EC: European Communities
European Communities, abbreviation EC by AbbreviationFinder.org, English European Communities [j ʊ ərə pi ː ən kə mju ː n ɪ t ɪ z], French Communauté Européenne [k ɔ myno te ør ɔ pe εn],Designation for the connections between states European Community (EC; until the treaty amendment of November 1, 1993 [Maastricht Treaty] EEC = European Economic Community), European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) and European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The ECSC Treaty expired on July 23, 2002, with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on December 1, 2009, the European Community was transferred to the European Union. Of the original 3 institutions of the European Communities, only EURATOM remained as an independent organization alongside the EU.
In common parlance, the singular “European Community” was established to denote the European Communities, which was intended to emphasize the political unity of the states united in the EC. While formally legally the initially 3, then 2 communities existed independently side by side, with their own legal personality and their own responsibilities, they were linked by common organs, common contractual provisions and the general legal principles recognized by the case law of the European Court of Justice. This is particularly evident in the merger agreement (treaty establishing a joint council and a joint commission of the EC of April 8, 1965), which came into force on July 1, 1967. This already provided for a more extensive legal unity of the European Communities through a merger of the treaties that form the basis of the individual EC. the The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe envisaged the merging of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the EC Treaty. After the Treaty of Lisbon, the EC no longer exists as a separate institution and all of its functions have been transferred to the EU as its legal successor. However, the treaty (in contrast to the failed constitutional treaty) is based on the existing treaty structure. It is, as it were, an amending treaty, which essentially comprises the amended Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which replaces the EC Treaty.
European Coal and Steel Community
European Coal and Steel Community, abbreviation ECSC, (Montanunion), supranational organization for the joint recycling of coal, iron ore and steel, founded in 1951 by the Paris Treaty (entered into force in 1952) between Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy and Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The ECSC Treaty expired on July 23, 2002; the original organs have largely merged into the common organs of the European Communities.
European single market
European internal market, agreement that came into force on January 1, 1993, on the way to economic integration within the European Communities (EC) with the aim of creating a European economic and monetary union. According to this, the EC (since December 1, 2009: the European Union [EU]) is an area without internal borders in which the free movement of goods, people, services and capital (“four freedoms”) is guaranteed. The provisions should include to ensure,
- that when goods are exchanged, there are no longer any border controls, technical standards, public procurement as well as consumption and sales taxes are harmonized,
- that the free movement of money, capital and payments is guaranteed,
- that the service sector is liberalized, which means in particular the opening of the markets for national banks and insurance companies or transport and telecommunications services and
- that border controls are no longer necessary in favor of the free movement of people; In addition, citizens of EU countries can choose to stay and settle freely in other EU countries, they have the freedom to choose their job and can request mutual recognition of their professional qualifications.
A detailed program for dismantling material, technical and fiscal barriers (282 measures) had already been presented to the European Commission in 1985 with the White Paper. Most of the directives provided there were passed by the Council by the time the European internal market came into force. The aim of establishing the European internal market has largely been achieved with the implementation of most of the legal acts. In 1994 the implementation rate was around 94%. However, in 2002 the average implementation deficit was still 2% per member state. In 1999 the Commission presented a communication on the “Strategy for the European Single Market” for 2000-04, with which inter alia. the quality of life of citizens and the business environment should be improved; it was given concrete form in the “Internal Market Strategy 2003-06” with a view to eastward expansion. The most important instruments for establishing the European internal market are legal approximation (harmonization of national regulations) and mutual recognition of the equivalence of national regulations. Due to the delay in the implementation of an increasing number of measures in the member states, there was an increasing transition from the previously favored approach of legal approximation to mutual recognition (so-called “new strategy”). The European internal market also applies without restriction to the member states that have been added since 2004. However, there are transition periods for a maximum of 7 years, e.g. B. in the case of the free movement of workers, has been agreed. (Schengen Agreement, common market)