European Union and national sovereignty

Résumé du document

The birth of the modern sovereign state is usually associated with the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, after which modern nation-states began to constitute in Europe. Today, some scholars argue that state sovereignty has been challenged by trends such as globalization and European integration. In Neil MacCormick's book, 'Questioning sovereignty', he says that the European Union has witnessed a change beyond the sovereign state, and a dilution of sovereignty between member states, European institutions and sub-national sectors. MacCormick's definition of sovereignty is threefold : the legal sovereignty is the power of law-making, not restricted by any legal limit, the political sovereignty is the ability to take effective decisions on whatever concerns the common well-being of the members of one community, and on whatever affects the distribution of the economic resources available to them, and the external sovereignty characterizes a state as not a subject to superior political power or legal authority, within its territory.

Extraits

[...] In his book, Questioning sovereignty, Neil MacCormick says that the European Union has created a move beyond sovereign statehood. According to him, the loss of sovereignty at the national level has not been compensated by a gain at the level of the European institutions, rather, we have entered a post-sovereignty era, where sovereignty is divided and combined between member states, European institutions and sub-state authorities: sovereignty of the member states has not been lost, but subjected to a process of division and combination internally, and hence in a way, enhanced externally. [...]

[...] The European Parliament is also a unique body in the international community, for it is directly elected since 1979. The greater mobilization of subnational actors at the European level also reinforces the claim that we have entered a post-sovereignty era. Those regional entities are lobbying not only the representations of the member states but also the Commission, the Parliament and the Court of Justice, and the Committee of the Regions created by the Treaty of Maastricht, which must be consulted by the Council and by the Commission when a decision is to be taken regarding regional policy. [...]

[...] The European Union was split over Iraq, with most of the incoming members backing the US stance, whereas France and Germany were opposed to the war. The Russian policy pursued by French President Jacques Chirac, one of accommodation, also looks set to run counter the newly defined European policy on Russia, which advocates a tougher stance on human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Some would also say that the European Union lacks recognition, a characteristic that usually goes along with state sovereignty. [...]

[...] In his book, Questioning sovereignty, Neil MacCormick says that the European Union has witnessed a move beyond the sovereign state, and a dilution of sovereignty between member states, European institutions and sub-national actors. MacCormick's definition of sovereignty is threefold: - the legal sovereignty is the power of law-making unrestricted by any legal limit, - the political sovereignty is the ability to take effective decisions on whatever concerns the common well-being of the members of one community, and on whatever affects the distribution of the economic resources available to them, - the external sovereignty characterizes a state which is not subject to superior political power or legal authority in respect of its territory[1]. [...]

[...] We will try to support MacCormick's theory here, by arguing that European integration has created a unique form of polity, very distinct of classic forms of international organizations. But first, we will bring some qualifications to his assertion of a post-sovereignty move in the European Union. But member states, through the Council of ministers still exert a large part of the European legislative powers and have domains, such as the Common Foreign and Security Policy, where there decide alone. Along with the Commission, it retains some of the executive powers, and controls those of the Commission through the “comitology”. [...]