The European Union - Politics and Policy: "The current round of enlargement is threatening to destabilise the relationship between small and large member states?"

Résumé du document

The main institutions of Europe are the Commission, the Council and the Parliament, and they are the symbols of a successful European integration. They maintain a certain balance of power between the small and large member states and this balance has been maintained for about 45 years. Since the current situation of enlargement is mainly an addition of a large number of small states : it increases the importance of maintaining the balance between the large and small states, and it also arises the crucial question of how to reform the institution system effectively. Is it a matter of equality versus efficiency ? Is the current situation of enlargement threatening to destabilise the relationship between the small and large member states ?

Extraits

[...] This is why dealing with the current round of enlargement is taken so seriously. Indeed an ill-conceived reform of the European institutions might lead to strong and destructive oppositions. Whereas the larger member states will not accept to be tied down by a swarm of small state, in the smaller states the populations ‘wishing to remain what they are' may lose their European fervour, and in Central and Eastern Europe disappointment with the European Community could make the people turn towards other models, and thus threaten the stability of the region. [...]

[...] Since the current situation of enlargement is mainly an addition of a large number of small states : it heightens the importance of the balance between large and small states and results in the crucial question of how to reform the institution system effectively. Is it a matter of equality vs. efficiency? Is the current round of enlargement threatening to destabilise the relationship between small and large member states? I. What kind of balance between large and small states the actual system permits? [...]

[...] To prevent the European Parliament to become too large after enlargement, it was agreed in Nice to cap its total membership for a Union of 27 countries at 732 MEPs. In order to meet this limit and to make head-room for MEPs from the candidates countries, the present allocation of seats were reduced for all Members, except Germany and Luxembourg. All in all the principle of representation is arranged in a better way than in former times, since the demographic factor is to be reflected more strongly in the distribution of seats in the European Parliament Within the decision of ‘enhanced co-operation' Concerning the future co-operation of the EU member states, the Summit changer the flexibility clause. [...]

[...] - re-balancing voting power in the Council of Ministers between ‘large' and ‘small' states. -permitting ‘enhanced-co-operation'. II. The difficult shaping of a new Commission The present number of commissioners is set at twenty, distributed as follows: two each for the large countries, one each for the small member states. To add further dozen or more would leave a lot of commissioners without a proper job. As a step towards a solution to this issue, ‘large' countries have agreed to give up one of their two commissioners. [...]

[...] Conclusion The Nice Treaty first aim was to find a way to facilitate enlargement of the European Union from its current membership of 15 states to a projected number of 27 member states. However it was also trying to find common grounds on how to rebalance in terms of equality and efficiency the power between the large and small states. The small countries saw the current reforms as a way for larger states to enhance their position in decision-making, translated by J. [...]