Enhanced cooperation in European Union Law and its effect on the European Integration

In the European Union, a more cooperative cooperation can be made between some member states in order to solve the problems arising from the unanimous rule in the decision-making mechanism. Enhanced cooperation organized for the first time under a separate title with the Amsterdam Treaty. Via this mechanism, the Union, which has increased rapidly in the number of member states since its establishment, can act more quickly and effectively on some issues. Thus, it is aimed to facilitate the decision-making process. Enhanced cooperation is anticipated as a possibility provided by the member states which want to go further in cases where progress cannot be achieved with the participation of all the member states. In the scope of this study, firstly the characteristics of the concept of enhanced cooperation will be explained and later the development of the concept will be examined within the framework of the treaties. Thus, it will be attempted to discuss how this mechanism in European Union law affects the process of European integration by analyzing the decisions which were taken by enhanced cooperation.

___

  • (2003). Nice Antlaşması, İktisadi Kalkınma Vakfı Yayınları, No:174.
  • (2007). Maastricht Antlaşması, İktisadi Kalkınma Vakfı Yayınları, No:118.
  • (2010). Amsterdam Antlaşması, İktisadi Kalkınma Vakfı Yayınları, No:162.
  • ‘Multi-speed’Europe, (2017, August 10). Retrived from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/multispeed_europe.html.
  • Cantore, C. M. (2011). We're one, but we're not the same: Enhanced Cooperation and the tension between unity and asymmetry in the EU. Perspectives on Federalism, 3(3), 1-21.
  • Council Decision, 2010/405/EU.
  • Council Decision, 2011/167/EU.
  • Council Decision, 2013/52/EU.
  • Cremona, M. (2009). Enhanced cooperation and the common foreign and security and defence policies of the EU. EUI Working Paper Law, 21,1-17.
  • Dağdemir, E. (2001). Avrupa Birliği’nin bütünleşme sürecinde esneklik kavramı: Amsterdam Antlaşması çerçevesinde bir değerlendirme, Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi, 56(2), 21-41.
  • Edinburg Summit, Conclusions of the Presidency, Edinburg, No.456/1/92, 12 December 1992.
  • Enhanced Cooperation, (2017, August 11). Retrived from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/enhanced_cooperation.html.
  • Enhanced Cooperation, (2017, August 20). Retrived from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=LEGISSUM:xy0015.
  • Enhanced Cooperation, Already a Reality in the EU, (2017, August 11). Retrived from https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/enhanced_cooperation_-_already_a_reality_in_the_eu_1.pdf.
  • Europe ‘à la carte’, (2017, August 10). Retrived from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/europe_a_la_carte.html.
  • Groenendijk, N. (2011). Enhanced cooperation under the Lisbon Treaty. Paper presented at the research meeting on European & International Affairs, Aalborg University.
  • Keukeleire, S. and MacNaughtan, J. (2008). The foreign policy of the European Union. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • La Serre, F. & Wallace, H. (1997). Flexibility and enhanced cooperation in the European Union: Placebo rather than Panacea?. Research and Policy, Paper no.2, 1-27.
  • Missiroli, A. (1998). Flexibility and enhanced cooperation after Amsterdam-prospects for CFSP and the WEU, The International Spectator, 33(3), 101-118.
  • Ondarza, N. (2013). Strengthening the core or splitting Europe?. Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, 2, 1-34.
  • Peers, S. (2009). Guide to EU decision-making and justice and home affairs after the Treaty of Lisbon. London: Instant Print West One.
  • Piris, J.C. (2014). The acceleration of differentiated integration and enhanced cooperation, Schuman, European Issue no.328, (2017, August 19) Retrived from http://www.robert-schuman.eu/en/european-issues/0328-the-acceleration-of-differentiated-integration-and-enhanced-cooperation.
  • Stubb, A. (1996). A categorization of differentiated integration, Journal of Common Market Studies, 34(2), 283-295.
  • Stubb, A. (1997). The 1996 intergovernmental conference and the management of flexible integration, Journal of European Public Policy, 4(1), 37-55.
  • Stubb, A. (2003). Negotiating flexibility in the European Union: Amsterdam, Nice, and beyond, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Variable-geometry Europe, (2017, August 10). Retrived from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/variable_geometry_europe.html.