ABSTRACT: Brief description of the project of a European Union drawn up by the Treaty elaborated and promoted by the European Parliament upon the initiative of Altiero Spinelli.

(For the United States of Europe, edited by Roberto Cicciomessere, Gianfranco Dell'Alba, Gianfranco Spadaccia - Supplement to Radical News n. 68 of the 5th of April 1988)

To repair the democratic deficit of the Community and to newly start the process of political integration of Europe, in July 1981 the European Parliament decided, upon initiative of Altiero Spinelli, to create a Commission for institutional affairs, of which Marco Pannella is vice-president, charged to elaborate modifications to the existing treaties.

After shortly less than three years of work, in February 1984, the European Parliament approved with 237 favourable votes, 31 contrary votes and 43 abstentions, the project of a Treaty that establishes the European Union.

At the same time, the Italian Chamber of Deputies, upon initiative of the Radicals, passed a motion that incorporates the project of a Treaty of the Union.

According to this project, the Union defines its territory and its citizenship.

The institutions of the Union are: the European Parliament, the Council of the Union, the Commission, the Court of Justice, the European Council.

The powers of the Union's institutions are based on the principles of the participation of the member States, of the democratic legitimacy, of the separation of powers and of the operative efficiency.

The project of course amplifies the powers of the European Parliament, which is elected with universal suffrage, adding to the powers currently exerted those of investiture and of political control as regards the Commission, and the concrete power of taking part in the legislative procedure (1).

The Council is conceived as an institution of the Union, and not as an inter-governmental organ, thus being similar to the model of the Senate (Bundesrat) of the Federal Republic of Germany, in which all Länder are represented.

This feature is underlined by the prevision that each member of the Council, appointed by the national governments, must be a "minister specifically and permanently charged with the Union's affairs".

The legislative initiative belongs to the Commission, conceived as a true government of the Union, but in the case of a refusal of the latter to present a draft bill, in conformity with the Parliament's or the Council's request, the latter institutions can present a draft bill.

The procedure of legislative approval provided by the project reduces the power of the Council, while increasing that of the Parliament and the Commission. The Council can only reject the text issued by the European Parliament, without the faculty of amending it. The competences of the Union are classified between exclusive, concurrent and potential competencies.

The former refer to the enactment of the free circulation of persons, services, goods and capitals, that is, the complete suppression of controls on the circulation of persons at the internal borders of the Union.

In the sectors of agriculture and fishing, of telecommunications, transports, research and development, and in the energy sector, the Union has, on the other hand, a concurrent competence, that is to say that the member States continue to exert their action until the Union intervenes. The Union has a concurrent competence also for that which concerns the European monetary system, which is integrated in the institutional and decisional context of the Union.

The prevision of the potential competencies expresses the substantial resolve to allow for a progressive evolution of the Union, in accordance with the development of solidarity between the member States.

The project of a Treaty that establishes the European Union also provides a uniform foreign policy with the exclusive competency of the Union in the field of commercial policy, after a transitory period, in the field of development aid policy and in the other sectors which are already included in the exclusive competences of the European Communities.

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(1) Article 36 (Project of a Union Treaty)

"The Parliament and the Council of the Union jointly exert the legislative power, with the active participation of the Commission."