The Treaty on European Union (TEU), or the Maastricht Treaty, was the treaty that founded the European Union (EU) and significantly revised the Treaty of Rome. Signed in February 1992 by the 12 member states of the European Community (EC), it entered into force on 1 November 1993. The TEU created a structure for the EU that was organized as three pillars: the EC; Common Foreign and Security Policy; and Justice and Home Affairs. The TEU extended the process of European integration into new policy areas.
The purpose of the TEU was to create an ‘ever closer union’ of member states in which decisions are taken at the level closest to the people. It introduced the principles of subsidiarity and the concept of European citizenship. Subsidiarity states that the EC should only take action if the objectives of a particular area cannot be fully met by the member states. The concept of European citizenship meant that every national of an EU member state is given citizenship of the EU; he or she is free to live and work in any member state, and can vote and stand for local and European elections, subject to certain limitations. The TEU introduced a new European Parliament (EP) Ombudsman to deal with citizens’ complaints about the EU.
A key development of the TEU was that a definition and timetable were given for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Both the United Kingdom and Denmark, which opposed EMU, signed separate protocols that allow them to opt out of the final stages of EMU. The TEU also sought to extend integration into social policy and incorporate the social charter into the acquis communautaire. The United Kingdom opposed the inclusion of social objectives in the Maastricht Treaty and the Social Chapter was annexed to the TEU as a separate protocol so that the United Kingdom could be granted an opt-out.
Other institutional innovations of the TEU included the decision to extend the term of office for the European Commission from four to five years. It also made an incoming new Commission subject to the approval of the EP. The TEU introduced the co-decision procedure in decision-making, which allows the EP to veto legislative proposals at a third reading. The TEU gave the European Court of Justice the power to impose fines on member states which were in breach of European law and it established the Committee of the Regions, made up of representatives of regional and local authorities.
The TEU had to be ratified by 10 national parliaments, and by two referendums, in Ireland and Denmark. In the Danish referendum, held in June 1992, the treaty was rejected (no 52%; turn-out 83%). Further negotiations were held and some concessions were made to Denmark. At a second Danish referendum, held in May 1993, the treaty was accepted (yes 57%; turn-out 86%). France also decided to hold a referendum and both it and Ireland endorsed the treaty. The TEU was reviewed at an intergovernmental conference in 1996 and revised by the Treaty of Amsterdam and the Treaty of Nice.
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