international awareness and guarantee in order to ensure peace and stability and prevent genocide and destruction. The destruction brought about by the war is physical in terms of cities and also economic. Various initiatives have been taken to ensure the restructuring of cities in Europe and to achieve economic cooperation and development. This reconstruction and development plan, put forward by the US Secretary of State George Marshall, was called the "Marshall Plan" and was financed by the USA. For the implementation of the Marshall Plan and the distribution of aid from the United States, economic aid was provided to European countries within the framework of the Marshall Plan, financed by the United States, for the reconstruction of Europe, which was severely damaged in the War, and The Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), later called the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), was established. In order to protect the border security against the USSR and to prevent the political rapprochement between the European countries and the USSR, the USA implemented the Marshall Plan in a supranational unity.
Treaties Establishing the European Union
The French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman prepared a plan for the integration of Europe in the coal and steel industry, in order to develop the economy and to protect the peaceful environment. The European Coal and Steel Community was established in 1951 by signing the Paris Agreement by France, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and West Germany within the framework of the Schuman Plan. The Paris Agreement aimed at creating a common market in the coal and steel industry, economic development, employment and improvement of living standards. With this agreement, which constitutes the European Coal and Steel Community, the institutions of the High Authority, the General Assembly and the EU Court were established. the High Authority and the General Assembly, after, was referred to as the European Commission and the European Parliament, respectively. The Paris Agreement was abolished in July 2002.
The Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, which enabled the establishment of the European Atomic Energy Community and the establishment of the European Economic Community, also had important effects on the formation of the European Union. An agreement has been reached to achieve the goals of establishing and developing the European nuclear industry, determining security standards for nuclear energy, and ensuring the peaceful use of atomic energy with the supra-state . It has been determined that the General Assembly, Commission, Courts and European Parliament institutions will serve for the audit of the principles and standards determined by the Treaty of Rome. European Economic Community objectives established for economic development; Customs and free circulation market are determined as the development of common agricultural policies. The institutional structure of the European Economic Community is composed of the Council of Ministers, the Temporary Representatives Committee, and the Parliament.
With the Unification Treaty signed in 1967, the institutional structure of the communities formed by the Paris Treaty and the Treaty of Rome were brought together. The Council of Ministers and the Commission were made common to the communities, and the European Parliament and the EU Court continued their activity together for the three communities as before.
The Schengen Agreement, signed between Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in 1985, regulated the gradual abolition of common border controls and developed over time and became known as the Schengen acquis and formed the borders of the EU. The Schengen Agreement, which entered into force in 1995, was included in EU law in 1999 with the Amsterdam Treaty.
The Single European Act, which was signed in Luxembourg and entered into force in 1987, serves the purposes of developing the institutions of the community in order to achieve the objectives of the European Economic Community, creating new practices for the internal market regulation that ensures free movement, and acting together with member states in foreign policy. With the Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force in 1993, new forms for cooperation and common policies were determined, the name of the European Economic Community was changed to the European Community and the concept of European Union citizenship was introduced. The Nice Treaty, which entered into force on February 1, 2003 although it was signed on February 26, 2001, aimed to prepare European Union institutions to increase the number of members. The distribution of votes in the European Parliament was changed and the principle of unanimity was abandoned for some articles and a qualified majority was applied.
It was aimed to create a constitutional text in accordance with the constitutions of the member states in order to make the treaties constituting the European Union a single text, to reveal the legal personality of the EU, to agree on fundamental rights and common policies. The mentioned constitution was agreed on and signed by 18 member states. However, since the text was not signed by France and the Netherlands, it remained as a draft and never entered into force.
The Lisbon Treaty was signed on 13 December 2007 and entered into force on 1 December 2009, after Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic ratified it later than other member states for various reasons.
With the Lisbon Treaty, gaining legal personality to the EU, increasing common policies, making the Charter of Fundamental Rights mandatory for members except the UK and Poland, the mechanism of proposing to the Commission with the right to petition, cooperation in case of terrorism and disaster, and some institutional changes has been realized.
European Union Institutions and Functions
Using its legislative power with the Council, the EP held its first direct member election in 1979. EP members consist of 751 people, with a limited number of representatives from 6 to 96 for a country. Although different policies are carried out in 23 different committees in the EP, the main task of the committees is to prepare laws. Gender equality and secret ballot procedures are observed in the 28 member states, and the representatives of each country are elected according to their own determination and serve for 5 years. The powers of the EP are determined as legislative powers, nomination, budgetary rights, control rights, investigation committee, European ombudsman and vote of confidence
The Council of Europe is the EU body with legislative power, consisting of the President, Prime Minister or Presidents of the members. The Council of Europe is formed by the annual meeting of heads of state or government, although not officially included in the institutional structure of the EU. The Single European Act gave these meetings a corporate identity. Decision is made by unanimity and qualified majority, and in exceptional cases, majority of votes are applied.
The Council is one of the legislative bodies of the EU and is different from the EP and the Council of Europe, which was established to defend human rights. The duties and powers of the Council are to approve the law, to accept the EU budget, to control the institutional structure of the EU, to prepare and coordinate the EU policy. The decisions in the Council are generally taken according to the qualified majority procedure.
Although it is the executive body of the EU, its main duties are to supervise the implementation of the legislation, to ensure the implementation of the EU law by the member states, to ensure the distribution of the budget, to manage the EU program and to represent in foreign relations outside of the common foreign and security policy. One commission member and the head of the commission, representing the member states, exercises the executive power.
There is an EU court to enforce EU legislation and to monitor the implementation of member states. The EU jurisdiction body consists of the EU Court, the General Court and the Specialist Courts.
The institution that supervises the legal compliance in the interpretation and application of the EU treaties is the EU Court. Although there is one judge for each member in the EU Court, there are chambers with different numbers of judges.
Before the Lisbon Treaty, the General Court used to be called the Court of First Instance. The General Court functions in disputes arising from the proceedings of EU institutions and bodies, and the Commission functions in cases against Council decisions. However, it acts as the Court of First Instance in cases related to labor relations arising from disputes between EU institutions and officials. Although the number of judges is planned to increase to 56 in 2019, as of 2020, the General Court has 51 judges.
In the EU judicial system, due to the workload of the General Court, the right to a fair trial has not been fulfilled properly, which has led to changes. This institutional change made in 2015 is referred to as the "2015 Reform". Pursuant to the 2015 Reform, the number of judges of the General Court was increased and the Specialization Court was established. The European Union Civil Service Court, which is a Specialization Court, was closed in 2016 and turned into a General Court. However, with the decision of the EU legislatures, the Specialization Court can be established again.
The European Union has built its existence with various agreements and bodies that have both changed their duties and combined activities. The purpose of its foundation, which is to establish peace and stability and to eliminate the physical and economic effects of war destruction, has developed and resized over the years. The European Union develops global policies for the benefit of the member states with the development and values it has revealed, and continues its activities with its bodies and institutions. The goals of the European Union in the 21st century are described as maintaining peace and stability, protecting the security and welfare of European citizens, keeping Europe's values alive and protecting its identity in the global world.