Abstract
The convocation of an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in 1996 was scheduled by the Maastricht Treaty establishing the EU. The reason for this rendez-vous was general agreement on the fact that not all essential questions had been answered in negotiations leading to the Maastricht Treaty, and that this treaty should, therefore, be revised after several years of experience.
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References
The research on which this contribution is based was been carried out mainly at the Robert Schuman Centre (RSC) at the European University Institute in Fiesole/ Florence in 1996–97. It was made possible by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. I would like to thank these two institutions and in particular Prof. Yves Mény, director of the RSC, for the support received.
The following accession requests came from: Poland (5 April 1994), Romania (22 June 1995), Slovakia (27 June 1995), Latvia (13 October 1995), Estonia (24 November 1995), Lithuania (8 December 1995), Bulgaria (14 December 1995), Czech Republic (17 January 1996), Slovenia (10 June 1996).
See also contributions of S. Baillie, T. Brown, Ch.-M. Geurts and A. Kuosmanen in this volume.
Established by the Treaty on the EU.
See Tables 1, 2, and 3 in the appendix.
See Table 1 in the appendix.
In a similar way, large member states also have a privilege in appointing nationals as advocates general to the Court of Justice.
According to the definition of small and large member states based on the second and third principle in the previous section, Spain is clearly a large state: With respect to its demographic weight, it is underrepresented in the Council and Parliament, even if to a lesser extent than the largest states (see Table 1 in the appendix) and it is compensated for in the Commission. But it does not benefit from the fourth principle, reserved to the largest states.
Initially a fourth small state, Norway, was a candidate, but it finally refused to join EU in a popular referendum.
As a simple majority mainly applies to procedural decisions, it will not be examined in further detail here.
Adoption of this „compromise“ by the EEC Council in January 1966 put an end to the „empty chair“ practiced by de Gaulle. The text of this compromise in fact took not of a disagreement: France contended that the qualified majority must give way to unanimity in the Council if a member state invokes „very important interests“. The other member states stated in the compromise that they consider the treaty binding.
Formal votes are not frequent in the Council, but the voting rule has a strong impact on the whole Council negotiating process. Negotiating positions tend to be clearly more moderate and the negotiation process far shorter if qualified majority being the voting rule.
Romania has a population of 22.7 million, which compares with the 38.3 million of Poland and the 15.4 million of the Netherlands.
Malta, Norway, and Switzerland, with Switzerland being the only country having a pending accession demand. However, the Swiss demand is“frozen” since the rejection of the EEA agreement in a popular referendum at the end of 1992.
Table 2 shows that this case can happen theoretically in the case of EU 29: the smallest possible coalition achieving a qualified majority represents only 47.8% of the EU population. In the cases of EU 21, 23, or 26 however, a qualified majority represents more than 50% of the population in any case.
The indications on member states’ positions are extracted from the following documents (unless indicated otherwise): Austria: Guidelines to the expected themes of the IGC 1996, Austrian initial positions for the Reflection Group, Vienna (June 1995); österreichische Regierung: Regierungskonferenz 1996, österreichische Grundsatzpositionen, Vienna (26 March 1996); Belgium:Note de politique du Gouvernement belge au Parlement concernant la CIG de 1996, Brussels (October 1995); Denmark: Bases for negotiations. An Open Europe. The 1996 IGC, Memorandum of the Danish Government, Copenhagen (11 December 1995); Finland: Memorandum of the Foreign Ministry: Finnish points of view with regard to the IGC 1996, Helsinki (18 September 1995); France: Les orientations de la France pour la CIG de 1996, in: Le Figaro, (20 February 1996); Greece: Greek Government (January 1995): Towards a Citizens’ Europe. Democracy and Development (Memorandum for the 1996 IGC), Athens; For a Democratical European Union with Political and Social Content (Greece’s contribution to the 1996 IGC), Athens (22 March 1996); Ireland: Government of Ireland (1996): Challenges and Opportunities Abroad. The White Paper on Foreign Policy, Dublin; Italy: Discorso del Presidente del Consiglio Lamberto Dini alla Camera dei Deputati, Rome (23 May 1995); Discorso del Ministro degli esteri Susanna Agnelli alia Camera dei Deputati, Rome (23 May 1995); Position of the Italian Government on the IGC for the Revision of the Treaties, Rome, (18 March 1996); Luxembourg: Aidemémoire du Gouvernement luxembourgeois sur la CIG de 1996, Luxembourg, (30 June 1995); Netherlands: Gouvernement néerlandais (12 July 1995): Rapport sur la réforme institutionnelle de l’Union européenne, Den Haag; Portugal: Foreign Ministry: Portugal and the IGC for the Revision of the Treaty on EU, Lisbon (March 1996); Spain: Secretaria de Est do para les Communi-dades Europeas (2 March 1995): La Conferencia intergubernamental de 1996. Bases para una reflexión, Madrid; Sweden: Cabinet Office (July 1995): Sweden’s principle interests in view of the 1996 EU IGC, Stockholm; Gouvernement suédois: Communication écrite du gouvernement 1995/96:30, transmise au Riksdag 30 November 1995 Stockholm; United Kingdom: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (12 March 1996): A Partnership of Nations. The British Approach to the EU IGC 1996, London,. Joint documents: BENELUX States: Mémorandum de la Belgique, des Pays-Bas et du Luxembourg en vue de la CIG, (8 March 1996); France and Germany: Déclaration du Chancelier Kohl et du Président Chirac au Président du Conseil européen, (6 December 1995).
Rapport sur le Fonctionnement du Traité sur l’Union Européenne, (30 May 1995); Renforcer l’Union Politique et Préparer l’Elargissement (avis de la Commission), (28 February 1996) Brussels.
Jean-Louis Bourlanges und David Martin (Berichterstatter) (4 May 1995): Bericht über die Funktionsweise des Vertrags über die Europäische Union im Hinblick auf die Regierungskonferenz 1996 (Europäisches Parlament, Institutioneller Ausschuss); Dury — Maij-Weggen (13 March 1996): Résolution sur l’Evaluation des Travaux du Groupe de Réflexion et Précision des Priorités Politiques du Parlement Europeéen en vue de la Conférence Intergouvernementale (Rapport).
Reflection Group’s Report, Brussels, December 1995.
See Table 2 in the appendix.
Speech by Klaus Kinkel (foreign minister), (5 May 1995).
I would like to express here my gratitude to Giuseppe Ciavarini Azzi, Francisco Fonseca Morillo, Charles-Michel Geurts, and Véronique Warlop of the Secretariat General of the European Commission for their cooperation during research on this part of this contribution.
Secretariat of the Conference of the Representatives of the Governments of the member states (3 April 1997): Reweighting of Votes in the Council and the Threshold for a Qualified Majority (Presidency Note), Brussels.
Secrétariat de la Conférence des représentants des gouvernements des Etats membres (24 April 1997): Nouvelle Pondération des Voix au Sein du Conseil et Seuil de la Majorité Qualifiée (note de la Présidence), Brussels.
Secrétariat de la Conférence des représentants des gouvernements des Etats membres (11 February 1997): Nouvelle Pondération des Voix et Seuil de la Majorité Qualifiée dans le Processus de Prise de Décisions du Conseil (semi-official document).
Secrétariat de la Conférence des représentants des gouvernements des Etats membres (note de la Présidence) (24 April 1997): Nouvelle Pondération des Voix au Sein du Conseil et Seuil de la Majorité Qualifiée.
Secrétariat de la Conférence des représentants des gouvernements des Etats Membres (10 September 1996): Note Introductive de la Présidence.
Denmark, Austria, and Ireland declared basic agreement with the dual majority approach in February 1997, whereas Greece and Sweden seemed to insist a bit longer on mere extrapolation.
In the first case, weighted votes range from 25 to 3, resulting in a factor of 8.33 between the smallest and the largest states, whereas in the second case the votes range from 12 to two, resulting in a factor six. Secrétariat de la Conférence des représentants des gouvernements des Etats membres (24 April 1997): Nouvelle Pondération des Voix au Sein du Conseil et Seuil de la Majorité Qualifiée (note de la Présidence).
Secretariat of the Conference of the Representatives of the Governments of the member states (30 May 1997): Consolidated Draft Treaty Texts.
Protocol on the Institutions with the Prospect of Enlargement of the EU, attached to the Treaty on EU and to the three Community founding treaties.
Art. 1 of the Institutional Protocol (see note no. 31).
Art. 2 of the Institutional Protocol (see note no. 31).
Amsterdam Treaty, Declaration no. 50 of the IGC (Declaration relating to the protocol on the institutions with the prospect of enlargement of the EU).
Art. 189 (ex-137) of the EC Treaty, as amended by the Amsterdam Treaty.
Art. 251 (ex-189 b) of the EC Treaty, as amended by the Amsterdam Treaty.
Notably the Council option of convening the Conciliation Committee after the Parliament’s intention of rejecting the Common Position, and the possibility of the Council submitting its own text after failure of the Conciliation Committee to achieve compromise (third reading).
The equality of weighted votes in the Council dual majority would in this sense replace the second Spanish commissioner as the concretization of Spain’s status as a large member state. This arrangement would fulfill the requirement of finding „a solution for the special case of Spain“ in the framework of the first stage of reform stipulated in the Institutional Protocol. Declaration no. 50 of the IGC (Declaration relating to the protocol on the institutions with the prospect of enlargement of the EU).
Secrétariat de la Conférence des représentants des gouvernements des Etats membres (24 April 1997): Nouvelle Pondération des Voix au Sein du Conseil et Seuil de la Majorité Qualifiée (note de la Présidence).
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Zbinden, M. (1998). Implications of the Intergovernmental Conference and the Treaty of Amsterdam for Small EU Member States. In: Goetschel, L. (eds) Small States Inside and Outside the European Union. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2832-3_16
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