Page 125 - SEVEN STEPS for COMPREHENDING the EUROPEAN UNION
P. 125
124 / SEVEN STEPS FOR COMPREHENDING THE EUROPEAN UNION
proportionality and subsidiarity and the principle of equality, also
belong to the category of EU Primary Law.
EU Primary Law specifies the procedures for adopting other EU
legal documents which do not qualify for EU Primary Law. There are also
non-legal regulations, which do not require the above-said procedures
and can be adopted autonomously by EU institutions.
EU Primary Law, namely, the EU treaties, specifies which parties
may be involved in adopting various EU legal documents, whether it is
solely the EU, the EU member states or the EU and its member states
together.
EU treaties can be categorized. They have been adopted at various
stages of the history of the EU and, therefore, they reflect the challenges
which the EU faced at that particular period of time. EU treaties are:
Founding, Amending, Main and Accession treaties.
To this end, the so-called Founding Treaties are of special
significance. Their title stipulates that such treaties contain the EU’s
founding principles, the main elements of the Union’s institutional
setup and other central topics. The Founding Treaties are:
- Treaty Establishing the European Coal and Steel Community of
1951;
- Treaty Establishing the European Atomic Energy Community of
1957;
- Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community of 1957;
- Treaty on the European Union of 1992.
Apart from the Founding Treaties, the EU also recognizes the so-
called “Amending Treaties” such as:
- Brussels Treaty of 1965 which established the EU Commission
and the Council of the EU;
- Luxembourg Treaty of 1986, known as the “Single European
Act,” which introduced the Double Majority Voting system and
expanded the competences of the European Parliament;