Treaties of the European Union

Treaties of the European Union
Front page of an EU document containing the consolidated treaties and documents which comprise the legal basis of the EU
Location	Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Purpose	Establishing the laws and principles under which the European Union is governed

The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the European Union (EU) member states which sets out the EU's constitutional basis. They establish the various EU institutions together with their remit, procedures and objectives. The EU can only act within the competences granted to it through these treaties and amendment to the treaties requires the agreement and ratification (according to their national procedures) of every single signatory.

Two core functional treaties, the Treaty on European Union (originally signed in Maastricht in 1992) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (originally signed in Rome in 1958 as the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), lay out how the EU operates, and there are a number of satellite treaties which are interconnected with them. The treaties have been repeatedly amended by other treaties over the 65 years since they were first signed. The consolidated version of the two core treaties is regularly published by the European Commission.

Content

The two principal treaties on which the EU is based are the Treaty on European Union (TEU; Maastricht Treaty, effective since 1993) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU; Treaty of Rome, effective since 1958). These main treaties (plus their attached protocols and declarations) have been altered by amending treaties at least once a decade since they each came into force, the latest being the Treaty of Lisbon which came into force in 2009. Lisbon also made the Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding, though that is not a treaty per se. The troubled ratification of Lisbon has meant there is little climate for further reform in the next few years beyond accession treaties, which merely allow a new state to join.

Treaty on European Union

Main article: Treaty on European Union

Following the preamble the treaty text is divided into six parts.

Title 1, Common Provisions

The first deals with common provisions. Article 1 establishes the European Union on the basis of the European Community and lays out the legal value of the treaties. The second article states that the EU is "founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities." The member states share a "society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail".

Article 3 then states the aims of the EU in six points. The first is simply to promote peace, European values and its citizens' well-being. The second relates to free movement with external border controls are in place. Point 3 deals with the internal market. Point 4 establishes the euro. Point 5 states the EU shall promote its values, contribute to eradicating poverty, observe human rights and respect the charter of the United Nations. The final sixth point states that the EU shall pursue these objectives by "appropriate means" according with its competences given in the treaties.

Article 4 relates to member states' sovereignty and obligations. Article 5 sets out the principles of conferral, subsidiarity and proportionality with respect to the limits of its powers. Article 6 binds the EU to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 7 deals with the suspension of a member state and article 8 deals with establishing close relations with neighbouring states.

Title 2, Provisions on democratic principles

Article 9 establishes the equality of national citizens and citizenship of the European Union. Article 10 declares that the EU is founded in representative democracy and that decisions must be taken as closely as possible to citizens. It makes reference to European political parties and how citizens are represented: directly in the Parliament and by their governments in the Council and European Council – accountable to national parliaments. Article 11 establishes government transparency, declares that broad consultations must be made and introduces provision for a petition where at least 1 million citizens may petition the Commission to legislate on a matter. Article 12 gives national parliaments limited involvement in the legislative process.

Title 3, Provisions on the institutions

Article 13 establishes the institutions in the following order and under the following names: the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the Court of Auditors. it obliges co-operation between these and limits their competencies to the powers within the treaties.

Article 14 deals with the workings of Parliament and its election, article 15 with the European Council and its president, article 16 with the Council and its configurations and article 17 with the Commission and its appointment. Article 18 establishes the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and article 19 establishes the Court of Justice.

Title 4, Provisions on enhanced cooperations

Title 4 has only one article which allows a limited number of member states to co-operate within the EU if others are blocking integration in that field.

Title 5, General provisions on the Union's external action and specific provisions on the Common Foreign and Security Policy

Chapter 1 of this title includes articles 21 and 22. Article 21 deals with the principles that outline EU foreign policy; including compliance with the UN charter, promoting global trade, humanitarian support and global governance. Article 22 gives the European Council, acting unanimously, control over defining the EU's foreign policy.

Chapter 2 is further divided into sections. The first, common provisions, details the guidelines and functioning of the EU's foreign policy, including establishment of the European External Action Service and member state's responsibilities. Section 2, articles 42 to 46, deal with military cooperation (including mutual defence).

Title 6, Final provisions

Article 47 establishes a legal personality for the EU. Article 48 deals with the method of treaty amendment; specifically the ordinary and simplified revision procedures. Article 49 deals with applications to join the EU and article 50 with withdrawal. Article 51 deals with the protocols attached to the treaties and article 52 with the geographic application of the treaty. Article 53 states the treaty is in force for an unlimited period, article 54 deals with ratification and 55 with the different language versions of the treaties.

Treaty on the functioning of the European Union

Main article: Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

The Treaty on the functioning of the European Union goes into deeper detail on the role, policies and operation of the EU. It is split into seven parts;

Part 1, Principles

In principles, article 1 establishes the basis of the treaty and its legal value. Articles 2 to 6 outline the competencies of the EU according to the level of powers accorded in each area. Articles 7 to 14 set out social principles, articles 15 and 16 set out public access to documents and meetings and article 17 states that the EU shall respect the status of religious, philosophical and non-confessional organisations under national law.

Part 2, Non-discrimination and citizenship of the Union

The second part begins with article 18 which outlaws, within the limitations of the treaties, discrimination on the basis of nationality. Article 19 states the EU will "combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation". Articles 20 to 24 establishes EU citizenship and accords rights to it; to free movement, consular protection from other states, vote and stand in local and European elections, right to petition Parliament and the European Ombudsman and to contact and receive a reply from EU institutions in their own language. Article 25 requires the Commission to report on the implementation of these rights every three years.

Part 3, Union policies and internal actions

Part 3 on policies and actions is divided by area into the following titles: the internal market; the free movement of goods, including the customs union; agriculture and fisheries; free movement of people, services and capital; the area of freedom, justice and security, including police and justice co-operation; transport policy; competition, taxation and harmonisation of regulations (note Article 101 and Article 102); economic and monetary policy, including articles on the euro; employment policy; the European Social Fund; education, vocational training, youth and sport policies; cultural policy; public health; consumer protection; Trans-European Networks; industrial policy; economic, social and territorial cohesion (reducing disparities in development); research and development and space policy; environmental policy; energy policy; tourism; civil protection; and administrative co-operation.

Part 4, Association of the overseas countries and territories

Part 4 deals with association of overseas territories. Article 198 sets the objective of association as promoting the economic and social development of those associated territories as listed in annex 2. The following articles elaborate on the form of association such as customs duties.

Part 5, External action by the Union

Part 5 deals with EU foreign policy. Article 205 states that external actions must be in accordance with the principles laid out in Chapter 1 Title 5 of the Treaty on European Union. Article 206 and 207 establish the common commercial (external trade) policy of the EU. Articles 208 to 214 deal with cooperation on development and humanitarian aid for third countries. Article 215 deals with sanctions while articles 216 to 219 deal with procedures for establishing international treaties with third countries. Article 220 instructs the High Representative and Commission to engage in appropriate cooperation with other international organisations and article 221 establishes the EU delegations. Article 222, the Solidarity clause states that members shall come to the aid of a fellow member who is subject to a terrorist attack, natural disaster or man-made disaster. This includes the use of military force.

Part 6, Institutional and financial provisions

Part 6 elaborates on the institutional provisions in the Treaty on European Union. As well as elaborating on the structures, articles 288 to 299 outline the forms of legislative acts and procedures of the EU. Articles 300 to 309 establish the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Investment Bank. Articles 310 to 325 outline the EU budget. Finally, articles 326 to 334 establishes provision for enhanced co-operation.

Part 7, General and final provisions

Part 7 deals with final legal points, such as territorial and temporal application, the seat of institutions (to be decided by member states, but this is enacted by a protocol attached to the treaties), immunities and the effect on treaties signed before 1958 or the date of accession.

Protocols, annexes and declarations

There are 37 protocols, 2 annexes and 65 declarations that are attached to the treaties to elaborate details, often in connection with a single country, without being in the full legal text.

Protocols;

• 1: on the role of National Parliaments in the European Union
• 2: on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality
• 3: on the statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union
• 4: on the statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank
• 5: on the statute of the European Investment Bank
• 6: on the location of the seats of the institutions and of certain bodies, offices, agencies and departments of the European Union
• 7: on the privileges and immunities of the European Union
• 8: relating to Article 6(2) of the Treaty on European Union on the accession of the Union to the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
• 9: on the decision of the Council relating to the implementation of Article 16(4) of the Treaty on European Union and Article 238(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union between 1 November 2014 and 31 March 2017 on the one hand, and as from 1 April 2017 on the other
• 10: on permanent structured cooperation established by Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union
• 11: on Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union
• 12: on the excessive deficit procedure
• 13: on the convergence criteria
• 14: on the Euro Group
• 15: on certain provisions relating to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• 16: on certain provisions relating to Denmark
• 17: on Denmark
• 18: on France
• 19: on the Schengen acquis integrated into the framework of the European Union
• 20: on the application of certain aspects of Article 26 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to the United Kingdom and to Ireland
• 21: on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice
• 22: on the position of Denmark
• 23: on external relations of the Member States with regard to the crossing of external borders
• 24: on asylum for nationals of Member States of the European Union
• 25: on the exercise of shared competence
• 26: on services of general interest
• 27: on the internal market and competition
• 28: on economic, social and territorial cohesion
• 29: on the system of public broadcasting in the Member States
• 30: on the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to Poland and to the United Kingdom
• 31: concerning imports into the European Union of petroleum products refined in the Netherlands Antilles
• 32: on the acquisition of property in Denmark
• 33: concerning Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
• 34: on special arrangements for Greenland
• 35: on Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution of Ireland

• 36: on transitional provisions
• 37: on the financial consequences of the expiry of the ECSC treaty and on the Research fund for Coal and Steel

Annexes

• Annex I lists agricultural and marine produce covered by the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy.
• Annex II lists the overseas countries and territories associated with the EU.

Declarations

There are 65 declarations attached to the EU treaties. As examples, these include the following. Declaration 1 affirms that the charter, gaining legal force, reaffirms rights under the European Convention and does not allow the EU to act beyond its conferred competencies. Declaration 4 allocates an extra MEP to Italy. Declaration 7 outlines Council voting procedures to become active after 2014. Declaration 17 asserts the primacy of EU law. Declaration 27 reasserts that holding a legal personality does not entitle the EU to act beyond its competencies. Declaration 43 allows Mayotte to change to the status of "outermost region".

Euratom

As well as the two main treaties, their protocols and the Charter of Fundamental Rights; the Treaty Establishing a European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) is still in force as a separate treaty.

Title one outlines the tasks of Euratom. Title two contains the core of the treaty on how cooperation in the field is to take place. Title three outlines institutional provisions and has largely been subsumed by the European Union treaties. Title four is on financial provisions and title five on the general and title six is on final provisions.

Amendment and ratification

The treaties can be changed in three different ways. The ordinary revision procedure is essentially the traditional method by which the treaties have been amended and involves holding a full inter-governmental conference. The simplified revision procedure was established by the Treaty of Lisbon and only allows for changes which do not increase the power of the EU. While using the passerelle clause does involve amending the treaties, as such, it does allow for a change of legislative procedure in certain circumstances.

The ordinary revision procedure for amending treaties requires proposals from an institution to be lodged with the European Council. The President of the European Council can then either call a European Convention (composed of national governments, national parliamentarians, MEPs and representatives from the Commission) to draft the changes or draft the proposals in the European Council itself if the change is minor. They then proceed with an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) which agrees the treaty which is then signed by all the national leaders and ratified by each state.

While this is the procedure that has been use for all treaties prior to the Lisbon Treaty, an actual European Convention (essentially, a constitutional convention) has only been called twice. First in the drafting of the Charter of Fundamental Rights with the European Convention of 1999–2000. Second with the Convention on the Future of Europe which drafted the Constitutional Treaty (which then formed the basis of the Lisbon Treaty). Previously, treaties had been drafted by civil servants.

The simplified revision procedure, which applies only to part three of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and cannot increase the powers of the EU, sees changes simply agreed in the European Council by a decision before being ratified by each state. The amendment to article 136 TFEU makes use of the simplified revision procedure due to the small scope of its change.

Any reform to the legal basis of the EU must be ratified according to the procedures in each member state. All states are required to ratify it and lodge the instruments of ratification with the Government of Italy before the treaty can come into force in any respect. In some states, such as Ireland, this is usually a referendum as any change to that state's constitution requires one. In others, such as Germany, referendums are constitutionally banned and the ratification must take place in its national parliament.

On some occasions, a state has failed to get a treaty passed by its public in a referendum. In the cases of Ireland and Denmark a second referendum was held after a number of concessions were granted. However, in the case of France and the Netherlands, the treaty was abandoned in favour of a treaty that would not prompt a referendum. In the case of Norway, where the treaty was their accession treaty (hence, their membership), the treaty was also abandoned.

Treaties are also put before the European Parliament and while its vote is not binding, it is important; both the Belgian and Italian Parliaments said they would veto the Nice Treaty if the European Parliament did not approve it.

Minor amendments not requiring ratification

Main article: Passerelle Clause

The treaties contain a passerelle clause which allows the European Council to unanimously agree to change the applicable voting procedure in the Council of Ministers to QMV and to change legislation adoption procedure from a special to the ordinary legislative procedure, provided that no national parliament objects. This procedure cannot be used for areas which have defence implications.

The fourth amendment procedure is for changing status of some of the special member state territories. The status of a French, Dutch and Danish overseas territories can be changed more easily, by no longer requiring a full treaty revision. Instead, the European Council may, on the initiative of the member state concerned, change the status of an overseas country or territory (OCT) to an outermost region (OMR) or vice versa. This provision doesn't apply to special territories of the other member states.

Legend for below table: [Amending] – [Membership]

European Council decision type	Established/Amended	Agreed in	Agreed on	Effective from	Ceased
Changing status of French territory	Withdrawal of Saint-Barthélemy (OMR to OCT)	Brussels, BE	29 October 2010	1 January 2012	in force
Changing status of French territory	Enlarged to Mayotte (OCT to OMR)	Brussels, BE	11 July 2012	1 January 2014	in force

Ratified treaties

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 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

European Union (EU)

[Cont.]

European Communities (EC)

(Pillar I)

European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom)

[Cont.]

/ / / 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)

/ North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

[Cont.]

Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC, pillar II)

Anglo-French alliance

[Defence arm handed to NATO]

European Political Co-operation (EPC)

Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP, pillar III)

Western Union (WU)

/ Western European Union (WEU)

[Tasks defined following the WEU's 1984 reactivation handed to the EU]

[Social, cultural tasks handed to CoE]

[Cont.]

Council of Europe (CoE)

Entente Cordiale S: 8 April 1904

Dunkirk Treaty S: 4 March 1947 F: 8 September 1947 E: 8 September 1997

Brussels Treaty S: 17 March 1948 F: 25 August 1948 T: 30 June 2011

London and Washington treaties S: 5 May/4 April 1949 F: 3 August/24 August 1949

Paris treaties: ECSC and EDC S: 18 April 1951/27 May 1952 F: 23 July 1952/— E: 23 July 2002/—

Protocol Modifying and Completing the Brussels Treaty S: 23 October 1954 F: 6 May 1955

Rome treaties: EEC and EAEC S: 25 March 1957 F: 1 January 1958

WEU-CoE agreement S: 21 October 1959 F: 1 January 1960

Brussels (Merger) Treaty S: 8 April 1965 F: 1 July 1967

Davignon report S: 27 October 1970

European Council conclusions S: 2 December 1975

Single European Act (SEA) S: 17/28 February 1986 F: 1 July 1987

Schengen Treaty and Convention S: 14 June 1985/19 June 1990 F: 26 March 1995

Maastricht Treaty S: 7 February 1992 F: 1 November 1993

Amsterdam Treaty S: 2 October 1997 F: 1 May 1999

Nice Treaty S: 26 February 2001 F: 1 February 2003

Lisbon Treaty S: 13 December 2007 F: 1 December 2009

Legend for below table: [Founding] – [Amending] – [Membership]

Treaty	Established/Amended	Signed in	Signed on	Effective from	Ceased
ECSC Treaty source text	European Coal and Steel Community	Paris, FR	18 April 1951	23 July 1952	23 July 2002
EEC Treaty (Treaty of Rome) source text	European Economic Community	Rome, IT	25 March 1957	1 January 1958	in force
Euratom Treaty source text	European Atomic Energy Community	Rome, IT	25 March 1957	1 January 1958	in force
Convention on certain institutions common to the European Communities	Amended Previous Established a common Assembly, a common Court of Justice and a common Economic and Social Committee	Rome, IT	25 March 1957	1 January 1958	1 May 1999
Netherlands Antilles Convention source text	OCT status for the Netherlands Antilles	Brussels, BE	13 November 1962	1 October 1964	in force
Merger Treaty source text	Amended Previous Executives of ECSC and EAEC combined with those of the EEC.	Brussels, BE	8 April 1965	1 July 1967	1 May 1999
First Budgetary Treaty	Amended Previous Partial budgetary powers to Parliament	Luxembourg, LU	22 April 1970	1 January 1971	in force
Treaty of Accession 1972	Enlarged to Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom	Brussels, BE	22 January 1972	1 January 1973	in force
Second Budgetary Treaty	Amended Previous Greater budgetary powers to Parliament Established the Court of Auditors (see article for all changes).	Brussels, BE	22 July 1975	1 June 1977	in force
Treaty of Accession 1979	Enlarged to Greece	Athens, GR	28 May 1979	1 January 1981	in force
Greenland Treaty source text	Withdrawal of Greenland	Brussels, BE	13 March 1984	1 January 1985	in force
Treaty of Accession 1985	Enlarged to Spain and Portugal	Madrid, ES Lisbon, PT	12 June 1985	1 January 1986	in force
Schengen Agreement	Established open borders	Schengen, LU	14 June 1985	26 March 1995	in force
Single European Act source text	Amended Previous Introduced the Single Market and European Political Cooperation	Luxembourg, LU The Hague, NL	17 February 1986 28 February 1986	1 July 1987	in force
Schengen Convention	Implemented the Schengen Agreement	Schengen, LU	19 June 1990	1 September 1993	in force
Treaty of Maastricht source text (Treaty on European Union)	European Union Amended Previous EEC became European Community pillar of EU. Intergovernmental pillars of CFSP and JHA established.	Maastricht, NL	7 February 1992	1 November 1993	in force
Treaty of Accession 1994	Enlarged to Austria, Finland and Sweden	Corfu, GR	24 June 1994	1 January 1995	in force
Treaty of Amsterdam source text	Amended Previous Introduced the High Representative, transferred powers from JHA pillar to EC and integrated the Schengen Agreement (see article for all changes).	Amsterdam, NL	2 October 1997	1 May 1999	in force
Treaty of Nice source text	Amended Previous Prepared the EU to cope with enlargement (see article for all changes).	Nice, FR	26 February 2001	1 February 2003	in force
Treaty of Accession 2003	Enlarged to Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia	Athens, GR	16 April 2003	1 May 2004	in force
Treaty of Accession 2005	Enlarged to Bulgaria and Romania	Luxembourg, LU	25 April 2005	1 January 2007	in force
Treaty of Lisbon source text	Amended Previous Created European Council President, enhanced foreign policy, abolished pillar system, expanded Parliament's powers and QMV, made Rights charter binding.	Lisbon, Portugal	13 December 2007	1 December 2009	in force
Protocol on European Parliament seats source text	Amended Protocol 36 Appointed 18 new members of the EP until the 2014 election, who would have been elected in 2009 if the Treaty of Lisbon had been in force. No seats were abolished, so the number of the MEPs temporarily increased to 754.	Brussels, BE	23 June 2010	1 December 2011	in force
TFEU ESM amendment source text	Amended TFEU Article 136 Authorised the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism.	Brussels, BE	25 March 2011	1 May 2013	in force
Treaty of Accession 2011 source text	Enlarged to Croatia	Brussels, BE	9 December 2011	1 July 2013	in force
Irish protocol on the Lisbon Treaty	Formalising the Irish guarantees	Brussels, BE	16 May 2012 – 13 June 2012	1 December 2014	in force

Related treaties

Although not formally part of European Union law, several closely related treaties have been signed outside the framework of the EU and its predecessors between the member states because the EU lacked authority to act in the field. After the EU obtained such autonomy, the conventions were gradually replaced by EU instruments. Examples are the Naples Convention of 1967 (on customs cooperation, replaced by a new Convention in 1997, ratified by all member states except Croatia), Brussels Convention of 1968 (on jurisdiction in civil matters, replaced by the Brussels I Regulation in 2001), the Rome Convention on Contractual Obligations of 1980 (on choice of law in contractual matters, replaced by the Rome I Regulation in 2008 except in Denmark), and the Dublin Convention of 1990 (on asylum seekers, replaced by the Dublin II Regulation in 2003). Additionally, the Convention on the Mutual Recognition of Companies and Bodies Corporate was signed in 1968, but while 5 of the 6 then member states ratified it, it never entered into force due to the Netherlands' refusal to ratify the treaty. Likewise, the Convention for the European patent for the common market of 1975, and the Agreement relating to Community patents of 1989, which amended the 1975 Convention, were signed by all member states but never entered into force due to lack of ratification by all states.

Furthermore, Article K.3 of the Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force in 1993, authorized the European Communities to "draw up conventions which it shall recommend to the Member States for adoption in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements" under the newly created Justice and Home Affairs pillar, which was organised on an intergovernmental basis. The JHA was integrated into the EC structures as the area of freedom, security and justice with the Lisbon Treaty's entry into force in 2009. Concluded under these provisions were conventions on extradition procedures (never formally entered into force), customs procedures (replaced by a Council Decision in 2009), financial matters of the European Union (ratified by all member states except Croatia), the Europol Convention of 1995 (came under the EU's competence with the Lisbon Treaty and replaced by a Council Decision in 2009), extradition (never formally entered into force), documentation in legal proceedings (never entered into force), corruption (ratified by all member states except Malta), matrimonial matters (never entered into force), driving (never formally entered into force) and cooperation on criminal matters (ratified by all member states except Greece, Italy, Ireland and Croatia; Iceland and Norway also apply some provisions) as well as a number of protocols to these agreements. During this time period, a convention on double taxation was also ratified by all member states.

Finally, several treaties have been concluded between a subset of EU member states due to a lack of unanimity. The Schengen Treaty and Convention were agreed to in 1985 and 1990 respectively in this manner, but were subsequently incorporated into EU law by the Amsterdam Treaty, with the remaining EU member states that had not signed the treaty being given an opt-out from implementing it. More recently, the Prüm Convention, European Fiscal Compact and Single Resolution Fund Agreement were signed as intergovernmental treaties. However, all three state that the intention of the signatories is to incorporate the treaty's provisions into EU structures and that EU law should take precedence over the treaty. As well, the agreements are open to accession by any EU member state. The Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism was also signed and entered into force outside of the EU framework. However, a TFEU amendment was ratified which gives the ESM a legal basis in the EU treaties. An updated EMU reform plan issued in June 2015 by the five presidents of the Council, European Commission, ECB, Eurogroup and European Parliament outlined a roadmap for integrating the Fiscal Compact and Single Resolution Fund agreement into the framework of EU law by June 2017, and the intergovernmental European Stability Mechanism by 2025.

Treaty	Establishing/Amending	Signed in	Signed on	Parties	Effective from	Ceased
Prüm Convention source text	Stepped up cross-border cooperation	Prüm, Germany	27 May 2005	14 EU states	1 November 2006	in force
Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism source text	European Stability Mechanism	Brussels, BE	2 February 2012	All 19 eurozone states	27 September 2012	in force
European Fiscal Compact source text	Implemented fiscal rules in the eurozone	Brussels, BE	2 March 2012	25 EU states EU non-parties: HR, CZ, UK	1 January 2013	in force
Single Resolution Fund Agreement	The transfer of funds to the Single Resolution Fund	Brussels, BE	21 May 2014	20 EU states (all 19 eurozone states)	1 January 2016	in force

Signed treaties

The Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, although formally not part of the European Union treaties, was signed by 25 of the then 27 (Croatia has since acceded to the EU) member states of the Union respectively and is undergoing ratification.

Treaties undergoing ratification
Treaty	Establishing/Amending	Signed in	Signed on	Ratification	Planned
Agreement on a Unified Patent Court source text	Establishing the Unified Patent Court	Brussels, BE	19 February 2013	9 / 25	1 January 2014

Unified Patent Court

Main article: Agreement on a Unified Patent Court

After two regulations creating a European Union patent with unitary effect utilizing enhanced cooperation were approved for 25 participating states (all but Italy and Spain) by the European Parliament on 11 December 2012 the documents were formally adopted as regulation E.U. 1257 and 1260 of 2012 on 17 December 2012, and entered into force in January 2013. However, the provisions will only apply once the related Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, which would create a common patent court for its members, enters into force. Due to a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union that the proposed Unified Patent Court (UPC) was not compatible with European Union law, the agreement calls for the court to be established by an intergovernmental treaty between the participating states outside the framework of the EU. The draft Agreement was published by the Council of the European Union on 11 January 2013, and was signed on 19 February 2013 by 24 EU member states, including all states participating in the enhanced cooperation measures except Bulgaria and Poland, while Italy, which did not join the enhanced cooperation measures, did sign the UPC agreement. The treaty is open for accession to all remaining EU member states, and Bulgaria subsequently signed the agreement on 5 March after finalizing their internal procedures. Meanwhile, Poland decided to wait to see how the new patent system works before joining due to concerns that it would harm their economy. While Italy is not participating in the unitary patent regulations, signing the UPC agreement will allow the new court to handle traditional European patents issued in the country. Entry into force for the UPC will take place after 13 states (including Germany, France and the United Kingdom as the three states with the most patents in force) have ratified the Patent Court agreement, but not before 1 January 2014.

Abandoned treaties

The European Constitution failed due to negative votes in two member states

Treaty instituting a European Defence Community.

Following on from the success of the Treaty of Paris, efforts were made to allow West Germany to rearm within the framework of a European military structure in the form of a European Defence Community. The treaty was signed by the six members on 27 May 1952 and the Common Assembly began drafting a treaty for a European Political Community to ensure democratic accountability of the new army, but this treaty was abandoned when the Defence Community treaty was rejected by the French National Assembly on 30 August 1954.

1973 and 1995 Acts of Accession of Norway

Norway applied to join the European Communities/Union on two occasions. Both times a national referendum rejected membership, leading Norway to abandon their ratification of the treaty of accession. The first treaty was signed in Brussels on 22 January 1972 and the second in Corfu on 24 June 1994.

Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (the European Constitution)

The European Constitution was a treaty that would have repealed and consolidated all previous overlapping treaties (except the Euratom treaty) into a single document. It also made changes to voting systems, simplified the structure of the EU and advanced co-operation in foreign policy. The treaty was signed in Rome on 29 October 2004 and was due to come into force on 1 November 2006 if it was ratified by all member states. However, this did not occur, with France rejecting the document in a national referendum on 29 May 2005 and then the Netherlands in their own referendum on 1 June 2005. Although it had been ratified by a number of member states, following a "period of reflection", the constitution in that form was scrapped and replaced by the Treaty of Lisbon.

2011 European Stability Mechanism treaty

After the negotiations to amend Article 136 succeeded in March 2011, the leaders of the EU came to an agreement on a permanent stability fund for the eurozone called the European Stability Mechanism on 11 July 2011. It was decided that the ESM would have a size of 500 billion euros, by replacing the non-permanent European Financial Stability Fund and the European Financial Stability Mechanism. However, as the European sovereign debt crisis worsened, the leaders decided not to ratify the treaty as they planned several changes in the ESM, thus scrapping the original concept. The subsequent version of the ESM treaty was signed on 2 February 2012.

See also

• European Union law

References

Bibliography

• P Craig and G de Búrca, EU Law: Text, Cases and Materials (4th edn OUP 2008)

External links

• Constitution of the European Union
• Summary of EU treaties – Europa
• Full texts of EU treaties – EUR-Lex (Europa)