From Normative To Idiosyncratic Negotiation And Leadership In The European Union

Author : Alasdair Blair
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (137 download)

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Download or read book Dealing with Europe written by Alasdair Blair and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of the individuals to have held the office of Prime Minister since 1945, few have been treated so unfavourably as John Major. His tenure has been portrayed as weak and ineffectual. Divisions within Party and Cabinet hampered his ability to govern, culminating in the decision to call a leadership election in the summer of 1995. Although re-elected, his premiership continued to be riven by a factionalism, which proved to be a dominant factor in the Conservative Party's humiliating defeat at the 1997 general election. Of the policy areas in which such factionalism adversely affected Major's leadership, Europe proved to be one of the more damaging, due to the Treaty on European Union (TEU), commonly referred to as the Maastricht Treaty, and its ramifications. Problems surrounding its Parliamentary ratification forced the government into several embarrassing retreats, provoking Major to threaten rebellious MPs with electoral defeat by holding a vote of confidence in July 1993. But while the fruits of that Treaty did seismic damage to the Conservative Party, its actual negotiation aroused little discontent among rank and file members. This book examines the negotiations that led to agreement at the December 1991 Maastricht European Council, which in turn mapped the future progress of the European Community (EC), later renamed the European Union (EU). Perceived as a negotiating success, hailed even as 'Game, Set and Match' for Britain, the text emanated from the arduous process which had taken place under the aegis of the 1990-91 intergovernmental conferences on Economic and Monetary Union and European Political Union. These negotiations differed in complexity from the 1985 conference that led to the Single European Act. The former comprised distinct but related talks on monetary union and political union, while the latter was a united negotiation. Discussion in 1985 fell within a single Presidency, that of Luxembourg; negotiations took place between October and November and agreement was reached on 2-3 December. In contrast, the 1990-91 intergovernmental conference (IGC) lasted 12 months and spanned three Presidencies: Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (in essence the latter two only). Furthermore, whereas the 1985 IGC was based on a Commission text, during 1990-91 the Commission proposal did not form the basis of political union discussions, although it did on monetary union. The political union debates were rather based on Member States' texts, advanced individually or via alliances, supplemented with Presidency documents. The broader subject matter of the 1990-91 IGC combined with the longer negotiating process meant there were different degrees of involvement by the Member States and institutional actors (Commission and European Parliament) during each conference.