Editorial

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1034/j.1601-1546.2002.10113.x-i1
• Published date: 01 March 2001
• Date: 01 March 2001
• Author: Francis Snyder

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Editorial

Francis Snyder

Is Nice a nice Treaty? Overall, measured in terms of ideals for institutional reform

and economic and social integration, the outcome of the summit was disappointing.

Nevertheless, amidst the details of negotiation, compromise, and opportunities lost,

several overriding points stand out.

The most evident is public recognition of the central role of Germany. The largest

country in terms of population, Germany is the most important contributor to the

budget, a major determinant of economic and monetary policy, and one of the basic

sources of EU legal principles and legal culture. Soon it will be at the geographical

heart of today's European Union. A dose of political realism, the recognition of

Germany as the main player in European integration, though resisted, countered, and

even blunted in its public expression, emerges clearly from Nice.

Another key point is the openness of the EU to enlargement. The Nice Summit sent

a clear message to the candidate countries that enlargement will de®nitely happen, and

soon. The necessary institutional reforms have not yet all been agreed, but it is clear

that enlargement will go ahead. Institutional reforms, if they are made at all, will

unfortunately now have to be negotiated under great pressure at the last minute, but

this seems to be the EU style. Intense pressure for institutional reform is not, however,

the only implication of enlargement. Enlargement means an inevitable change in the

shape of European integration: not simply geographical shape, but more crucially

legal, political, economic and social shape. It means a more diverse EU, in which the

drift of events probably implies greater decentralisation and looser integration unless a

great deal of imagination, in¯uence and power is brought to bear on the legal and

political structures of the EU and its Member States to produce a conjunction of unity

and diversity that is socially legitimate and politically manageable.

A third important element of Nice is the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Arguably

not necessary and perhaps even super¯uous from the legal standpoint, and the

product of many compromises, the Charter nevertheless has a signi®cance, ®rst in

its potentially great symbolic value, and second as a further step or marker of the

political and legal progress of European integration. In addition, it is likely, even in its

current form, to have a very important eect on EU law and politics, both within the

EU as it currently stands, and in the process of enlargement and in the relations with

other countries.

These three outcomes of NiceÐthe recognition of Germany, the imminence of

enlargement, and the statement of fundamental rightsÐare intimately interrelated in

the EU of today. It will be interesting to see in a few years, with the bene®t of

hindsight, if these same points remain as salient as they are now. For the time being,

these important developments shift the agenda of the EU in ways that need to be taken

fully into account in teaching, research, and practice in EU law. Some of the questions

European Law Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1, March 2001, pp. 1±3.

#Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2001, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JK, UK

and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA