The empty chair crisis of 1965, resolved in the Luxembourg Compromise of 1966, forms part of the dramatic past of the European Union, and is for many a turning-point in European political integration. This volume, based on new research, revisits these events. It sheds fresh light on the mixed motives of the principal member states, European institutions and third-country actors, and identifies the shadows cast over subsequent legal and political practice. The book results from a collaborative project among historians, lawyers, and political scientists. It draws on new archival material and on many insights from practitioners, both some involved in the events of 1965-66 and others engaged in subsequent negotiations in the Council of the EU. Traces of these events persist in the consensus-oriented culture in the Council, where a concern to avoid sharply polarised confrontation limits recourse to active voting, even though the formal use of qualified majority voting has been greatly extended. Arguments over agricultural policy, the EU budget and world trade negotiations thus continue to provide occasions for some member states to insist on their 'very important interests'. This book stems from a co-funded project of the Fondation Paul-Henri Spaak in Brussels and of the European University Institute and the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence.
The empty chair crisis of 1965, resolved in the Luxembourg Compromise of 1966, forms part of the dramatic past of the European Union, and is for many a turning-point in European political integration. This volume, based on new research, revisits these events. It sheds fresh light on the mixed motives of the principal member states, European institutions and third-country actors, and identifies the shadows cast over subsequent legal and political practice. The book results from a collaborative project among historians, lawyers, and political scientists. It draws on new archival material and on many insights from practitioners, both some involved in the events of 1965-66 and others engaged in subsequent negotiations in the Council of the EU. Traces of these events persist in the consensus-oriented culture in the Council, where a concern to avoid sharply polarised confrontation limits recourse to active voting, even though the formal use of qualified majority voting has been greatly extended. Arguments over agricultural policy, the EU budget and world trade negotiations thus continue to provide occasions for some member states to insist on their 'very important interests'. This book stems from a co-funded project of the Fondation Paul-Henri Spaak in Brussels and of the European University Institute and the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence.
Over 800 million Europeans can individually obtain a ruling from a European court against their State if it has violated their human rights. There is an assembly in Strasbourg where members of the Icelandic, Russian, Portuguese, German, Georgian and other European parliaments all sit together. A Congress exists whose sessions are attended by representatives of 200 000 local and regional authorities of Europe. All these statements relate to the Council of Europe, the first of the European institutions to be founded. Now 47 member states strong, the Council - which is to celebrate its 60th anniversary this year - has become one of the main institutions of intergovernmental co-operation. This book looks at the political role of the Council of Europe, which is now not only a forum for democracy and a gage of stability, the home of human rights and the forum of cultural diversity, but also the crucible of Europe and the future for politics. The author examines all that is specific to the Council of Europe within the European architecture, particularly vis-á-vis the European Union. This book is essential reading for anyone wishing to study the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, understand how it operates and find out about the contribution that it makes.
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