What were the key provisions of the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht)? Discuss how this Treaty affects European Business.

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Nafeeza Javed        -  -

 What were the key provisions of the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht)?

Discuss how this Treaty affects European Business

 

The objective of this essay is to address the key provisions of the Treaty of Maastricht and how it affected European business. Therefore since the creation of the European Union, has not only involved the establishment of a new type of legal order operating in the international or transnational area but also promoting a process of integration leading towards a ‘union’ of European states of people as well as economical development. Consequently I shall firstly begin by mentioning the historical developments of the European Union, which lead to the creation of the four main institutions of the EU and a number of treaties being passed to govern the member states that joined the EU. Secondly I will move onto mentioning the key provisions of the Treaty of Maastricht followed by stating how the treaty affects European business. Finally to conclude this essay with a brief summary of whether the treaty has made any differences in the lives of working Europeans and the business they are involved in.

The building of a United Europe is undoubtedly one of the greatest historical undertakings of the 20th century. The original impetus for the founding of the European Union was the desire to repair Europe after the unfortunate events of World War II and to prevent Europe from ever again falling victim to the scourge of the war. In order to do this, many supported the idea of forming some type of European federation or government.

Winston Churchill at Zurich in September 1946, proposed the construction of a ‘kind of United States of Europe’, similar to the United States of America. The immediate result of his speech led to the formation of Council of Europe in 1949 to encourage political co-operation between the countries of Europe. The EU had a broad political mission, which was effectively captured by Joseph Weiler, when he characterised the EC (later the EU) as pursing the ideals of peace, prosperity and a form of ‘supranationalism’ which encapsulates a departure from a narrow and debilitating nationalism, and reinforces the idea of the European Union as ‘community’ (Weiler, 1994a). Therefore a number of different organisations with distinct priorities were set up in order to achieve this political mission. The first step in the construction of a new European order was laid down in 1951 when the leaders of six war-weary European nations signed the treaty of Paris and created the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The objective of the ECSC was the creation of a common market in the production of coal and steel and to put forward the idea of greater integration within Europe. European leaders decided to further their economic integration and in 1957, the six member states signed two further treaties in Rome creating the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The aim of EEC as stated in the preamble was ‘to lay the foundation of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe’. 

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The ECSC, EEC and Euratom formed the ‘first pillar’ of the European Union or the ‘community pillar’. The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 supplemented the communities by introducing two further pillars: firstly the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and secondly the third pillar concerned Police and Judicial Co-operation in criminal matters (PJC), which surrounded the existing first pillar. The Amsterdam treaty of 1997 came into force in 1999, which revised the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty, and the ‘old’ third pillar – co-operation in Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) – was reduced in size and changed in scope as certain ...

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