Editing Treaty of Nice

{{Short description|EU treaty of 2001}}
{{Infobox Treaty
|name = Treaty of Nice
|long_name = Treaty of Nice amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts
|image =
|image_width = 300px
|type = {{nowrap|Amender of previous treaties}}
|citations       = Prior amendment treaty:<br /> [[Treaty of Amsterdam|Amsterdam Treaty (1997)]]<br />Subsequent amendment treaty: [[Treaty of Lisbon|Lisbon Treaty (2007)]]
|date_drafted = 11 December 2000
|date_signed = 26 February 2001
|location_signed = [[Nice]], [[France]]
|date_sealed =
|date_effective = 1 February 2003
|date_expiration =
|signatories = {{Collapsible list |title= 2001 [[Member state of the European Union|EU member states]]
|{{flaglist|Austria}}|{{flaglist|Belgium}}|{{flaglist|Denmark}}|{{flaglist|Finland}}|{{flaglist|France}}|{{flaglist|Germany}}|{{flaglist|Greece}}|{{flaglist|Ireland}}|{{flaglist|Italy}}|{{flaglist|Luxembourg}}|{{flaglist|Netherlands}}|{{flaglist|Portugal}}|{{flaglist|Spain}}|{{flaglist|Sweden}}|{{flaglist|United Kingdom}}}}
|depositor =
|languages = {{Collapsible list |title=12 |[[Danish language|Danish]] |[[Dutch language|Dutch]] |[[English language|English]] |[[Finnish language|Finnish]] ||[[French language|French]] |[[German language|German]] |[[Greek language|Greek]] |[[Irish language|Irish]] |[[Italian language|Italian]] |[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] |[[Spanish language|Spanish]] |[[Swedish language|Swedish]]}}
| wikisource = Treaty of Nice
|footnotes       = <hr><small>'''After amendments made by the Nice Treaty:'''<br />[http://www.cvce.eu/en/obj/treaty_establishing_the_european_atomic_energy_community_rome_25_march_1957_consolidated_version_2001-en-d81185e4-8fe1-4ac3-9a66-226280dc7e4f.html Consolidated version of EURATOM treaty (2001)]</small><br /><hr><small>Consolidated version of TECSC (2001) ''-expired 2002''</small><br /><hr><small>[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:12002E/TXT&from=EN Consolidated version of TEC and TEU (2001)]</small>
}}
{{Politics of the European Union}}

The '''Treaty of Nice''' was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003.

It amended the [[Maastricht Treaty]] (or the Treaty on [[European Union]]) and the [[Treaties of Rome|Treaty of Rome]] (or the Treaty establishing the European Community which, before the Maastricht Treaty, was the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community). The Treaty of Nice reformed the institutional structure of the European Union to withstand eastward expansion, a task which was originally intended to have been done by the [[Treaty of Amsterdam|Amsterdam Treaty]], but failed to be addressed at the time.

The entry into force of the treaty was in doubt for a time, after its initial [[Twenty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2001|rejection by Irish voters]] in a referendum in June 2001. This referendum result was reversed in a subsequent referendum held a little over a year later.

==Provisions of the treaty==
The Nice Treaty was attacked by many people as a flawed compromise. [[Germany]] had demanded that its greater population be reflected in a higher vote weighting in the Council; this was opposed by [[France]], who insisted that the symbolic parity between France and Germany be maintained. The Commission had proposed to replace the old [[Voting in the Council of the European Union|weighted voting system]] with a double majority system which would require those voting in favour to represent a majority of both member states and population for a proposal to be approved.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Treaty of Nice: Actor Preferences, Bargaining And Institutional Choice |editor1-first=Finn |editor1-last=Laursen |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |year=2005 |place=Leiden |isbn=90-04-14820-5 |page=393}}</ref> This was also rejected by France for similar reasons. A compromise was reached, which provided for a double majority of Member States and votes cast, and in which a Member State could optionally request verification that the countries voting in favour represented a sufficient proportion of the EU's population.

{| style="font-size:87%; float:right; clear:both; padding:1em; margin:0; margin:1em; border-width:1px; border-style:solid; border-color:gray; padding:1em"
|+ Voting weights in the [[Council of the European Union]] as decided in the Treaty of Nice, effective as of 1 November 2004:<ref>Article 12 of the 2003 Act of Accession ([http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:236:0033:0049:EN:PDF OJ L 236, 23 September 2003, p. 33]). The figures given in the Act of Accession were determined prior to the 2004 enlargement in a declaration attached to the Nice Treaty ([http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2001:080:0001:0087:EN:PDF OJ C 80, 10 March 2001, p 82]).</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=EU voting row explained |newspaper=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=24 March 2004 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3562405.stm |access-date=17 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The Impact of Turkey's Membership on EU Voting |first1=Richard |last1=Baldwin |first2=Mika |last2=Widgrén |journal=CEPS Policy Brief |number=62 |publisher=Centre for European Policy Studies |date=February 2005 |page=11 |url=http://www.ceps.eu/files/book/1194.pdf |archive-date=2014-04-13 |access-date=2013-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413131909/http://www.ceps.eu/files/book/1194.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|- valign=top
| align=left | Country
| Voting<br />weight
| Pop.<br />(Mio.)
| Rel.<ref>The relative weight is a measure of how many Council votes a country has related to its population. In this instance, the German weight is taken to be 1.00 and as a reference to all others.</ref><br />weight
|-
| colspan=4 |<hr>
|-
| [[Germany]] || 29 || 82.0 || 1.00
|-
| [[United Kingdom]] || 29 || 59.4 || 1.38
|-
| [[France]] || 29 || 59.1 || 1.39
|-
| [[Italy]] || 29 || 57.7 || 1.42
|-
| [[Spain]] || 27 || 39.4 || 1.94
|-
| [[Poland]] || 27 || 38.6 || 1.98
|-
| [[Romania]] || 14 || 22.3 || 1.78
|-
| [[Netherlands]] || 13 || 15.8 || 2.33
|-
| [[Greece]] || 12 || 10.6 || 3.20
|-
| [[Czech Republic]] || 12 || 10.3 || 3.29
|-
| [[Belgium]] || 12 || 10.2 || 3.33
|-
| [[Hungary]] || 12 || 10.0 || 3.39
|-
| [[Portugal]] || 12 || 9.9 || 3.42
|-
| [[Sweden]] || 10 || 8.9 || 3.18
|-
| [[Austria]] || 10 || 8.1 || 3.49
|-
| [[Bulgaria]] || 10 || 7.7 || 3.67
|-
| [[Slovakia]] || 7 || 5.4 || 3.67
|-
| [[Denmark]] || 7 || 5.3 || 3.73
|-
| [[Finland]] || 7 || 5.2 || 3.81
|-
| [[Lithuania]] || 7 || 3.7 || 5.35
|-
| [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] || 7 || 3.7 || 5.35
|-
| [[Latvia]] || 4 || 2.4 || 4.71
|-
| [[Slovenia]] || 4 || 2.0 || 5.67
|-
| [[Estonia]] || 4 || 1.4 || 8.08
|-
| [[Cyprus]] || 4 || 0.8 || 14.14
|-
| [[Luxembourg]] || 4 || 0.4 || 28.28
|-
| [[Malta]] || 3 || 0.4 || 21.26
|-
| colspan=4 | <hr>
|-
| &nbsp; || Total || 345 || 490
|}

The Treaty provided for an increase after enlargement of the number of seats in the [[European Parliament]] to 732, which exceeded the cap established by the Treaty of Amsterdam.

The question of a reduction in the size of the [[European Commission]] after enlargement was resolved to a degree &mdash; the Treaty providing that once the number of Member States reached 27, the number of Commissioners appointed in the subsequent Commission would be reduced by the Council to below 27, but without actually specifying the target of that reduction. As a transitional measure it specified that after 1 January 2005, Germany, France, the [[United Kingdom]], [[Italy]] and [[Spain]] would each give up their second Commissioner.

The Treaty provided for the creation of subsidiary courts below the [[European Court of Justice]] and the [[General Court (European Union)|Court of First Instance]] (now the General Court) to deal with special areas of law such as patents.

The Treaty of Nice provides for new rules on closer co-operation, the rules introduced in the Treaty of Amsterdam being viewed as unworkable, and hence these rules have not yet been used.

In response to the failed sanctions against [[Austria]] following a coalition including [[Jörg Haider]]'s party having come to power, and fears about possible future threats to the stability of the new member states to be admitted in enlargement, the Treaty of Nice added a preventive mechanism to sanctions against a Member State that was created by the Amsterdam Treaty.<ref>{{cite web|first= Wojciech|last= Sadurski|author-link=Wojciech Sadurski|title = Adding a Bite to a Bark? A Story of Article 7, the EU Enlargement, and Jörg Haider|publisher=Sydney Law School, [[University of Sydney]]|year=2010|url=http://ecgi.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=365086110124003107025082007072124029031084070081044092070068068070126096105089064113057037031013031061114094095018086108067077015055013006080113008010090102116120001012040115093117127113006069086096064002006002064005068125121082008088029002120123026&EXT=pdf|access-date = 2015-10-28}}</ref>

The Treaty also contained provisions to deal with the financial consequences of the expiry of the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] (ECSC) treaty ([[Treaty of Paris (1951)]]).

==The Irish referendums==
{{Politics of the European Union}}
Under the current rules for the amendment of the Treaties, the Treaties can only be amended by a new Treaty, which must be ratified by each of the Member States to enter into force.

In all the EU member states the Treaty of Nice was ratified by parliamentary procedure, except in [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] where, following the decision of the Irish supreme court in ''[[Crotty v An Taoiseach]]'', any amendments that result in a transfer of sovereignty to the European Union require a constitutional amendment.  Ireland's Constitution can only be amended by a referendum.

===First referendum===
{{Main|Twenty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2001}}
To the surprise of the Irish government and the other EU member states, Irish voters [[Twenty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2001|rejected the Treaty of Nice]] in June 2001. The turnout itself was low (34%), partly a result of the failure of the major Irish political parties to mount a strong campaign on the issue, presuming that the Irish electorate would pass the Treaty as all previous such Treaties had been passed by big majorities.
However, many Irish voters were critical of the Treaty contents, believing that it marginalised smaller states. Others questioned the impact of the Treaty on [[Irish neutrality]]. Other sections viewed the leadership of the Union as out of touch and arrogant, with the Treaty offering a perceived chance to 'shock' the European leadership into a greater willingness to listen to its critics. (A similar argument was made when [[Denmark]] initially [[1992 Danish Maastricht Treaty referendum|voted down]] the [[Treaty of Maastricht]].)

===Second referendum===
{{Main|Twenty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland}}
The Irish government, having obtained the [[Seville Declarations on the Treaty of Nice|Seville Declaration]] on Ireland's policy of military neutrality from the European Council, decided to have [[Twenty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|another referendum on the Treaty of Nice]] on Saturday, 19 October 2002. Two significant qualifications were included in the second proposed amendment, one requiring the consent of the [[Dáil]] for [[Enhanced co-operation|enhanced cooperation]] under the treaty, and another preventing Ireland from joining any EU common defence policy. A 'Yes' vote was urged by a massive campaign by the main parties and by civil society and the social partners, including campaigning through canvassing and all forms of media by respected [[pro-European]] figures like then [[European Parliament|EP]] president [[Pat Cox]], former [[Czech Republic|Czech]] president [[Václav Havel]], former [[President of Ireland]] [[Patrick Hillery]] and former [[Taoiseach]] (prime minister) [[Garret FitzGerald|Dr. Garret FitzGerald]]. Prominent civil society campaigns on the Yes side included [[Fianna Fáil]], [[Fine Gael]], the [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]], the [[Progressive Democrats]], the [[Irish Alliance for Europe]] led by Professor Brigid Laffan and Adrian Langan, and [[Ireland for Europe]] led by Ciarán Toland. On the No Side, the principal campaigns were those of the [[Green Party (Ireland)|Green Party]], [[Sinn Féin]], [[Anthony Coughlan]]'s [[National Platform]], [[Justin Barrett]]'s No to Nice campaign, and [[Roger Cole]]'s [[Peace and Neutrality Alliance]]. The result was a 60% "Yes" vote on a near-50% turn-out.

By then all other EU member states had ratified the Treaty. Ratification by all parties was required by the end of the year, or else the Treaty would have expired.

==Views of the treaty==
Proponents of the Treaty claimed it was a utilitarian adjustment to cumbersome [[European Union|EU]] governing mechanisms and a required streamlining of the decision-making process, necessary to facilitate enlargement of the [[European Union|EU]] into Central and [[Eastern Europe]]. They claim that, consequently, the treaty was vitally important for the integration and future progress of these former [[Eastern Bloc]] countries. Many people who were in favour of greater scope and power of the [[European Union|EU]] project felt that it did not go far enough and that it would in any case be superseded by future treaties. Proponents differed in the extent to which enlargement may have proceeded without the Treaty: some claimed that the very future of the Union's growth—if not existence—was at stake, while others said that enlargement could have legally proceeded—albeit at a slower pace—without it.

Opponents of the Treaty claimed that it was a "technocratic" rather than "democratic" treaty, which would further diminish the sovereignty of national and regional parliaments, and would further concentrate power into a centralised and unaccountable bureaucracy. They also claimed that five applicant countries could have joined the [[European Union|EU]] without changing the [[European Union|EU]]'s rules, and that others could have negotiated on an individual basis, something opponents to the treaty argued would have been to the applicants' advantage. They also claimed that the Treaty of Nice would create a two-tier EU, which might marginalise Ireland.{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} Opponents pointed out that leading pro-treaty politicians had admitted that if referendums had been held in countries other than [[Ireland]], it would probably have been defeated there as well.

==Criticism==
The Commission and the [[European Parliament]] were disappointed that the Nice [[Intergovernmental Conference]] (IGC) did not adopt many of their proposals for reform of the institutional structure or introduction of new Community powers, such as the appointment of a European Public Prosecutor. The European Parliament threatened to pass a resolution against the Treaty; the [[Italy|Italian]] Parliament threatened it would not ratify it without the former's support. However, in the end this did not come to pass and the European Parliament approved the Treaty.

Many argue that the [[Three pillars of the European Union|pillar structure]], which was maintained by the Treaty, is overcomplicated; that the separate Treaties should be merged into one Treaty; that the three (now two) separate legal personalities of the Communities should be merged; and that the European Community and the European Union should be merged, with the European Union being endowed with [[Juridical person|legal personality]]. The German regions were also demanding a clearer separation of the powers of the Union from the Member States.

Nor did the Treaty of Nice deal with the question of the incorporation of the [[Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union|Charter of Fundamental Rights]] into the Treaty; that was also left for the 2004 IGC after the opposition of the United Kingdom.

==Signatures==

{| width=100% style="margin:0em 0em 0em 0em; font-size:.95em; border:1px solid #CCCCCC; background:#FFFFFF; vertical-align:top;"
|-
| align="center" height="85px" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA Belgium.png|100px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA Denmark.png|100px]] 
| align="center" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA Finland.png|100px]] 
| align="center" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA France.png|100px]] 
| align="center" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA Greece.png|100px]] 
| align="center" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA Ireland.png|100px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA Italy.png|100px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA Luxembourg.png|100px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Signature of Jozias van Aartsen (Nice Treaty FA the Netherlands).png|100px]]
|-
| {{flagicon|Belgium}} [[Belgium]]
| {{flagicon|Denmark}} [[Denmark]]
| {{flagicon|Finland}} [[Finland]]
| {{flagicon|France}} [[France]]
| {{flagicon|Greece}} [[Greece]]
| {{flagicon|Ireland}} [[Ireland]]
| {{flagicon|Italy}} [[Italy]]
| {{flagicon|Luxembourg}} [[Luxembourg]]
| {{flagicon|Netherlands}} [[Netherlands]]
|-
| align="center" height="85px" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA Portugal.png|100px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA Spain.png|100px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA the United Kingdom.png|100px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA Sweden.png|100px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA Germany.png|100px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Nice Treaty FA Austria.png|100px]]
| align="center" | 
| align="center" | 
| align="center" | 
|-
| {{flagicon|Portugal}} [[Portugal]]
| {{flagicon|Spain}} [[Spain]]
| {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom]]
| {{flagicon|Sweden}} [[Sweden]]
| {{flagicon|Germany}} [[Germany]]
| {{flagicon|Austria}} [[Austria]]
| 
| 
| 
|-
|}

===Withdrawal===
At the end of January 2020 ([[GMT]]), the [[Brexit|UK left the EU]] and so withdrew from this Treaty.

== EU evolution timeline ==
{{EU evolution timeline}}

==See also==
* [[EUR-Lex]]

==References==
{{More footnotes|date=February 2008}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/03/23&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en Summary of the Treaty]
* [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:2016:202:TOC Consolidated version of the Treaties]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2715437.stm Landmark EU treaty comes into effect] - BBC News article dated February 1, 2003
* [http://www.historiasiglo20.org/europe/niza.htm History of the European Union - Treaty of Nice]
* [http://www.esi2.us.es/~mbilbao/niza.htm Analysis of the voting weighs before and after, with 3D visualisation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327005406/http://www.esi2.us.es/~mbilbao/niza.htm |date=2012-03-27 }}
* [http://www.euobserver.com/index.phtml?aid=7760 Book about the Treaty of Nice (also as PDF)]
* [http://www.ena.lu?lang=2&doc=16311 Treaty of Nice] European NAvigator

{{EU treaties and declarations}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Treaty Of Nice}}
[[Category:February 2001 in France]]
[[Category:Treaties amending the founding treaties of the European Union|Nice]]
[[Category:21st century in Nice]]
[[Category:Treaties concluded in 2001]]
[[Category:Treaties entered into force in 2003]]
[[Category:2001 in the European Union]]
[[Category:2003 in the European Union]]
[[Category:2001 in France]]