Institutional Matters
One major intention of the negotiations was to prepare the institutions of the EU for enlargement - the arrival of 10 to 12 countries of central, eastern and southern Europe. Various measures are proposed to adapt the ways in which the institutions work. In general, these build on the existing situation, and do not go as far as expected. There are no direct extracts from the Treaty in this section, as the material is scattered, some extracts are to be found elsewhere on these pages.
Parliament
The Treaty substantially increases the role of the European Parliament. Its legislative role has been increased by making more policies subject to its control: Parliament is offered a right of "co-decision" with the Council of Ministers on legislation governing a much wider range of policies.
Parliament's budgetary role will increase, as operational expenditure for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Justice and Internal Affairs will now come under the EU budget, and so be subject to Parliamentary control.
Parliament's control over the Commission will also be enhanced, as the nomination of the President of the Commission is subject to Parliament's approval.
Other provisions affecting Parliament are: simplification of legislative procedures, intention to implement a common electoral procedure in all Member States, moves to adopt common conditions for MEPs from the different Members States, and a limit of 700 on the eventual membership of Parliament after enlargement.
Council
The main change expected was a widespread increase in the use of Qualified Majority Voting, to allow decisions to be reached even when the EU will have increased to 25 members. This was not agreed. Instead, there is only a limited extension of Qualified Majority Voting. There are however, provisions to allow some use of Qualified Majority Voting under the Common Foreign and Security Policy and in Justice and Internal Affairs (see article on CFSP).
Commission
The political authority of the President of the Commission will be enhanced by the provision that he/she will be approved by the European Parliament. The President will also be involved in the appointment of other members of the Commission; they, having been heard individually and approved collectively by Parliament, will work "under the political guidance of the President".
The number of members of the Commission remains unchanged for the meantime. When the EU comes to be enlarged, the number will be reduced to one Commissioner per Member State, provided that agreement has been reached to reweight the votes in the Council to compensate the large Members States for their loss of one of their present two Commissioners. And, a year before the membership of the Commission is to exceed twenty, there shall be a thorough review of the way the institutions function.
Parliament's Views
... the new move towards integration must be measured against the yardstick of whether (the Treaty)
creates the institutional basis for forthcoming enlargements. (Parliament) regrets the absence from the Amsterdam Treaty of the institutional reform needed for the effective and democratic functioning of an enlarged Union and affirms that these reforms should be completed before enlargement and as soon as possible so as not to delay the accessions; ...
(Parliament) welcomes the extension of the co-decision procedure to numerous new areas and the right to approve the appointment of the Commission President; calls in addition, however, for...
the co-decision procedure to be extended to the remaining areas of legislation...
the Union and the Communities to be merged into a single legal personality...
an equal, functional and democratic relationship in respect of budgetary matters, ... and for the system of own resources (EU's sources of finance) to be reformed and made subject to Parliament's assent, ...
the democratic accountability of the future European Central Bank to be defined.
(Parliament) recognises that there has been progress in the area of transparency...; stresses, ...the (need for) completion of these efforts with implementing measures to ensure that the public really have efficient access to information;
documents which are comprehensible to Union citizens and which show who bears political responsibility;...
(Parliament) regrets that the Amsterdam Treaty has failed adequately to improve the efficiency of decision-making procedures by extending Qualified Majority Voting;
Calls therefore for the following steps to be taken before any enlargement:
adjustments to be made to the weighting of votes in the Council and to the number of Commission members, with the Member States retaining equal status with each other;
Qualified Majority Voting to become the general rule in the Council; the requirement of unanimity to be restricted to decisions of a constitutional nature ...
all other reforms required for enlargement to be adopted;