European Commission's Action Research Articles

The European Commission's Action Plan for Financial Services

The European Commission's Action Plan for Financial Services

L'ingénierie constitutionnelle et l'Europe de l'Est : le rôle de la Commission européenne pour la démocratie parle droit

The Venice Commission, at present celebrating its tenth anniversary, has played an important role in the design and adoption of Constitutions and related texts, introducing standards that are an essential part of Western Europe's constitutional heritage. Initially an emergency instrument for use in urgent constitutional engineering in the context of revolutionary change, its activities have grown steadily since the initial dramatic events have given way to more progressive change. Born of a "partial agreement" by the Council of Europe, it is only open to Member States who have signed the agreement and contribute to its budget. The Commission consists of independent experts with an international reputation on account of their experience in democratic institutions, or their contribution to the development or influence of law. The members of the Commission are mostly law professors (predominantly Constitutional lawyers), internationalists, supreme or constitutional court judges, members of various national parliaments, and senior civil servants. They are nominated for four years (renewable) by their national governments. The European Commission's action in favour of law-based democracy is strongly influenced by the basic principles it shares with the Council of Europe : democracy, the Rights of Man, the pre-eminence of law. Generally acting on a request from a particular State, it provides assistance and advice on any matter relating to constitutions. As its constitution does not limit the geographical area in which it may operate, its sen/ices have been used by a number of countries outside Europe : South Africa, Argentina and Uruguay, for example, obviously with the approval of the Committee of Foreign Ministers of the Council of Europe.

EC competition policy: The poor relation of EC regional policy?

Recent developments in the European Community have placed increasing emphasis on the need to promote economic and social cohesion. The most high profile response to this has been the reform of the Structural Funds. There is, however, a second, more long‐standing aspect to European Commission action on regional disparities. This involves the control of the regional policies of the Member States under the competition policy provisions of the Treaty. In contrast with Community structural policies, this dimension of cohesion policy involves no spending at the EC level and has attracted scant interest from academics. This article argues that, for most of the history of the Community, European competition policy has had more impact on regional policy in the Member States than has European regional policy; far from being a poor relation, EC competition policy is a major consideration for national policymakers seeking to support domestic industry or attract mobile investment to the problem regions; the penalties for failing to comply with the rules can be high and the political embarrassment acute. Looking forward, and taking account of ongoing developments in the Commission approach to controlling regional aids, the article concludes by reflecting on the capacity of present competition policy practices to adapt to regional policy needs in a further enlarged Europe.