Maastricht Treaty

The Maastricht Treaty is the supranational agreement that created the European Union (EU) and moved member states closer to economic and political unity. Also known as the Treaty on European Union, it derives its name from the Dutch city Maastricht in which it was signed on February 7, 1992, following a prolonged period of often fractious and politically charged negotiations. After eventually being ratified by all members, the Maastricht Treaty took effect on November 1 of the following year, superseding the Treaty of Rome and the European Economic Community (EEC) and marking the greatest degree of multinational cooperation achieved to date among European member states. The treaty can be regarded as the continuation of a decades-long trend wherein many European nations have been progressively moving toward economic and political unity.

At the time the Maastricht Treaty brought the EU into existence, it contained 12 original member countries, with Austria, Finland, and Sweden later joining as additional signatories in 1995. In 2004 and again in 2007, the treaty was amended to permit the inclusion of 12 additional states (10 in 2004, two in 2007) into the EU Presently three countries are candidates for EU membership, and the treaty is expected to be expanded again with the anticipated accession of Croatia, Macedonia, and Turkey into the EU, although as of 2008 no admission date had been agreed upon. However, in the wake of the rapid expansion of the EU in the first years of the 21st century, many citizens of current member states advocate a slower rate of expansion.

Subsequent external protocols associated with the Maastricht Treaty facilitated the adoption of new policies related to political and economic unity, including the establishment of EU citizenship, giving citizens of states holding full EU membership the right to live and work in any EU state and the right to vote in elections in that state. Many aspects of EU law and the Maastricht Treaty regulate matters unrelated to trade or economic affairs, such as television broadcast standards, exhaust regulations for automobiles, public health guidelines, and the elimination of capital punishment.

While many dimensions of the Maastricht Treaty also address social and political issues, arguably its primary function is to strengthen its members economically. Specifically, cultivation of closer economic linkages between member states improves the ability of the community as a whole to compete in the arena of global trade. By eliminating or reducing tariffs and by simplifying the movement of goods and labor across borders, the community as a whole was foreseen as becoming more economically efficient and competitive. The Maastricht [Page 1040]Treaty delineated policies and distinct phases of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) that eventually led to the introduction of the euro in 1999 and established it as the common currency of most EU member states. The treaty also established the economic criteria that EU states must fulfill as members.

Additionally, the treaty created a body of institutions that have become collectively known as the “Three Pillars of the EU”: the European Communities (EC) pillar that had existed in previous form within the European Community (EC) organization, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) pillar, and the Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (PJCC) pillar. The first pillar, or EC Pillar, is concerned principally with economic, environmental, and social policies and addresses matters such as agriculture, customs, economic/monetary union, healthcare, and immigration and citizenship policies. The second, or CFSP Pillar, addresses foreign policy and military matters such as deployment of peacekeepers. The third, or PJCC Pillar, promotes cooperation in combating smuggling, terrorism, and other forms of crime. The pillar structure of organizing laws and regulations is slated to be abolished by merging into a single, consolidated European Union authority in 2009 pending the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon.

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