European Assembly Elections Act 1978
| Date | 01 January 1979 |
| Published date | 01 January 1979 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1979.tb01510.x |
| Author | Patricia M. Leopold |
STATUTES
EUROPEAN
ASSEMBLY
ELECTIONS
ACT
1978
The European Coal and Steel Community Treaty (ECSC) of
1951
induded
an
-bly
as
part
of
its
institutional structure. The
Assembly was given supervisory powers over the new
“
supra-
national” High Authority and was also envisaged as
a
means of
ensuring that the
“
peoples of the States
”
were represented in the
Community. Although the ECSC Treaty provided that the members
of this Assembly should be designated by the respective national
parlliments
fnom
aniong their members,’
it
did envisage Ithat the
Assembly would eveiitually be elected by direct universal suffrage.2
However, before any such steps could be taken, two additional
communities, the European Economic Community (EEC) and the
European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) were established,
with institutional structures similar to those of the ECSC. It was
agreed at the time of the establishment of the two new communities
that there should be
a
single Assembly to act for all three com-
munities.8 The new treaties contained provisions similar to those
found in the ECSC Treaty with regard to the composition of the
A~sembly.~
The functions envisaged for the Assembly by the treaties are
“
advisory and supervisory.” However, the treaties grant the
Assembly the right
of
initiative on one matter, direct elections. It
was therefore up to the Assembly to “draw up proposals for
elections by direct universal suffrage in accordance with
a
uniform
procedure in all Member States.” Such proposals were to be sent
to the Council
of
Ministers which, acting unanimously, was to lay
down the appropriate provisions to implement the Assembly’s
proposals. Therefore, although the right of initiative belonged to the
Assembly, the real power to bring about direct elections lay with
the Council.
The
first
proposal
to
the Council was made by the Assembly on
May
17,
1960.O
The Council took no action, despite reminders from
the Assembly.7 The enlargement of the communities in the early
1970s
meant that there could be little prospect of direct elections
for
a
few years, and it was not until the Paris Summit of December
1974
that any further initiative was taken. Point
12
of the final
1
Art. 21 (1).
a
Art. 21 (3).
4
EEC Treaty,
Arts.
137, 138; Euratom Treaty,
Arts.
107,
108.
ti
EEC Treaty, Art. 138.
6
J.O. 1960, 37/834
of
June 2, 1960.
7
Se-a
for
example tho resolution
of
March 12, 1969, in which the Assembly
drew the Council’s attention
to
the existence
of
Art. 175, EEC Treaty.
Doc.
21416869.
66
Convention on certain Community Institutions 1957.
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