Evolution of the European Community

European intentions to develop a true common foreign and security policy, as described in the Maastricht Treaty, are shaping up into some major battles over the structure and decisionmaking process of the European Community. The Community is continuing to struggle over defining and implementing the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty, which include problems ranging from uncertainty over the timetable for economic and monetary union--the single European currency which is supposed to encourage greater political unity--to fears of establishing the Western European Union as a non-NATO policing/military unit under Community direction.

Central to these new developments in the European Community is the role of the office of the General Secretariat--the administrative and research arm of the European Community's Council of Ministers. This research examines the structure, functions and activities of the General Secretariat and assesses the role of the Secretariat in the newly emerging European Community of the 1990s. In order to understand how the office of the Secretariat operates, it is first necessary to discuss the evolution of the European Community and the maze of institutional structures that work together to maintain and help unify the Community.

Europe has historically been racked by war; it is the continent that first experienced strife between nations. The terrifying and destructive consequences of World War II fed upon this historica

Related Essays

The European Parliament .... The gradual evolution of the EC into a real force was accelerated by the passing from the scene of Charles de Gaulle. A European Community without .... (8047 32 )

US-European Security Partnership .... faces with respect to the European community is getting .... view Clinton's proposal for more European autonomy as .... conditioned on their internal evolution, and it .... (1452 6 )

European Economic Community .... THE CREATION AND EVOLUTION OF THE EEC The EEC was created with the signing of a treaty in Rome in 1957 .... The European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) was .... (6504 26 )

Economic Interests in International Regimes .... The evolution of the EEC, however, tends to provide greater support for .... a greater desire for more political unity and uniformity within the European Community. .... (3664 15 )

Integration of the UK into the EMS .... the EC in international finance is A� addressed as a part of this examination.A� Creation and Evolution of the EC A� The European Economic Community (EEC) was .... (3165 13 )

the implementation of the rules which the Council lays down (Archer and Butler, 1992, p. 29). The Council of Ministers is a collective body of 12 individuals--usually, but not always, the foreign ministers of each of the member nations. The actual composition of the Council varies according to the particular subjects being discussed. Thus, it is not quite correct to view the Council as a single legislative body. Instead, the Council is organized largely along functional lines. So according to the type of legislation being discussed, different Councils meet to discuss different legislation. For example, if the Commission proposes draft legislation on agricultural matters, then each member nation will probably send their agricultural ministers to cast votes on the Council. If the draft proposal concerns financial issues, the Council will likely be comprised of the finance ministers from each nation. The governments of each member nation are relatively unrestrained by the Community's treaties in deciding Council representation. There is no indication whatsoever in the treaties that decisions by a Council of lower level ministers carry any less weight than decisions by a Council of the foreign ministers. Nevertheless, the m

Category: Foreign - E