The "Ever closer Union" Clause : REALITY versus RETHORIC

A meaningless "conclusion"

The June 2014 European Council "conclusion" on the "ever closer union clause" cited by Richard Corbett (see link : http://www.richardcorbett.org.uk/rhetoric-vs-reality-1/) should be qualified as follows :

- it amounts to a mere opportunistic declaration by temporary national leaders, 

- it was essentially motivated by domestic political pressure within a member state provisorily lead by a eurosceptic government,

- the other EU institutions - which were not involved in this European Council political arbitrage - are not bound by it in any way,.

- it has no legal value whatsoever and cannot be considered as an authorized and valid interpretation of the treaties,

- the terms of this conclusion are not compatible with the letter nor with the spirit of the treaties ; they are in fact contrary to them (see below) 

Reminder on the "ever closer union" clause

- the "ever closer union" clause is an essential base of the whole EU enterprise and the corner stone of european unity and solidarity,

- it is the fundamental legal and political basis for the reinforcement and development of all existing and future EU policies,

- apart from specific cases (ie the strengthened cooperation procedures) the treaties does not allow for "different paths of integration",

- the "respect of the wish of certain countries that do not want to deepen any further" is a meaningless legal and political option,

- such country(ies) have only two possibilities 1. using their right within the Council body and procedures (ie QMV) to vote against "deepening integration" decisions  2. triggering the EU exit clause and negotiate a cooperation agreement with the European Union. 

- at the most, such country(ies) can ask for a unilateral "declaration" - without any legal value - to be added to the list of the 62 other such national "declarations" annexed to the treaties. 

- it is not acceptable to derive from such an essential clause of the treaties only to accommodate passing electoral wishes of the leaders of one (or even a few) of the 28 EU member states.

In summary : renouncing to the "ever closer union" concept would amount to renouncing to the whole european project.