This is an edited version of the Government's summary of the Treaty of Nice
The content of the Treaty of Nice was agreed at Nice by heads of state or government in December 2000 and the treaty was signed by the foreign ministers of the 15 member-states on February 26th, 2001.
The current member-states of the EU are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.
The EU is at present in accession negotiations with the following countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia. Turkey has also been given candidate status.
The purpose of the new treaty is to complete the programme of institutional reform designed to prepare the EU for a significant expansion in its membership.
The Treaty of Nice continues the process begun with the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam, and includes changes across a range of areas relevant to the working of the EU's institutions, including a number of issues which were unresolved in earlier negotiations. Its ratification will clear the way for enlargement to proceed on schedule, subject to the satisfactory completion of the relevant accession negotiations.
Agenda for the Intergovernmental Conference
It was agreed at Amsterdam that further changes would be necessary to address these issues in order to prepare the Union for enlargement.
The Cologne European Council in June 1999, and the subsequent European Council in Helsinki in December 1999, decided to convene an intergovernmental conference to deal with three main issues:
the size and composition of the Commission;
the weighting of votes in the Council; and
the possible extension of qualified majority voting in the Council.
Treaty of Nice
The Treaty of Nice agreed changes to the existing treaties covering the various areas mentioned above. The following is a description of the agreed changes, and the negotiations which preceded them:
Commission
During the course of negotiations, a number of proposals were put forward on the future size and composition of the Commission. Some member-states wished to fix a precise limit, less than the number of member-states, on the basis that a Commission which included a nominee from each member-state could not function effectively as the number of member-states grew larger. It was argued that in the absence of such a limit, the only alternative was to move to a hierarchical structure within the Commission, which would effectively involve a system of senior and junior commissioners. Other member-states, including Ireland, expressed the view that to ensure a strong and effective Commission it was necessary to include a nominee from each member-state , including the newly-admitted candidate countries.
They also argued that decisions on the arrangements to apply after the completion of the present phase of enlargement should be taken at a later stage on the basis of practical experience of an expanded Union, and with the full participation of the candidate countries.
It was eventually agreed at Nice that from 2005, the date of appointment of the next Commission, the five large states will forgo their current right to nominate a second member to the Commission.
Each member-state will nominate one member of the Commission until the Union reaches 27, at which point the Council will decide, by unanimity, on a size for the Commission of less than 27. Membership of the Commission from then on will be based on equal rotation among the member-states.
This means that each member-state, including newly-admitted member-states, will nominate one member of the Commission until the Union reaches 27. A decision on the arrangements to apply thereafter, including the size of the Commission, will be taken by unanimity in the light of the practical experience of enlargement, with the full participation of the newly-admitted member-states, and on the basis of the strict equality of member-states.
The Treaty of Nice will also increase the powers of the President of the Commission. The President will have the authority:
to decide on the internal organisation of the Commission in order to ensure that it acts consistently, efficiently and on the basis of collegiality;
to allocate tasks among the Commission members, and to reallocate portfolios among Commissioners during their term of office;
to appoint a number of vice-presidents, with the approval of the Commission; and
subject to the approval of the Commission, to require a member of the Commission to resign.
The conference also considered possible changes in the votes allocated to each member-state under the system of weighted voting in the Council. The changes would include compensation for those member-states which would lose the right to nominate a second Commissioner. The new treaty provides that, from January 2005, the votes of the existing member-states will be weighted as follows: Germany, France, Italy, UK 29; Spain 27; Netherlands 13; Greece, Belgium, Portugal 12; Sweden, Austria 10; Denmark, Finland, Ireland 7; Luxembourg 4. Total 237. It was agreed that from 2005 to adopt a decision in the Union of 15, it will be necessary to secure 169 votes out of 237 votes (71.31 per cent). [The present figure is 62 out of 87 (71.26 per cent).]
Agreement was also reached on the weighted votes that, in the view of the member-states of the Union, should be assigned to each member-state in a future enlarged Union of 27 In addition, under the new system:
a decision under the EC Treaty must have the support of a majority of member-states (if a decision is taken other than on the basis of a Commission proposal, a two-thirds majority of member-states will be required);
a member-state may request verification that a decision has the support of states representing at least 62 per cent of the Union's total population.
The number of weighted votes required to adopt a decision ("the qualified majority threshold") will be subject to negotiation, within defined parameters, at the time of each accession up to 26 member-states. It will be set initially, following the first enlargement, below the current percentage of 71.26 per cent. It will be increased gradually to a maximum of 73.4 per cent. When the 27th member joins, it will be set at 73.9 per cent, that is 255 votes out of 345.
Ireland will have seven votes out of 345 in a Union of 27, equivalent to 2.03 per cent of the total vote. This maintains parity of voting weight with Finland and Denmark. Ireland's share of the total EU population in a Union of 27 will be 0.8%.
Qualified Majority Voting
Qualified majority voting already applies in the case of a large number of Council decisions, usually in conjunction with the co-decision procedure which gives the European Parliament a role as "co-legislator" with the Council. However, with the prospect of a significant increase in Council membership, it was felt necessary to extend the scope of qualified majority voting in order to facilitate decision-making in an enlarged Union.
While there was general support in principle for an extension of the areas where qualified majority voting applies, individual member-states wished to retain unanimity in areas which they felt to be of particular sensitivity for their interests. One such area for Ireland was taxation.
Following consideration of some 50 provisions, agreement was reached to introduce qualified majority voting in some 30 articles. The list includes important new areas such as: negotiations on trade in services and commercial aspects of intellectual property rights; economic, technical and financial co-operation with third countries; and appointment of the President and members of the Commission, and of the secretary general and deputy secretary general of the Council. No change will be made in the treaty provisions dealing with taxation.
Enhanced Co-operation
Enhanced co-operation is the term used to describe specific provisions introduced into the treaties at Amsterdam, which allow groups of member-states fewer than the entire membership of the Union to avail of the institutions of the Union to promote closer co-operation between themselves. These provisions have not been used, and several member-states believed that the provisions requiring the participation of a majority of member-states, and allowing any one member-state a veto, were so strict that they would remain unused if they were not revised. On the other hand, there was a general concern to ensure that the system would operate in a manner consistent with maintaining the overall coherence of the Union.
In the event, it was agreed to set out the preconditions for authorisation of enhanced co-operation in a consolidated format. This stipulates that enhanced co-operation may not undermine the single market, constitute a barrier to trade, or distort competition between member-states, and that it can only be applied as a last resort, when the objectives cannot be achieved otherwise within a reasonable period. Among other provisions which will apply for the future are the following:
the minimum number of participating states will be eight, irrespective of the size of the Union;
provisions regarding the right of a member-state to join an enhanced co-operation group have been strengthened;
enhanced co-operation may operate for the implementation of decisions in the area of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, but will not apply to security and defence matters; and
authorisation to proceed will be given by qualified majority vote in the Council: it will no longer be possible for any one member-state to veto the establishment of such a group, except in the area of the Common Foreign and Security Policy where the veto will continue to apply.
European Parliament
There are at present 626 members of the European Parliament, while the treaties set a limit of 700 for total membership. With the expected enlargement of the Union, it was therefore necessary at the intergovernmental conference to agree a reallocation of seats to accommodate the new member-states without creating a chamber too large to operate effectively.
It was agreed at Nice to extend the upper limit on the number of MEPs to 732. Ireland was allocated 12 seats, at the top of the range proposed by the Presidency. The new allocations are to take effect from the start of the next parliament in 2004.
However, it was also agreed that, pending the accession of all the countries currently in accession negotiations, the reduction in seat allocations would be implemented only to the extent necessary to ensure the limit of 732 is not breached.
Court of Justice
The agreed package of reforms is intended to lead to more efficient administration of justice by expanding the role of the Court of First Instance (CFI), while leaving the European Court of Justice to deal with the most important matters. The transfer to the CFI of jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings in specific areas, and the creation of specialised judicial panels to hear particular categories of cases, are among the other significant reforms.
The treaty also, for the first time, formalises the right of each member-state to nominate a judge to the Court of Justice, thereby ensuring that the legal systems of all of the member-states will be represented. It was also agreed, in the interests of efficiency, that there should be a new grand chamber of 11 judges within the court structure.
Court of Auditors
Under the treaty, each member-state will have the right to nominate a member of the Court of Auditors.
Economic and Social Committee
The Economic and Social Committee is an advisory body comprising representatives of various categories of economic and social activity. The committee has 222 members, with an equal number of alternates. Ireland currently has nine members.
It was agreed at Nice that the total number of seats in an enlarged Union will not exceed 350. Ireland will continue to nominate nine members to the committee.
Committee of the Regions
The Committee of the Regions is an advisory body consisting of representatives of regional and local interests. There are currently nine Irish members on the committee, which has a total membership of 222.
The new treaty confirms that the total membership in a Union of 27 may not exceed 350. The number of seats allocated to each member-state will be the same as for the Economic and Social Committee. Ireland will have nine seats, as at present.
Common Foreign and Security Policy
The EU is continuing to seek ways of playing a greater role for peace, stability and security in Europe. Ireland has a strong interest in maintaining a stable, inclusive security environment.
It pursues this objective not only through the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy but also through the primary role of the UN, as well as through other international organisations.
In line with the Government's policy of military neutrality, the Government has made clear that Ireland would participate only in humanitarian and crisis management operations authorised by the UN, in accordance with the appropriate legislation and subject to parliamentary approval.
The existing treaty provisions were intended to make the Common Foreign and Security Policy, originally established under the Maastricht Treaty, more coherent, more effective and more visible. The Treaty of Nice has made limited changes to these provisions through the deletion of references to the Western European Union (WEU) and by providing a treaty basis for the Political and Security Committee in Brussels.
The development of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, through the provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty, has included the enhancement of capabilities to carry out humanitarian and crisis management tasks, known as the Petersberg tasks. Existing security arrangements and procedures were adapted to carry out these tasks.
Decisions to this effect were taken by the European Council at successive meetings in Cologne, Helsinki, Santa Maria da Feira, and at Nice.
At the time of the Treaty of Amsterdam, it was envisaged that the Western European Union (WEU) would play a key role, acting on behalf of the EU, in the area of crisis management and conflict prevention. However, given the development of the Union's capabilities in this area, the role of the WEU has diminished. Changes have been made to two Articles of the EU Treaty to reflect the fact that the EU itself will now implement the decisions which it may take in these areas.
Breach of Fundamental Principles
The Union already has power to take measures where it judges there is a serious and persistent breach by a member-state of such fundamental principles as democracy and human rights. It will in future be able to make recommendations to the government concerned where it considers that there is a serious risk that such a breach will occur.
Social Protection
In response to an Irish proposal, provision was made to encourage co-operation among member-states in the area of social protection, and a new Article was included in the treaty to provide a legal basis for the operation of the Social Protection Committee.
Future Development of the Union
Having completed the process of internal reform necessary for enlargement, the Union is committed to facilitating a broadly-based debate on the long-term development of the Union. The question of how best to structure this debate will be considered at the forthcoming European Councils in Goteborg in Sweden (June 2001) and Laeken/Brussels (December 2001).
Among the issues identified for consideration are a clearer delimitation of powers between the Union and the member-states, the future status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, reviewing the lay-out and format of the treaties to make them more accessible, and the role of national parliaments in the functioning of the EU. It is envisaged that the discussions will culminate in a further intergovernmental conference in 2004.
Further extracts from the White Paper on the Treaty of Nice are available on the Irish Times website at: www.ireland.com