« European organisations and their relations with Switzerland » : différence entre les versions

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*European Parliament: composed of members elected by direct universal suffrage in the Member States since 1979. Even if he is not the legislator, he is nowadays a co-legislator with legislative tasks, but not all of this power. On the other hand, it has budgetary power and democratic control over the European institutions. The European Parliament elects the President of the European Commission, currently Jean-Claude Juncker. This highlights a difficulty with the sectoral approach in order to have a clear vision of the responsibilities of the various bodies of the European Union.  Council: it consists of one representative at ministerial level from each Member State of the European Union. Each representative and authorized to commit his government. According to the Lisbon Treaty, this Council is chaired by a President elected by the Heads of Member States for a 2-year term of office, currently Donald Tusk. Its function is mainly to carry out the Union's legislative functions in collaboration with the European Parliament. It takes action on the Common Foreign and Security Policy, meeting twice a year.
*European Parliament: composed of members elected by direct universal suffrage in the Member States since 1979. Even if he is not the legislator, he is nowadays a co-legislator with legislative tasks, but not all of this power. On the other hand, it has budgetary power and democratic control over the European institutions. The European Parliament elects the President of the European Commission, currently Jean-Claude Juncker. This highlights a difficulty with the sectoral approach in order to have a clear vision of the responsibilities of the various bodies of the European Union.  Council: it consists of one representative at ministerial level from each Member State of the European Union. Each representative and authorized to commit his government. According to the Lisbon Treaty, this Council is chaired by a President elected by the Heads of Member States for a 2-year term of office, currently Donald Tusk. Its function is mainly to carry out the Union's legislative functions in collaboration with the European Parliament. It takes action on the Common Foreign and Security Policy, meeting twice a year.
Jean-Claude Juncker: its function is to be a true executive composed of one Commissioner per Member State; the team of Commissioners is ratified by the European Parliament. Its vocation is to be the executive body, and the Treaty of Lisbon also establishes the position of Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security represented by Frederica Mogherini. On the other hand, it prepares draft laws and submits them to the Council and Parliament. To carry out its activity, it is composed of 25,000 civil servants.
Jean-Claude Juncker: its function is to be a true executive composed of one Commissioner per Member State; the team of Commissioners is ratified by the European Parliament. Its vocation is to be the executive body, and the Treaty of Lisbon also establishes the position of Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security represented by Frederica Mogherini. On the other hand, it prepares draft laws and submits them to the Council and Parliament. To carry out its activity, it is composed of 25,000 civil servants.
*'''[http://europa.eu/about-eu/institutions-bodies/court-justice/index_fr.htm Cour de Justice]''' : afin de veiller à la bonne application uniforme de la législation, il est établi une juridiction commune qui siège au Luxembourg. Elle comporte la Cour de justice et un tribunal de première instance des communautés européennes qui veillent au respect du droit des traités de la communauté. Les juges sont nommés par le Conseil.  
*Court of Justice: in order to ensure the uniform and correct application of the legislation, a common court is established, which sits in Luxembourg. It includes the Court of Justice and a Court of First Instance of the European Communities which ensures compliance with the Community's Treaty Law. Judges are appointed by the Council.  
   
   
Les sources primaires du droit communautaire sont constituées par les traités puis les :
The primary sources of Community law are the Treaties and then the:
*règlements ;
*regulations ;
*directives qui obligent les États membres à obliger à une politique même si elle laisse la liberté de choix des moyens pour se conformer ;
*directives that oblige Member States to oblige a policy even if it leaves the freedom to choose the means of compliance;
*décisions qui sont de mesures obligatoires pour les destinataires qui peuvent entre l’État ou des individus ;
*decisions that are binding measures for recipients who may between the State or individuals;
*recommandations qui sont des instruments d’actions indirectes dans les domaines de la gestion de la politique monétaire ;
*recommendations that are instruments for indirect actions in the fields of monetary policy management;
*avis expriment l’opinion de la communauté des pays de l’Union européenne.
*opinions express the opinion of the community of European Union countries.


= L’association européenne de libre-échange et l’Espace Économique européen =
= L’association européenne de libre-échange et l’Espace Économique européen =

Version du 26 juin 2019 à 16:29


To understand how Europe has developed today, we must look at the consequences of the Second World War.

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The Council of Europe

Europe emerged bloodless from the Second World War. The discovery of concentration camps is a horror that upsets the whole of Europe, but also the world.

Two superpowers will emerge in opposition: the United States and the USSR. An antagonistic ideological opposition marked by a different socio-economic ideology. Europe is divided by an "iron curtain" which is symbolized by the Berlin Wall.

Representatives of the resistance movements, namely France, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Germany, met in secret in Geneva in 1944. The objective is to consider not only the reconstruction of Europe, but also the possibility of uniting it. In particular through the Graduate Institute of International Studies, which brings together Europe subjugated by Nazism, political refugees and embodies a liberal space.

In 1946, Churchill launched his appeal from Zurich. This evolved idea was taken up by the first major post-war European political congress held in Montreux in 1947.

From 8 to 10 May 1948, the Hague Congress was held: it brought together about a thousand people from 19 European countries, deeply divided between unionists, supporters of intergovernmental cooperation, and federalists in favour of transferring sovereignty to the European structure that was to be created. A political resolution will be adopted calling for:

  • a European assembly which will be the Council of Europe;
  • a human rights charter, namely the 1953 European Convention on Human Rights;
  • a Supreme Court which will be the European Court of Human Rights.

From this congress was born the European movement whose action would later lead to the creation of the Council of Europe. This proposal will be taken up by the French Foreign Ministers, Robert Schuman and the Belgian Spaak. The objective is to create the equivalent of a European constituency bringing together an assembly of delegates from national parliaments in order to prepare for the transfer of part of the sovereignty of Member States to a European identity.

The Council of Europe was established on 5 May 1949 by a convention signed in London by ten countries (France, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom) and its headquarters was designated in Strasbourg as a symbol of reconciliation between Germany and France.

It is an organisation that now includes almost all the countries of the European continent, with the exception of Belarus and Kosovo. It develops intergovernmental cooperation activities, particularly in the fields of culture, social, health, education and the environment.

The organs of the Council of Europe are:

  • Consultative and Parliamentary Assembly: a deliberative body composed of representatives of the national parliaments of the Member States. Switzerland is entitled to 6 seats (4 national councillors + 2 state councillors).
  • Council of Ministers: intergovernmental body competent to act on behalf of the Council of Europe.
  • Secretariat: composed of the Secretary General elected by the Parliamentary Assembly on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.

Its role has been considerable in spreading democratic values and respect for human rights on the European continent.

Its main task is to draw up European conventions and agreements. In 1950, the member countries of the Council of Europe signed the European Convention on Human Rights, which entered into force in 1953.

This European Convention on Human Rights is a real revolution in international relations. From now on, there is an international mechanism of precise controls and sanctions providing 4 essential innovations:

  • it recognizes that an individual has rights to which the reason of State must bow;
  • created a court to guarantee the principles it affirms: creation of the European Court of Human Rights;
  • establishes a genuine legal obligation for States;
  • allows an individual to file a complaint against a country responsible for a violation of the rights listed in this Convention.

The European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment

Since the end of the Second World War, there have been an inordinate number of international texts prohibiting and condemning torture.

This convention states that no one may be subjected to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment. However, most laws do not impose a control mechanism to impose penalties. On the other hand, the control is carried out after the fact. In these circumstances, increasing attention has been paid to preventive methods to address the roots of the phenomenon of torture.

The origins of this agreement date back to a proposal made by a Geneva banker, Jean-Jacques Gautier [1912 - 1988]. He considered that as a banker, he had responsibilities to society.

It proposes the development of a system of visits to all places of detention in order to ensure control and to be able to combat torture not ex post, but ex ante.

Its proposal first materialized at the United Nations level in the form of a protocol. The text is prepared by a committee and a Swiss commission of lawyers. It was officially submitted by Costa Rica to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in March 1980. However, it was blocked, leading to a mobilisation at European level to implement Jean-Jacques Gautier's idea. Subsequently, the Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation on torture, including in an annex the draft convention drawn up by Jean-Jacques Gautier, his committee and the International Committee of Jurists.

After four years of discussions, the project was completed on 26 November 1987, ratified in 1988 and entered into force on 1 February 1989. As a result, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture was created with the aim of preventing torture.

This protection is provided by a committee of experts chosen for their integrity and independence, they are entitled to visit the places where arrested persons are staying (prison, police station, psychiatric establishment, etc.). After each visit, the Committee shall submit a report to the State concerned containing recommendations aimed at better protecting the rights of persons deprived of their liberty. If the State refuses to take the recommendations into account, the report can be made public: the International Committee of the Red Cross calls on public opinion to denounce the conditions of detention of prisoners of war. However, this only applies to States that have signed the Convention.

The European Union

Jean Monnet (gauche) avec Konrad Adenauer en 1953.

Jean Monnet (1888-1979) was an economist born in Cognac who held various positions in the French government and the League of Nations before the war. After the war, General de Gaulle called on him to appoint him as commissioner of the plan in order to carry out an industrialization program.

The federalist approach advocated by the supporters of European confederalism aims to address the issue of state sovereignty. It would not overcome this obstacle and would limit intergovernmental cooperation.

It is to avoid this type of interference with sovereignty that he will propose to Foreign Ministers Robert Schuman a sectoral approach to the construction of Europe: the idea was to place certain key sectors of economic life under European supranational authority. It was not a question of confronting nationalisms, but of injecting into European life an integrating virus that could bring together European States in certain key sectors. It will make it possible to create de facto solidarity in key sectors.

The first idea is to bring coal and steel production under European control. It is a sectoral integration in a particular field that makes it possible to bypass the nationalist opposition.

In April 1951, the European Coal and Steel Community was established, which came into force in 1952. The treaty was signed by Germany, France, Benelux and Italy. It is headed by a supranational high authority headed by a college of senior officials independent of member governments. The first president is Jean Monnet.

The High Authority is responsible for managing the pooling of coal and steel resources. The decision and recommendations are binding on the 6 Member States themselves, which are represented by a Special Council of Ministers that works in conjunction with the High Authority. A Consultative Assembly composed of members of the 6 national parliaments completes it. This institutional framework is also supplemented by a Court of Justice.

After sectoral integration, two initiatives will be launched:

  • create a European Defence Community: this is a failure due to the negative attitude of the French Parliament, which refuses to ratify the Treaty in 1954.
  • Political Community: led to the signing in Rome in 1957 of a treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC), also known as the "common market", which entered into force in 1958 and provides for a customs union and the implementation of a common agricultural policy. Later on, it will be transformed, in particular following the Maastricht Treaty, making the EEC a European Union. Other treaties will amend it, the most recent of which dates from 2007 and has been in force since 2009 is the Treaty of Lisbon.

To achieve the common objectives, in particular that of creating a single market, the Member States have developed a customs union and the free movement of products, but also services and people within a framework of harmonising economic policies and protecting free competition.

At European level, there is a tangle of competences:

  • European Parliament: composed of members elected by direct universal suffrage in the Member States since 1979. Even if he is not the legislator, he is nowadays a co-legislator with legislative tasks, but not all of this power. On the other hand, it has budgetary power and democratic control over the European institutions. The European Parliament elects the President of the European Commission, currently Jean-Claude Juncker. This highlights a difficulty with the sectoral approach in order to have a clear vision of the responsibilities of the various bodies of the European Union. Council: it consists of one representative at ministerial level from each Member State of the European Union. Each representative and authorized to commit his government. According to the Lisbon Treaty, this Council is chaired by a President elected by the Heads of Member States for a 2-year term of office, currently Donald Tusk. Its function is mainly to carry out the Union's legislative functions in collaboration with the European Parliament. It takes action on the Common Foreign and Security Policy, meeting twice a year.

Jean-Claude Juncker: its function is to be a true executive composed of one Commissioner per Member State; the team of Commissioners is ratified by the European Parliament. Its vocation is to be the executive body, and the Treaty of Lisbon also establishes the position of Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security represented by Frederica Mogherini. On the other hand, it prepares draft laws and submits them to the Council and Parliament. To carry out its activity, it is composed of 25,000 civil servants.

  • Court of Justice: in order to ensure the uniform and correct application of the legislation, a common court is established, which sits in Luxembourg. It includes the Court of Justice and a Court of First Instance of the European Communities which ensures compliance with the Community's Treaty Law. Judges are appointed by the Council.

The primary sources of Community law are the Treaties and then the:

  • regulations ;
  • directives that oblige Member States to oblige a policy even if it leaves the freedom to choose the means of compliance;
  • decisions that are binding measures for recipients who may between the State or individuals;
  • recommendations that are instruments for indirect actions in the fields of monetary policy management;
  • opinions express the opinion of the community of European Union countries.

L’association européenne de libre-échange et l’Espace Économique européen

EFTA logo.png

Elle a été créée en réaction à la création de la Communauté européenne. Les initiateurs sont le Royaume-Uni, le Danemark, l’Autriche, le Portugal, la Suède, la Norvège et la Suisse.

Elle a été créée le 4 juillet 1960, le but étant de créer une organisation européenne de libre-échange contrant l’influence de la CEE sur les pays européens qui n’y participaient pas. L’objectif était de mettre sur pied une entente commerciale des pays membres à l’opposé de la CEE qui propose l’intégration sectorielle. Vont joindre l’AELEE la Finlande, l’Islande et le Liechtenstein.

Son conseil à rôle d’organe directeur. Chaque État est représenté par un représentant avec une voix au Conseil. Il se réunit deux fois par an à l’échelon des représentations ministérielles, et deux fois par an à l’échelon des représentants permanents. Son siège est à Genève.

Au fil de l’évolution de la Communauté européenne,les pays membres de l’AELEEE vont devoir la quitter pour entrer dans l’Union européenne. En 1984, la CEE est l’AELEEE vont intensifier leurs relations avec comme résultat l’accord de Porto du 2 mai 1992 qui établit l’Espace Économique Européen.

Il fut négocié entre les pays de l’AELEEE et de la CEE, conçu comme une préparation à l’intégration.

La Suisse a refusé cet accord avec un double « non » du Peuple et des Cantons le 6 décembre 1992 tandis que l’Autriche, la Finlande et le Liechtenstein l’ont accepté.

Entre temps, les autres pays ont adhéré à l’Union européenne. Actuellement l’AELE ne compte plus que 4 membres à savoir la Suisse, l’Islande, le Liechtenstein et la Norvège.

Le traité de 1994 se base sur deux socles :

  • le socle CEE ;
  • le socle AELEEE.

Maintenant, l’Espace Économique européen est formé de l’Union européenne, de la Norvège, de l’Islande et du Liechtenstein.

L’Espace Économique européen se compose d’un conseil avec des représentants du conseil de l’Union européenne et d’un membre du gouvernement de chaque membre. Ce comité mixte est responsable de la gestion courante qui implique la mise en application des accords de Porto. Il est formé d’ambassadeurs des États de l’ALEEE et de représentants de l’Union européenne.

Évidemment, la Suisse a participé activement à la négociation de cet espace économique européen. Dans la préparation de l’entrée, qui ne fut pas faite, le Conseil Fédéral avait établi une politique d’entrée en demandant au Parlement de revoir la législation. Ce projet qui n’a pas abouti s’appelait EUROLEX permettant à la Suisse d’être en conformité avec l’espace européen.

Le 6 décembre 1992, le Peuple et les Cantons refusent le déploiement de cet espace économique marginalisant la Suisse. Face à ce refus, le Conseil Fédéral et le Parlement ont dû trouver une autre solution, ce sont les fameuses bilatérales.

Depuis ce refus, la Suisse n’est pas dans une position favorable, car elle fait ni partie de l’Union européenne ni de l’Espace Économique Européen.

Malgré ce refus, la Suisse est obligée de suivre les grandes orientations de l’Union européenne adaptant sa législation à celle de l’Europe. En prévision de l’entrée de la Suisse dans l’EEE le Conseil fédéral avait modifié la législation suisse, après le rejet de l’accord une bonne partie du projet EUROLEX fut gardée.Ce projet a évolué devenant le projet SUISSELEX pour éviter la marginalisation de la législation suisse par rapport à la législation européenne.

Dès lors, la Suisse va être obligée de négocier avec l’Union européenne aboutissant aux accords bilatéraux I conclus entre l’Union européenne et la Confédération suisse. Ce sont des accords signé en 1999 au Luxembourg et approuvé le 21 mai 2000 par 67% du peuple suisse. Ces accords étaient sous forme d’arrêté soumis au référendum facultatif.

Au fond, ces accords bilatéraux contentaient tout le monde, entrant en vigueur en juin 2002. Ce sont des accords sectoriels touchant un ensemble de secteurs :

  • les transports terrestres ;
  • les transports aériens ;
  • la libre circulation des personnes ;
  • la recherche ;
  • l’agriculture ;
  • les marchés publics ;
  • et vise à éliminer les obstacles techniques au commerce dans le domaine de la concurrence.

La Suisse va conclure les accords bilatéraux II constituant la participation de la Suisse aux accords de Schengen et de Dublin. Ils ont été acceptés par le peuple à 55% de « oui » en 2005. Ils permettent de renforcer sa coopération avec l’Union européenne dans les domaines de :

  • la police ;
  • la justice ;
  • des visas ;
  • de l’asile.

Cela permet d’éviter que les frontières de la Suisse soient bouchées par des contrôles systématiques sur les ressortissants suisses.

Annexes

References