Treaty of Nice

The Treaty of Nice is a treaty adopted by the Nice European Council to amend the founding treaties of the European Union--the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty), the Treaty establishing the European Community and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (the Treaties of Rome).

The primary purpose of the Treaty of Nice was to reform the institutional structure to withstand enlargement, a task which had been supposed to be carried out at the Amsterdam IGC, but the Treaty of Amsterdam had failed to address most of the issues.

The Treaty adopted by the Nice European Council was attacked by many. Germany had demanded that their greater population be reflected in a higher vote weighting in the Council; this was opposed by France, who insisted that the symbolic parity between France and Germany be maintained. One proposal made by many, which would have greatly simplified the current system, was to introduce a double majority, of both member states and population, to replace the current QMV system. This was rejected by France also, for similar reasons. A compromise was reached, which provided for a double majority of Member States and votes cast, and in which a Member State could optionally request verification that the countries voting in favour represented a sufficient proportion of the Union's population.

The Commission and the European Parliament were disappointed that the Nice IGC did not adopt many of their proposals for reform of the institutional structure or introduction of new Community powers, such as the appointment of a European Public Prosecutor.

The question of a reduction in the size of the Commission after enlargement was resolved by a fudge -- the Treaty providing that once the number of Member States reached 25, the number of Commissioners would be reduced by the Council to below 25, but without actually specifying to what number.

The Treaty provided for the creation of subsidary courts below the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance to deal with special areas of law such as patents.

It was widely accepted that the Treaty of Nice has failed to deal with the basic question of wideranging institutional reform, the European Union institutions being widely viewed as overly complicated, and hence the establishment of the European Convention, leading to a new IGC in 2004, was agreed at Nice.

Ratification Process

Under the current rules for the amendment of the Treaties, the Treaties can only be amended by a new Treaty, which must be ratified by each of the Member States to enter into force. In all the EU member states the Treaty of Nice was ratified by parliamentary procedure, except in Ireland, where the Irish Constitutional Court (what's its proper name?) ruled a referendum was required. Ireland was the only country in Europe whose Constitution required its citizens to make such a decision, as it fundamentally alters the Irish Constitution's recognition of sovereignty as being ultimately derived from the People.

A first referendum on the Nice Treaty was held in Ireland in May 2001, where the result was negative. The referendum had one of the lowest turnouts in Irish treaty, which many commentators blamed for the negative result, arguing that the majority who supported the Treaty had stayed home, while the minority who strongly opposed it had turned out in large numbers.

The Irish government decided to have another referendum on the Treaty of Nice on Saturday, October 19, 2002. The people of Ireland voted "Yes". By then all other EU member states had ratified the Treaty. Ratification by all parties was required by the end of the year, or else the Treaty would expire.

Proponents of the Treaty claim it is a utilitarian adjustment to cumbersome EU governing mechanisms and a required streamlining of decision-making processes, necessary to facilitate enlargement of the EU into Eastern Europe. They claim that consequently is vitally important for the integration and future progress of these former communist countries. Many who are in favour of greater scope and power of the EU project, feel that it does not go far enough in fact, and that it may in any case be superseded by future treaties and agreements (such as a possible EU constitution and federal state). Proponents differ in the extent to which enlargement may proceed without it, some claiming the very future of the Union's growth - if not existence - to be at stake, while others saying that enlargement can legally proceed - albeit at a slower pace - without it.

Opponents of the Treaty claim that it is a "technocratic" rather than "democratic" treaty, which further diminishes the sovereignty of national/local parliaments, and further concentrating power into centralised and unaccountable bureaucracy - "deepening but not widening" political power. They also claim that 5 applicants may join at once under the current system, and that all others may negotiate on an individual basis - which they believe will be advantageous to the applicants. It is also claimed that the Nice Treaty will create a two-class and two-tier EU, specifically to enable an "inner-club" of powerful states (e.g. France and Germany) to effectively co-opt EU institutions for their own purposes. Opponents point out that leading pro-treaty politicians have admitted, that were referendum's to be held in countries other than Ireland, it would probably be defeated there as well.

As well as ratifying the Treaty of Nice, the constitutional amendment also provided that further amendments to the Treaties could be ratified by the Irish parliament, not requiring further referendums, so long as those amendments did not involve the establishment of a common European defence involving Ireland.

External link

A collection of links to information concerning; organisations involved with; and viewpoints expressed in the Irish Referendum campaign, can be found in The Open Directory Project.[1]