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The First Enlargement in Historical Perspective
The Significance of Britain's 1967 Application
Helen Parr, Keele University
This paper argues that Britain’s 1967 application was a significant turning point in Britain’s relations with the EEC. It shows that despite Harold Wilson’s prevarication about applying for membership, Britain’s 1967 application was vital in preparing the ground for British accession in 1973. The British accepted a negotiating strategy that essentially accepted that Britain must adopt the ‘terms’ of entry. Hence, even though the application failed in the short term, it united the British political class in favour of a British future in the EEC, and it prepared opinion amongst the ‘Five’, in France, and in the European Commission to accept Britain.
However, once Britain did become a member, there was significant opposition in Westminster and in the country. The timing of the second application resulted from the economic crisis of 1966. Thus, left’s disavowal of the ‘terms’ of entry reflected more than just unhappiness about those terms: it was an attempt to unpick the consensus under which Labour governed in the late 1960s. It was one element in debates about Britain’s economic and political future, and about Britain’s place in European and international politics. This opposition was not the inevitable culmination of hostility or suspicion about Britain’s place in Europe, as it is often portrayed. It was specific to the climate and to the crises of the times. The centre ground of opinion in British politics reflected a muted support for the fact that there was no alternative but British membership of the EEC.
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Whitehall & Britain's Accession to the EEC after 1973: Cultural Revolution or Business as Usual?
Thomas Raineau, University of Paris IV-Sorbonne
This paper will deal with the consequences of the accession to the EEC on the central government of the United-Kingdom during the last phase of the accession negotiation and after 1973.
It will show how the main structures and practices of Whitehall’s “core executive” remained relatively unaffected by Britain’s entry to the EEC in the first place, except for the Cabinet Office. We will examine, in the early 1970s, the last phase of the formalization and institutionalization of a permanent Cabinet Committee soon to be renamed “European Secretariat”, where Britain’s European policy would be fully coordinated from that period onwards. We will see to what extent the European Secretariat was the product of a typical Whitehall tradition of cross-departmental coordination, complemented with some continental elements borrowed from foreign precedents; an how it became an efficient instrument of compromise between conflicting ministries (Foreign Office, Treasury, Ministry of Agriculture and Department of Trade and Industry) under the growing authority of the Prime Minister over European affairs.
This paper will also examine how the dynamics of domestic British politics affected the European machinery in Whitehall from the 1970s onwards at both collective/departmental and individual level for the senior officials in charge of European affairs, starting with the renegotiation and the referendum in the years 1974-1975 until the negotiation of the Single European Act in the mid-1980s. It will conclude that, despite an apparent continuity in the management of government business during the first decade of British membership, Britain’s participation to the EEC produced some new trends in the management of the core executive that would develop in the 1980s: a growing centralization in the decision-making process and a new political clutch of European issues that tightened the control on top civil servants.
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The Irish Civil Service and the Creation of a European Policy
Martin Wall
This paper will use archival sources to analyse discussions within the Irish government in early 1973 which were crucial to the development of Ireland’s European policy. Ireland’s position as the weakest member of the European Economic Community (EEC) with an overbearing relationship with the UK was the context in which its preferences were formed. Three priorities emerged. The first, the need to secure financial transfers and benefit economically from the EEC, had been apparent since the establishment of the Common Agricultural Policy in the early 1960s. This leads to the second priority which was to establish Ireland as a positive member state that was enthusiastic about membership. This was necessary to offset the image that Ireland was solely in the EEC for what economic gains it offered. The subsequent decision to give the Department of Foreign Affairs the role of coordinating department over the Department of Finance was therefore highly significant. The final priority was to ensure that Ireland, despite its accession being contingent on that of the UK, was not viewed as an appendage of its larger neighbour. These priorities, which came into focus around the time of Ireland’s accession have interacted with various degrees of influence depending on the period, policy issue or debate at stake during the last forty years. This paper will examine internal debates to demonstrate how the first two priorities were formed within the Irish government. The consequences of these debates have had a lasting impact on Ireland's European policy and on the policies of the EEC/EU.
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The First Enlargement: Good for the EU, Good for the Acceding States?
A Smart State Handling a Differentiated Integration Dilemma? Concluding on Denmark in the European Union?
Lee Miles, Loughborough University & Anders Wivel, University of Copenhagen
Denmark has traditionally been portrayed as an outlier when it comes to European integration. Depicted as an ‘anxious’ or ‘reluctant’ European and a member of the ‘other’, i.e. Nordic, European Community, this respective view has been commonplace both at the elite and at the public level within Denmark and among discussions within other states on Denmark. This paper tells a slightly different and more complex story of Denmark and the European Union, and seeks to present a more nuanced appreciation of Denmark in the European Union. Playing the game of differentiated integration in a Union characterized by increasing diversity, Denmark has accepted Europeanization as a fundamental condition for policy-making, even in policy areas affected by the Danish opt-outs. From this point of departure, the paper explores Denmark may be seen as an active European handling a differentiated integration dilemma.
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Uploading the New European Union: Denmark, Ireland & the UK as Constitutional Entrepreneurs
Simon Usherwood, University of Surrey
The three states that acceded in 1973 are often framed as problematic partners in contemporary debate in the European Union (EU), given the numerous times their national debates have clashed with other discourses. By way of contrast, this paper argues that Denmark, Ireland and the UK have all – in different ways – helped to make the Union fit for purpose in a globalising, post Cold-War world. The original post-1945 compact between France and Germany was appropriate for its time and its objectives, but was ill-suited to the economic and political needs of the various economic and political agendas set in place from the 1970s onwards. This is examined through three moments, each of which demonstrates how these states have made lasting – and ultimately positive – contributions to the integration process. The 1988 Bruges speech by Margaret Thatcher set out an agenda for liberalisation and for the management of security that has proved surprisingly resilient. The Danish ‘no’ vote to the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 properly opened up the question of popular legitimacy and consent, which has shaped the constitutional debate ever since. Finally, the Irish securing of at least one Commissioner per member state in 2007 was an important step in maintaining small states’ rights. Taken together, we argue that the 1973 enlargement has been one of the most consequential for the EU’s development, given the relevant states’ pragmatic and adaptive approach to integration.
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A Changed Legal Order: Challenges for Courts
Denmark: A Reluctant European
Marlene Wind, University of Copenhagen
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On the Assessment of the Operation of EU Law in the Irish Courts since Accession
Elaine Fahey, University of Amsterdam
The preliminary reference mechanism is unequivocally the most successful tool of the Court of Justice which it has used to shape the constitutional evolution of EU law in the national courts. However, various proponents of leading studies of its use (eg Stone Sweet & Brunnell: 1995, Alter: 2001) have omitted in their datasets smaller Member States such as Ireland, on account of quantitative insignificance. Moreover, the comparison of preliminary reference data with infringement action data and population size often leads to inconclusive results and some data sets make similar omissions (Golub: 1996; Fenger & Broberg: 2011). Low rates of preliminary references from the Irish courts over approximately a 40-year period, low intervention rates in litigation before the Court of Justice and poor compliance rate of implementation of internal market legislation until recently has characterised the relationship between Ireland and EU law, suggesting distinct trends (Fahey: 2007, 2010). However, the Irish judiciary is overwhelmingly pro-communautaire inmatters of EU law. Key legal doctrines such as supremacy and direct effect were embraced from the outset of membership.
The paper considers methods for assessing the casestudy of Ireland, as a small-size Member State and assesses data since accession on preliminary references, as well as the operation of EU law in the Irish courts over a comparable period.
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Judicial Method in EU Law Cases: Views from the Common Law
Tamara Hervey, University of Sheffield
This paper reports on two related publications, concerning the reception of EU law into the English legal system.
The first publication reports on trends in EU legal studies from the point of view of the common law – in particular the English legal system. It considers the development of EU legal studies from the 1970s when the UK joined the EEC, to the 2010s, where the UK’s membership of the EU is increasingly politically contested, and, for instance, the UK is outside the ‘inner circle’ of the Eurozone Member States. Considering academic writings, it investigates the extent to which EU law is deciphered in this context through common law concepts; and the ways in which relationships between EU and national law are understood.
The second publication turns to judicial writings. Drawing on a case study in employment law, it considers the judicial method employed by English judges when considering questions of EU law. Its key findings are that the approaches and reasoning of English judges have changed significantly over time; that the current position (the ‘EU compliance mischief rule’) departs significantly from traditional English rules of statutory interpretation, applicable to ordinary domestic cases; that the current position involves a re-conceptualisation of the relationship between courts and Parliament in the context of interpretation of national law within the scope of EU law; and that English judges conceive of EU and English law as essentially separate systems.
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The Impact of Accession on Domestic Politics & Society
Ireland, Irish Catholocism and the 'Moral Order' Issue in the First Years of European Membership
Pauline Beaugé de la Roque, Université Franche-Comté
This paper would put forward a Modern History and Political science perspective on the way European membership had a deep impact on the mainly Catholic Irish society and the process of secularisation in Ireland. It would focus on the first years of membership which show a deep evolution.
In order to meet the changing world of the second part of the 20th Century, and to try to resolve a deep economic crisis Irish officials started to look towards Europe and accepted to put an end to protectionism. After a lasting process of twenty years, Ireland became one of the first three enlargement accession states. If we agree that the European Economic Community was created to prevent the Continent from reliving the horrors of the Second World War, then it has to be understood that the situation was very different in Ireland which had been rather sheltered from such dramatic events as it had adopted a neutral policy during the conflict. For this very reason most of the members of the Hierarchy had remained quite confident about their supremacy and had not foreseen all the social and mentality changes which were happening in Europe.
This paper will show how Europe raised new issues and challenges for the Catholic Church and for Irish Catholic thought, and how it had a real impact on domestic affairs related to what is generally called the “moral order”. Focusing on how, through the European membership, Catholic Ireland engaged with key contemporary concepts such as pluralism, multiplicity, diversity and unity, we may observe how its hastens a new beginning which might lead the Irish society into secularized Modernity.
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The Impact of Community Acquis on Equal Pay in Ireland between National Economic Interests & Fundamental Rights of Women
Federica di Sarcina, University of Siena
The aim of my contribution is to highlight the impact that Ireland accession to the then EEC has had on the rights of Irish women. Victims of a patriarchal society, at the beginning of the 70’s they were in such a state of weakness and isolation to be prevented from any real possibility to reach important goals such as equal treatment on the labour market.
The adoption in the Irish Domestic Law of the “acquis communautaire”, specifically for what it concerns equal pay for men and women, represented the beginning of a new commitment in favour of gender equal rights in this Country, as well as the birth of a new national society more in line with one of the EU fundamental principles, i.e. equality between women and men. In particular, the attention goes to the behaviour of, on the one hand, some members of the Irish government, such as the Minister for Foreign Affairs Garret Fitzgerald and the Minister for Finance Richie Ryan; on the other hand, that of Patrick Hillery, of Irish nationality himself but European Commissioner for Social Affairs (1973-1976), someone whose role is the full respect of the Treaties and of the common European interest. The Irish government officially asked for a temporary dispensation from the application of the norms of the EEC Treaty (Art. 119 on equal pay), as well as from the Council Directive 75/117/EEC of 10 February 1975 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women. The request was justified by the obstacles encountered by some already suffering economic sectors because of women’s pay rise. Notwithstanding the EEC’s awareness of the difficult situation of the Irish economy, while supporting the research of suitable measures to overcome the crisis, the European Commission judged unacceptable the Irish government’s request because it deprived Irish women of a fundamental right, as recognized in the EEC Treaty and confirmed from the actions promoted by the Community to achieve gender equality.
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Europe in Denmark - Denmark in Europe: Processes of Europeanisation and 'Denmarkisation' since 1972
Thorsten B. Olesen, Aarhus University
In the period 1972 to 2000 Denmark conducted six referendums on its involvement in the process of European integration. Four of the referendums produced a Yes to accession and further integration while the remaining two resulted in a No. The Danish approach of using referendums, of claiming op-outs after No’s and of setting up parliamentary controls to check government policy in Brussels has set an example exported to many other countries. In this light one may claim that the EU to a certain degree has become ‘denmarkized’. On the other hand, the forty years of membership of the EC/EU has also Europeanized Denmark and Danish society to a degree rarely recognized in public discourse. The paper will investigate and discuss this two-faced aspect of the Danish membership experience.
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The Impact of 40 years of the UK's membership of the EU on British politics
Pauline Schnapper, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
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The Impact of Accession on Legal and Quasi-Legal Institutions
The European integration project and the UK, Denmark and Ireland accession to the European Union: How did they Affect each other? A National Parliaments Perspective
Daniela Corona, European University Institute
The European integration project has progressively and constantly been expanded over the years. If initially the Community's activities were confined to the creation of a common market in coal and steel between the six founder members (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands), nowadays the EU counts twenty‐seven (Croatia is expected to become the EU's twenty‐eighth member on 1 July 2013) and its competences have been greatly extended by the successive rounds of Treaty changes. In this context, the National Parliaments (NPs) have lost out due to the transfer of policy‐making powers, and in particular, legislative powers to the EU‐level. For this reason, over the years, two major developments regarding NPs participation in the EU system occurred both at EU and domestic levels, namely, the NPs role under the Proportionality and Subsidiarity Principles and the NPs scrutiny over their related executives.
The paper intends to analyze this second aspect, in particular as of UK, Ireland and Denmark accession to the EU. After having analyzed the setting up of specialized committees of EU Affairs and the mechanism of the NPs scrutiny reserve across EU Member States, the paper will examines the role, the practice and the modus operandi of the UK House of Lords and House of Commons, the Danish Folketing and the Irish Oireachtas in considering EU matters. It will try to answer to the reverse question: to what extent did the monitoring of NPs over the EU matters really affect the processes of policy‐ making in the EU?
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The (Danish) Ombudsman within EU Law and Policy
Michael Gøtze, University of Copenhagen
The ombudsman model is of Scandinavian origin and the model has spread out to all member states of the EU. At the EU level there is an ombudsman institution since 1995. Within the national context the Danish Parliamentary Ombudsman occupies a central position as a watchdog over public goverment authorities. The statutory and functional powers of the institution are wide and the ombudsman enjoys a priori sympathy from Parliament. There are no specialised administrative courts in Denmark and the ombudsman is thus unrivalled on the legal scene as the primary specialist protector of good administration. Nevertheless, the Danish ombudsman subscribes to a narrow scope of focus in the protection of citizens' rights. The limited horizon in the control of the Danish ombudsman leaves the European Union rights of citizens largely unidentified and unprotected. The Danish ombudsman is a watchdog with teeth but with discerning taste buds. As to EU Law, the ombudsman is a watchdog with no appetite at all.
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The Impact of the European Union on Administration and Legislation in Ireland: Some General and Specific Reflections
Catherine Donnelly, Trinity College Dublin
This paper will consider the impact of the European Union on administrative and legislative processes in Ireland, providing both a general perspective and a specific assessment through use of a particular case study. In Part I, there will be a general overview of the mechanisms for incorporating European Union considerations into policy-making and law-making, and on the possibilities created for dialogue between the executive and the legislature, in particular as found in the European Scrutiny Act 2002. The role of parliamentary select committees and the amendments introduced by the recent Lisbon Treaty reforms will also be considered. Turning to Part II and the specific case study, this will involve a review of the impact of public procurement law on public administration in Ireland. It will be contended that public procurement law provides a useful example of the potential for European Union law to have a far-reaching impact on the day-to-day operation of public administration of Member States.
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