Three New European Financial Supervision Bodies Established

The Council has decided to establish three new authorities for supervision at the micro level: the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, and the European Securities and Markets Authority.

The three bodies will work in cooperation with national supervision bodies and their decisions will be legally binding.

First Decisions under the Treaty of Lisbon

The European Council has adopted two decisions that are based on the new institutional arrangements in the Treaty of Lisbon that entered into force yesterday.

The first decision provides that the Presidency of the Council, with the exception of the Foreign Affairs configuration, wil be held by pre-established groups of three Member States for a period of 18 months. Each member of the group will in turn chair for a six-month period all configurations of the Council. The other members of the group will assist the Chair in all its responsibilities on the basis of a common programme.

The second decision adopts the Rules of Procedure of the European Council.

The Treaty of Lisbon Enters into Force

The newest revision of the founding treaties – the Treaty of Lisbon, has entered into force. This is a good day for the European integration after a very difficult period of debate.

So what will change now?

• Few main changes may be outlined:
• The European Union becomes a legal entity;
• The three pillars (European Community, Foreign and Security Policy, Justice and Home Affairs) are merged together;
• A new rule of double qualified majority in the Council (from 2014);
• Co-decision becomes the ordinary legislative procedure;
• Early-warning system allows national parliaments of the Member States to indicate when the subsidiarity principle may have been violated;
• Creation of the post of President of the European Council (for 2.5 years);
• Creation of a High Representative of the Union for Foreign
• Affairs and Security Policy who is also a Vice-president of the Commission;
• Right of citizens’ initiative, etc.

During the next few days I will attempt to summarize more information about the most important reforms.

 

The Swiss Ban on Minarets: Legal Implications

There are many reactions to the results from the referendum in Switzerland that tries to impose a ban on further construction of minarets in the country. However, most of them are (understandably) quite emotional.

From a political perspective a lot must be done now to assess the reasons for that vote. After all, 53,4% of the Swiss electorate voted and 57,5% of the votes have approved the ban on construction of new minarets.

However, I am much more interested in the legal analysis of that referendum. Back in October 2009 experts from the UN Human Rights Committee voiced concerns that the ban will infringe human rights protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. They said that the initiative should have been declared inadmissible under the Swiss Constitution. The experts probably referred to a violation of art. 18 of the Covenant:

“Article 18

1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.

2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.

3. Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.

4. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.”

Switzerland does not have a reservation on art. 18 and therefore it is fully applicable. That much is certain. However, we now know that being a party to this international covenant will not necessarily produce an observable direct impact. That leads us to the question – Even if Switzerland does violate the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, what can we do?

Well, Switzerland is also part to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Art. 9 of the Convention:

“Article 9 . Freedom of thought, conscience and religion

1 Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.

2 Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”

I believe that this text will be used to challenge the ban both before Swiss courts and later – before the European Court of  Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. From what we know about the jurisprudence of ECHR, this legal challenge will probably succeed.

The issue is of great importance to the European Union as well. Switzerland is surrounded by the EU and the Union is an essential trade and political partner for the country. Provided that the ban does violate the relevant international human rights law and the European Convention on Human Rights in particular, this will inevitably strain relations between the parties and may lead to serious consequences for Switzerland.

From a legal perspective I would also like to point out that introducing such a ban is currently impossible in any EU Member State, irrelevant of the local political challenges.

 

Portfolio Distribution for Barroso II Commission

We now have the distribution of portfolios in the new college of commissioners. Three new portfolios are created: Climate Action; Home Affairs; Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship.

Joaquín Almunia will be Vice-President of the Commission together with Siim Kallas, Neelie Kroes, Viviane Reding, Maroš Šefcovic and Catherine Ashton.

The Bulgarian commissioner Rumiana Jeleva will be responsible for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response.

 

List of the Future Commissioners

All Member States have now nominated Commissioners designate. President Barroso will now proceed with the allocation of portfolios. Hearings at the European Parliament will then take place in January before the College of Commissioners as a whole will be subject to a vote of approval by the European Parliament.

European Parliament Position on Enlargement

A new resolution by the European Parliament contains important guidance for candidate countries and potential candidates. Among the criteria that all Balkan countries should respect, MEPs emphasize the need for full co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and an improvement of the situation of ethnic minorities, in particular the Roma.

Lifting the Veil of Nomination Secrecy

Jean Quatremer has done the unthinkable – he has lifted the sacred veil of secret deliberations for the nomination of the first President of the European Council.

If his information is credible, then it appears that the President of France, Nicholas Sarkozy, has unilaterally opposed the candidacy of the prime minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker. All the other 26 Member States supported Mr. Juncker’s bid, but Mr. Sarkozy reportedly “vetoed” without stating any reasons.

Mr. Quatremer says that the Swedish Prime Minister then proposed Herman van Rompuy, not wanting to propose a formal vote. This was done although the Treaty of Lisbon requires a qualified majority, rather than anonymity, to appoint the President of the European Council.

 

Framework for Public-Private Partnerships

The European Commission presents a framework for encouraging the use of public private partnerships (PPPs) to meet existing and future needs for investment in public services, infrastructure and research in Europe.

The framework involves:

• increased funding for PPPs through working with the EIB, by re-focusing existing Community instruments and by developing guarantee instruments for PPP financing;
• in cases involving EU funding, better rules and procedures in order to ensure a level playing field between wholly publicly managed projects and those managed under PPPs;
• a more effective framework for innovation, including the possibility for the EU to participate in private law bodies and directly invest in specific projects;
• considering an EU legislative instrument on concessions, based on the ongoing Impact Assessment;
• improved information dissemination and exchange of best practice; including the creation of a new PPP group in which relevant stakeholders can share their concerns and further ideas with regard to PPPs.

2010 EU Budget Agreed

The 2010 budget of the European Union was approved by conciliation delegations from Parliament and the Council. Three issues were solved – the funding for the EU economic recovery plan, funding for the closure of the Bulgarian nuclear plant Kozloduy and emergency aid to milk producers.

The EU economic recovery plan will cost €2.4 billion next year. €75 million will go for support for the closure of the Bulgarian nuclear plant Kozloduy. €300 million will be used as emergency measures for milk producers.