Brussels, 08/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - The plenary session of the European Convention on 15 and 16 April will have a first discussion on the "tasks of Europe". In preparation for the work, the Secretariat has forwarded to the Members four main questions that they will have to tackle, before examining, during the May plenary session, the problem of power sharing. The main points are:
1) Should the tasks of the Union be enlarged (mainly to take into account the new Union dimension, the international context and the aspirations of its citizens)?, and, if so, "what new tasks should be entrusted to it?". On the other hand, "should its tasks be restricted?", and, if so, which tasks should be "handed back to the Member States?".
2) What are the criteria set by the Members for deciding which tasks should be carried out at Union level?
3) Should the "treaties expressly provide for the responsibilities that do not come within the scope of the Union's missions to continue to fall upon Member States? Should, on the other hand, the competences in question be set out in the treaties?"
4) Should the Union's missions be fixed now, once and for all, or should one allow for possible future developments?
Note on the current sharing of powers
The Members also received a note from the Secretariat giving a description of the current system for power sharing between the EU and Member States. It distinguishes between:
(1) legislative competences, which may be:
(a) exclusive. The note lists:
- fields of exclusive Community competence: common commercial policy, biological sea resources in areas covered by the treaty, monetary policy for the twelve Member States belonging to the euro zone, specifying that to these areas must be added those which become of exclusive competence because the Community legislates amply in the area in question. Regarding the internal market, the note specifies it is a matter of staff authority for harmonisation of legislation which, in principle, can only be done by the Community, but that the Member States "keep the power to legislate". This may open up areas where Member States keep legislative competence (e.g.: the directive on restitution of cultural goods comes under the internal market, but the EU does not have legislative authority in cultural matters).
- for the EU Treaty: only the setting in place of common bodies such as Europol or Eurojust".
(b) competitive or shared. These are areas where Member States may legislate in so far as the EU/EC has not legislated. Legislative action in this field must abide by the principle of subsidiarity and proportionality, states the note, citing:
- EC Treaty: citizenship, agriculture and fisheries, four freedoms, visas, asylum and immigration, transport, competition, taxation, social policy, environment, consumers, health, trans-European networks (as far as interoperability and norms are concerned), energy, civil protection, and tourism.
- EU Treaty: CFSP (except defence), and police and judicial cooperation in criminal affairs.
(c) complementary. In these fields, the EU/EC simply completes or supports the action of Member States or adopts measures of encouragement or coordination. It is a matter of: economic policy, employment, education, vocational training, culture, trans-European networks, industry, cohesion, research and development, development cooperation and defence.
(d) of Member States. These are fields where the Treaties expressly rule out the competence of the Union or that of the Member States, or areas where the Treaty bans the EU/EC from legislating, or areas not targeted in the Treaty.
(2) non-legislative or executive competences. The general rule is that power for the implementation of legislative norms belongs to Member States according to their respective constitutional rules, while Council and Commission exercise such powers in a subsidiary way. It concerns:
(a) regulatory implementation of legislative acts, which usually fall to the States.
(b) measures for the administrative, material and budgetary application of Community acts, adoption of which is incumbent upon Member States, while the Community can intervene in the implementation of these acts if the treaty or the legislator give it competence to do so (mainly, competition, or management of certain Community programmes).
(3) control of breakdown of competences, which is currently:
(a) political, each institution working in respect of its sector-based competence.
(b) jurisdictional, through the Court of Justice and national courts.