WEEK 9: IS POLITICAL POWER IN BRITAIN CENTRED IN LONDON OR BRUSSELS?
WEEK 9: IS POLITICAL POWER IN BRITAIN CENTRED IN
LONDON OR BRUSSELS?
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WHO RUNS BRITAIN?
“In Europe, not run by Europe”
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WHO RUNS BRITAIN?
“… none of the old political parties are prepared to accept that the real government of Britain is now in Brussels.”
UKIP election manifesto, 2005
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WHO RUNS BRITAIN?
1. Jose Manuel Barroso 22%
2. Rupert Murdoch 15%
3. Parliament 14%
4. British people 12%
5. Gus O’Donnell 10%
6. Terry Leahy 7%
7. Tony Blair 7%
8. Google 6%
9. Gordon Brown 4%
10. Shami Chakrabarti 3%
Source: Today Programme, BBC Radio 4, Dec 2006
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‘DELEGATION’ OF POWER
VOTERS
PARTIES/PARLIAMENT
GOVERNMENT
EUROPEANUNION
REGULATORSBANK OFENGLAND
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QUESTIONS FOR THIS WEEK
1. How much power does the European Union wield? Are decisions really made more in Brussels than in London?
2. If ‘yes’, how far is decision making accountable? Does ‘delegating’ power to the EU weaken voters’ control over their political rulers?
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BRITAIN’S RELATIONS WITH EUROPE: TIMELINE
1951 Creation of ECSC under Treaty of Paris
1957 Creation of EEC under Treaty of Rome
1960s De Gaulle rebuffs Britain’s application (1963, 1967)
1973 Britain (+ Den, Ire) members of EEC
1986 Deepening of internal market: Single European Act
1992 Deepening of political union: Treaty on European Union (‘Maastricht’)
1997 Treaty of Amsterdam
2000 Treaty of Nice
2007 Treaty of Lisbon
NB. Similar material in Kavanagh et al, 2005: Table 8.2:
EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
Incremental progressEconomic integration followed by political
integrationBritain not only ‘odd one out’
- Fra/Den/Ire all concerned with preserving national interests within EU
Britain not always laggardBut domestic concerns over ‘political
union’8
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DIVISION OF POLICY POWERS
EU ONLYCustoms; Internal market; Competition
SHARED: EU DOMINANTAgriculture; Enviroment; Energy;
Social policy
SHARED: UK DOMINANTEducation; Foreign affairs; Justice and
home affairs
UK ONLY Health, social security, law and order,
economic policy9
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DIVISION OF POLICY POWERS
Domestic actors no longer sovereign Supremacy of European law (eg. Factortame
case in 1991, Equal Opportunity Commission in 1994)
But these areas mainly internal market/equality
Growing EU competence eg. environment: pollution On sensitive topics (immigration, currency),
national governments can ‘opt out’ ‘Bread and butter’ issues still decided nationally
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DELEGATION OF POWER TO EU NOT NECESSARILY
DETRIMENTAL
Supra-national ‘collective action’National government may not be able to meet
citizens’ needs on some (international) policy issues - Environmental pollution, immigration, crime
EU ‘fit’ with BritainEU sometimes doesn’t ‘fit’ (eg. social policy)… but sometimes it does (eg. single market).
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KEY EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS
European Commission
Europa - The European Union On-Line http://europa.eu/
European Parliament
Council of Ministers
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EU DECISION MAKING PROCESS I
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Qualified Majority Voting
• 72% of total votes
•50% of member states
•62% of EU population
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EU DECISION MAKING PROCESS II
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Unanimity
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NUCLEAR OPTION: OPTING OUT OF COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS
1992: Monetary union; ‘Social Chapter’
1993: ‘Working Time Directive’1997: Immigration and asylum2007: Police and judicial cooperation
on crime
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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Powers of ‘co-decision’ with CouncilPower to reject CommissionPowers to reject EU budget
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TURNOUT FOR EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS
Source: House of Commons Library paper 04/50 (2004)
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CONCLUSION
Which tier is responsible for key policy issues? Increasing delegation of power to European Union But many (most?) key policy issues still decided by national
governments
How can Britain maintain its national interest? Collective decision making can be in Britain’s interests Britain can be out-voted in Council ‘Nuclear’ option of opt-out Some issues preserve decision making by national
governments: veto
How far is EU decision making representative/accountable? Growing role of European Parliament But are citizens engaged with European Parliament?