Between 1993 and 2009, the European Union (EU) legally comprised three pillars. This structure was introduced with the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993, and was eventually abandoned on 1 December 2009 upon the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, when the EU obtained a consolidated legal personality.
Supranationalism was strongest in the first pillar. Its function generally corresponded at first to the three European Communities (European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), European Economic Community (EEC) and Euratom) whose organisational structure had already been unified in 1965–67, through the Merger Treaty. Later, through the Treaty of Maastricht the word "Economic" was removed from the EEC, so it became simply the EC. Then with the Treaty of Amsterdam additional areas would be transferred from the third pillar to the first. In 2002, the ECSC (which had a lifetime of 50 years) ceased to exist because the treaty which established it, the Treaty of Paris, had expired.
In the CFSP and PJCCM pillars the powers of the European Parliament, the Commission and European Court of Justice with respect to the Council were significantly limited, without however being altogether eliminated. The balance struck in the first pillar was frequently referred to as the "community method", since it was that used by the European Community.
Pillar I: European Communities (Community integration method)Edit
The pillar structure had its historical origins in the negotiations leading up to the Maastricht Treaty. It was desired to add powers to the Community in the areas of foreign policy, security and defence policy, asylum and immigration policy, criminal co-operation, and judicial co-operation.
However, some member-states opposed the addition of these powers to the Community on the grounds that they were too sensitive to national sovereignty for the community method to be used, and that these matters were better handled intergovernmentally. To the extent that at that time the Community dealt with these matters at all, they were being handled intergovernmentally, principally in European Political Cooperation (EPC).
As a result, these additional matters were not included in the European Community; but were tacked on externally to the European Community in the form of two additional 'pillars'. The first additional pillar (Common Foreign and Security Policy, CFSP) dealt with foreign policy, security and defence issues, while the second additional pillar (JHA, Justice and Home Affairs), dealt with the remainder.
Amendments by the treaty of Amsterdam and the treaty of Nice made the additional pillars increasingly supranational. Most important among these were the transfer of policy on asylum, migration and judicial co-operation in civil matters to the Community pillar, effected by the Amsterdam treaty. Thus the third pillar was renamed Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters, or PJCCM. The term Justice and Home Affairs was still used to cover both the third pillar and the transferred areas.
Since the end of World War II, sovereignEuropean countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (or pooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in the European integration project or the construction of Europe (French: la construction européenne). The following timeline outlines the legal inception of the European Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from the European Communities (EC), which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of the Schuman Declaration.
Legend: S: signing F: entry into force T: termination E: expiry de facto supersession Rel. w/ EC/EU framework: de facto inside outside
^ abcdeAlthough not EU treaties per se, these treaties affected the development of the EU defence arm, a main part of the CFSP. The Franco-British alliance established by the Dunkirk Treaty was de facto superseded by WU. The CFSP pillar was bolstered by some of the security structures that had been established within the remit of the 1955 Modified Brussels Treaty (MBT). The Brussels Treaty was terminated in 2011, consequently dissolving the WEU, as the mutual defence clause that the Lisbon Treaty provided for EU was considered to render the WEU superfluous. The EU thus de facto superseded the WEU.
^Between the EU's founding in 1993 and consolidation in 2009, the union consisted of three pillars, the first of which were the European Communities. The other two pillars consisted of additional areas of cooperation that had been added to the EU's remit.
In a speech before the Nice Conference, Joschka Fischer, then Foreign Minister of Germany, called for a simplification of the European Union. One of these core ideas was to abolish the pillar structure, and replace it with a merged legal personality for the Union. This idea was included in the Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force on 1 December 2009. With a legal personality, Union is, for instance, able to be part of international treaties. The Treaty of Lisbon also states that "the Union shall replace and succeed the European Community," with the effect that, once the Treaty entered into force, the EU obtained the membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which had belonged to the European Communities pillar.
The abolition of the "3-pillar structure" was welcomed by practitioners and academics who had long considered the 'pillar metaphor" to be unrealistic, if not absurd. The idea that one pillar could be the Communities, while the other two were merely "policies" or "cooperation" was scarcely credible.
In the Lisbon Treaty the distribution of competences in various policy areas between Member States and the Union was reorganised into the following scheme:
The three pillars of the European Union European Navigator
^As outlined in Title I of Part I of the consolidated Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
October 21, 2023
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Between 1993 and 2009 the European Union EU legally comprised three pillars This structure was introduced with the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 and was eventually abandoned on 1 December 2009 upon the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon when the EU obtained a consolidated legal personality The European Communities pillar handled economic social and environmental policies It comprised the European Community EC the European Coal and Steel Community ECSC until its expiry in 2002 and the European Atomic Energy Community EURATOM The Common Foreign and Security Policy CFSP pillar took care of foreign policy and military matters Police and Judicial Co operation in Criminal Matters PJCCM brought together co operation in the fight against crime This pillar was originally named Justice and Home Affairs JHA Illustration Contents 1 Overview 1 1 Pillar I European Communities Community integration method 1 1 1 European Community EC 1 1 2 European Coal and Steel Community ECSC until 2002 1 1 3 European Atomic Energy Community EURATOM 1 2 Pillar II Common Foreign and Security Policy Intergovernmental cooperation method 1 2 1 Foreign policy 1 2 2 Security policy 1 3 Pillar III Police and Judicial Co operation in Criminal Matters Intergovernmental cooperation method 2 History 2 1 1993 Origin 2 2 1999 and 2003 Amendments 2 3 2009 Abolition 3 See also 4 External linksOverview EditWithin each pillar a different balance was struck between the supranational and intergovernmental principles Supranationalism was strongest in the first pillar Its function generally corresponded at first to the three European Communities European Coal and Steel Community ECSC European Economic Community EEC and Euratom whose organisational structure had already been unified in 1965 67 through the Merger Treaty Later through the Treaty of Maastricht the word Economic was removed from the EEC so it became simply the EC Then with the Treaty of Amsterdam additional areas would be transferred from the third pillar to the first In 2002 the ECSC which had a lifetime of 50 years ceased to exist because the treaty which established it the Treaty of Paris had expired In the CFSP and PJCCM pillars the powers of the European Parliament the Commission and European Court of Justice with respect to the Council were significantly limited without however being altogether eliminated The balance struck in the first pillar was frequently referred to as the community method since it was that used by the European Community Pillar I European Communities Community integration method Edit European Community EC Edit Customs union and Single market Common Agricultural Policy Common Fisheries Policy EU competition law Economic and monetary union EU citizenship Education and Culture Trans European Networks Consumer protection Healthcare Research e g 7th Framework Programme Environmental law Social policy Asylum policy Schengen treaty Immigration policyEuropean Coal and Steel Community ECSC until 2002 Edit Coal and steel industryEuropean Atomic Energy Community EURATOM Edit Nuclear powerPillar II Common Foreign and Security Policy Intergovernmental cooperation method Edit Foreign policy Edit Human rights Democracy Foreign aidSecurity policy Edit Common Security and Defence Policy EU battle groups Helsinki Headline Goal Force Catalogue PeacekeepingPillar III Police and Judicial Co operation in Criminal Matters Intergovernmental cooperation method Edit Drug trafficking and weapons smuggling Terrorism Trafficking in human beings Organised Crime Bribery and fraudHistory Edit1993 Origin Edit Further information Maastricht Treaty The pillar structure had its historical origins in the negotiations leading up to the Maastricht Treaty It was desired to add powers to the Community in the areas of foreign policy security and defence policy asylum and immigration policy criminal co operation and judicial co operation However some member states opposed the addition of these powers to the Community on the grounds that they were too sensitive to national sovereignty for the community method to be used and that these matters were better handled intergovernmentally To the extent that at that time the Community dealt with these matters at all they were being handled intergovernmentally principally in European Political Cooperation EPC As a result these additional matters were not included in the European Community but were tacked on externally to the European Community in the form of two additional pillars The first additional pillar Common Foreign and Security Policy CFSP dealt with foreign policy security and defence issues while the second additional pillar JHA Justice and Home Affairs dealt with the remainder 1999 and 2003 Amendments Edit Further information Amsterdam Treaty and Treaty of Nice Amendments by the treaty of Amsterdam and the treaty of Nice made the additional pillars increasingly supranational Most important among these were the transfer of policy on asylum migration and judicial co operation in civil matters to the Community pillar effected by the Amsterdam treaty Thus the third pillar was renamed Police and Judicial Co operation in Criminal Matters or PJCCM The term Justice and Home Affairs was still used to cover both the third pillar and the transferred areas Since the end of World War II sovereign European countries have entered into treaties and thereby co operated and harmonised policies or pooled sovereignty in an increasing number of areas in the European integration project or the construction of Europe French la construction europeenne The following timeline outlines the legal inception of the European Union EU the principal framework for this unification The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from the European Communities EC which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of the Schuman Declaration Legend S signing F entry into force T termination E expiry de facto supersession Rel w EC EU framework de facto inside outside nbsp European Union EU Cont nbsp European Communities EC Pillar I European Atomic Energy Community EAEC or Euratom Cont nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp European Coal and Steel Community ECSC Distr of competences European Economic Community EEC Schengen Rules European Community EC TREVI Justice and Home Affairs JHA pillar II nbsp nbsp North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NATO Cont Police and Judicial Co operation in Criminal Matters PJCC pillar II nbsp nbsp Anglo French alliance Defence arm handed to NATO European Political Co operation EPC Common Foreign and Security Policy CFSP pillar III nbsp Western Union WU nbsp nbsp Western European Union WEU Tasks defined following the WEU s 1984 reactivation handed to the EU Social cultural tasks handed to CoE Cont vte nbsp Council of Europe CoE Entente CordialeS 8 April 1904 Dunkirk Treaty i S 4 March 1947F 8 September 1947E 8 September 1997 Brussels Treaty i S 17 March 1948F 25 August 1948T 30 June 2011 London and Washington treaties i S 5 May 4 April 1949F 3 August 24 August 1949 Paris treaties ECSC and EDC ii S 18 April 1951 27 May 1952F 23 July 1952 E 23 July 2002 Protocol Modifying andCompleting the Brussels Treaty i S 23 October 1954F 6 May 1955 Rome treaties EEC and EAECS 25 March 1957F 1 January 1958 WEU CoE agreement i S 21 October 1959F 1 January 1960 Brussels Merger Treaty iii S 8 April 1965F 1 July 1967 Davignon reportS 27 October 1970 European Council conclusionsS 2 December 1975 Single European Act SEA S 17 28 February 1986F 1 July 1987 Schengen Treaty and ConventionS 14 June 1985 19 June 1990F 26 March 1995 Maastricht Treaty iv v S 7 February 1992F 1 November 1993 Amsterdam TreatyS 2 October 1997F 1 May 1999 Nice TreatyS 26 February 2001F 1 February 2003 Lisbon Treaty vi S 13 December 2007F 1 December 2009 a b c d e Although not EU treaties per se these treaties affected the development of the EU defence arm a main part of the CFSP The Franco British alliance established by the Dunkirk Treaty was de facto superseded by WU The CFSP pillar was bolstered by some of the security structures that had been established within the remit of the 1955 Modified Brussels Treaty MBT The Brussels Treaty was terminated in 2011 consequently dissolving the WEU as the mutual defence clause that the Lisbon Treaty provided for EU was considered to render the WEU superfluous The EU thus de facto superseded the WEU Plans to establish a European Political Community EPC were shelved following the French failure to ratify the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community EDC The EPC would have combined the ECSC and the EDC The European Communities obtained common institutions and a shared legal personality i e ability to e g sign treaties in their own right The treaties of Maastricht and Rome form the EU s legal basis and are also referred to as the Treaty on European Union TEU and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union TFEU respectively They are amended by secondary treaties Between the EU s founding in 1993 and consolidation in 2009 the union consisted of three pillars the first of which were the European Communities The other two pillars consisted of additional areas of cooperation that had been added to the EU s remit The consolidation meant that the EU inherited the European Communities legal personality and that the pillar system was abolished resulting in the EU framework as such covering all policy areas Executive legislative power in each area was instead determined by a distribution of competencies between EU institutions and member states This distribution as well as treaty provisions for policy areas in which unanimity is required and qualified majority voting is possible reflects the depth of EU integration as well as the EU s partly supranational and partly intergovernmental nature 2009 Abolition Edit Further information Treaty of Lisbon In a speech before the Nice Conference Joschka Fischer then Foreign Minister of Germany called for a simplification of the European Union One of these core ideas was to abolish the pillar structure and replace it with a merged legal personality for the Union This idea was included in the Treaty of Lisbon which entered into force on 1 December 2009 With a legal personality Union is for instance able to be part of international treaties The Treaty of Lisbon also states that the Union shall replace and succeed the European Community with the effect that once the Treaty entered into force the EU obtained the membership of the World Trade Organization WTO which had belonged to the European Communities pillar The abolition of the 3 pillar structure was welcomed by practitioners and academics who had long considered the pillar metaphor to be unrealistic if not absurd The idea that one pillar could be the Communities while the other two were merely policies or cooperation was scarcely credible In the Lisbon Treaty the distribution of competences in various policy areas between Member States and the Union was reorganised into the following scheme Competences of the European Union in relation to those of its member states 1 viewtalkedit Exclusive competence Shared competence Supporting competenceThe Union has exclusive competence to make directives and conclude international agreements when provided for in a Union legislative act as to the customs unionthe establishing of the competition rules necessary for the functioning of the internal marketmonetary policy for the Member States whose currency is the eurothe conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries policyCommon Commercial Policyconclusion of certain international agreements Member States cannot exercise competence in areas where the Union has done so that is the internal marketsocial policy for the aspects defined in the Consolidated Treatyeconomic social and territorial cohesionagriculture and fisheries excluding the conservation of marine biological resourcesenvironmentconsumer protectiontransporttrans European networksenergythe area of freedom security and justicecommon safety concerns in public health matters for the aspects defined in this Treaty Union exercise of competence shall not result in Member States being prevented from exercising theirs in research technological development and outer spacedevelopment cooperation humanitarian aidThe Union coordinates Member States policies or implements supplemental to their common policies not covered elsewhere in the coordination of economic employment and social policiescommon foreign security and defence policies The Union can carry out actions to support coordinate or supplement Member States actions in the protection and improvement of human healthindustryculturetourismeducation youth sport and vocational trainingcivil protection disaster prevention administrative cooperationSee also EditEuropean Union law History of the European Union Lisbon Treaty abolishes 3 pillars timeline events 1993 2009 history External links EditThe three pillars of the European Union European Navigator A proposed evolution in the CFSP defence pillar of the EU WEU The presentation of the Eurocorps Foreign Legion concept at the European Parliament in June 2003 As outlined in Title I of Part I of the consolidated Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Three pillars of the European Union amp oldid 1180603935, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
