The Evolution of the Treaty-making Powers of the European Union
Open Access
- Author:
- Loukides, Nicholas Jarrett
- Area of Honors:
- Political Science (Behrend)
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- John King Gamble Jr., Thesis Supervisor
Robert W. Speel, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- International Law
Political Science
EU
EEC
IGO
Treaty-making power - Abstract:
- This paper will focus on the evolution of the European Union’s treaty-making powers exploring each step in its decades long development. The paper will begin by looking at the Treaty Establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, next it will focus on the Treaties of Rome, followed by the Single European Act, the Maastricht Treaty, the Treaty of Amsterdam, and finally the Treaty of Lisbon. This paper will look at each treaty and assess its importance in the treaty-making power of the Union. This paper will also explore the theoretical origins of the Union’s treaty-making powers. This paper will analyze two theories behind the origins of treaty-making power. The first is the explicit theory of treaty making-power. Many individuals, especially during the period immediately following the foundation of the Union, believe that the Union was granted its treaty-making powers explicitly within the text of the founding treaties. The second theory is the implicit theory of treaty-making powers. This was the prevailing theory before the Single European Act. Proponents of the implicit theory believe that the text of the Union’s founding treaties did not in fact grant the Union the power to conclude treaties but rather to simply negotiate them. The power instead develops from several European Court of Justice cases that grant the Union the power to conclude treaties in areas that the treaties specifically state the Union has power over. This paper will analyze these cases in greater depth. This paper concludes with an assessment of the current status of the EU’s treaty-making authority.