Opt-outs in the European Union - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

In general, the law of the European Union is valid in all of the twenty-seven European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

member states. However, occasionally member states negotiate certain opt-out
Opt-out
The term opt-out refers to several methods by which individuals can avoid receiving unsolicited product or service information. This ability is usually associated with direct marketing campaigns such as telemarketing, e-mail marketing, or direct mail. A list of those who have opted-out is called a...

s from legislation or treaties of the European Union, meaning they do not have to participate in certain policy areas. Currently, five states have such opt-outs: Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

(four opt-outs), Ireland (two opt-outs), Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

(one opt-out) Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

(one opt-out, but only de facto) and the United Kingdom (four opt-outs). The Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

will gain their first opt-out under the next treaty to be ratified (likely an accession treaty).

This is distinct from the enhanced co-operation

Enhanced co-operation

In the European Union , enhanced cooperation is a procedure where a minimum of nine EU member states are allowed to establish advanced integration or cooperation in an area within EU structures but without the other members being involved...

, a measure introduced in the Treaty of Amsterdam

Amsterdam Treaty

The Amsterdam Treaty, officially the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty of the European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999; it made substantial changes to the Maastricht Treaty,...

, whereby a minimum of nine member states are allowed to co-operate within the structure of the European Union

Institutions of the European Union

The European Union is governed by seven institutions. Article 13 of Treaty on European Union lists them in the following order: the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European...

without involving other member states, after the European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

and a qualified majority have approved the measure. It is further distinct from Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification

Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification

The Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification is safeguard measure invoked by the European Commission in case some new member or acceding state of the European Union has failed to implement commitments undertaken in the context of the accession negotiations in the fields of the Area of freedom,...

and permanent acquis suspensions, whose lifting is conditional on meeting certain benchmarks by the affected member states.

Current opt-outs

As of 2007, two states have formal opt-outs from the Schengen

Schengen

Schengen may refer to:* Schengen Agreement, a European treaty that provided for the removal of border controls between participating countries* Schengen Area, the group of European countries that have abolished border controls between each other...

acquis and the common currency

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

, while Denmark

Denmark

secured three additional opt-outs along with its euro opt-out. Sweden

Sweden

is in a special situation which amounts to a de facto opt-out.

Schengen Agreement – Ireland and United Kingdom

The Schengen Agreement

Schengen Agreement

The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed on 14 June 1985 near the town of Schengen in Luxembourg, between five of the ten member states of the European Economic Community. It was supplemented by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement 5 years later...

abolished border controls between member states. Ireland and the United Kingdom have opt-outs from implementation of the Schengen acquis, though Ireland only joined the UK in adopting this opt-out to keep the Ireland–United Kingdom Common Travel Area

Common Travel Area

The Common Travel Area is a passport-free zone that comprises the islands of Ireland, Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The area's internal borders are subject to minimal or non-existent border controls and can normally be crossed by Irish and British citizens with only...

in effect. With the possible dissolution of the Common Travel Area in the future, Ireland technically may no longer maintain its opt-out from the Schengen Agreement, as agreed in the Treaty of Amsterdam. However, in response to a question on the issue, the Irish Taoiseach

Taoiseach

The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...

stated: "On the question of whether this is the end of the common travel area and should we join Schengen, the answer is "no"." The opt-out has been criticised in the United Kingdom for hampering the United Kingdom's capabilities in stopping transnational crime

Transnational crime

Transnational crimes are crimes that have actual or potential effect across national borders and crimes which are intra-State but which offend fundamental values of the international community...

through the inability to access the Schengen Information System

Schengen Information System

The Schengen Information System , is a governmental database used by European countries to maintain and distribute information on individuals and pieces of property of interest. The intended uses of this system are for national security, border control and law enforcement purposes...

United Kingdom

The Economic and Monetary Union

Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union

The Economic and Monetary Union is an umbrella term for the group of policies aimed at converging the economies of members of the European Union in three stages so as to allow them to adopt a single currency, the euro. As such, it is largely synonymous with the eurozone.All member states of the...

(EMU) replaced national currencies with the euro. At present all but two members are obliged to join, the two members being the United Kingdom and Denmark

Denmark

(cf. Edinburgh Agreement below). The UK secured an opt-out from having to introduce the euro in the initial Maastricht Treaty

Maastricht Treaty

The Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. On 9–10 December 1991, the same city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty...

negotiations, while Denmark did so later (see below). The Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

governments under Tony Blair

Tony Blair

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

and Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...

have made a move to introduce the euro contingent on approval in a referendum, which will only be held after five economic tests

Five economic tests

The five economic tests were the criteria defined by the UK treasury under Gordon Brown that were to be used to assess the UK's readiness to join the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union , and so adopt the euro as its official currency...

devised by then-Chancellor of the Exchequer

Chancellor of the Exchequer

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...

Gordon Brown have been met; the last assessment of the five economic tests (completed in June 2003) concluded that only one of the five had been met at that point, but that fulfilling two of the other four would ensure that the last two would also be fulfilled.

Sweden

, while not formally having negotiated an opt-out on this matter, did not join ERM II and thus deliberately failed to fulfil the criteria for introducing the euro

Introduction of the euro

The euro came into existence on 1 January 1999, although it has been a goal of the European Union and its predecessors since the 1960s. After tough negotiations, particularly due to opposition from the United Kingdom, the Maastricht Treaty entered into force in 1993 with the goal of creating...

; Sweden later voted against euro introduction in a referendum

Swedish euro referendum, 2003

A referendum on introduction of the euro was held in Sweden on 14 September 2003.The voter turnout was 82.6%, and the suggestion failed by 55.9% against 42.0%. Sweden in Europe was the main umbrella group campigning for a Yes vote.-Result:...

in 2003, and the issue is currently dormant. The European Commission

European Commission

and the European Central Bank

European Central Bank

The European Central Bank is the institution of the European Union that administers the monetary policy of the 17 EU Eurozone member states. It is thus one of the world's most important central banks. The bank was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998, and is headquartered in Frankfurt,...

have stated they would tacitly accept this derogation for the time being. Swedish governments have repeatedly stated they will only introduce the euro after a referendum approving this move has been held.

Edinburgh Agreement – Denmark

Denmark obtained four opt-outs from the Maastricht Treaty

Maastricht Treaty

following the treaty's initial rejection in a 1992 referendum

Danish Maastricht Treaty referendum, 1992

A referendum on the Maastricht Treaty was held in Denmark on 2 June 1992. It was rejected by 50.7% of voters with a turnout of 83.1%. The rejection was considered somewhat of a blow to the process of European integration, although the process continued...

. The opt-outs are outlined in the Edinburgh Agreement

Edinburgh Agreement

The Edinburgh Agreement or Edinburgh Decision is a December 1992 agreement reached at a European Council meeting in Edinburgh, UK, that granted Denmark four exceptions to the Maastricht Treaty so that it could be ratified by Denmark. This was necessary because, without all member states of the...

and concern the EMU (as above), the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), Justice and Home Affairs

Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters

The third of the three pillars of the European Union was Justice and Home Affairs , which was shrunk and renamed Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters in 2003. The pillar existed between 1993 and 2009, when it was absorbed into a consolidated EU structure.The pillar focused on...

(JHA) and the citizenship of the European Union

Citizenship of the European Union

Citizenship of the European Union was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty . European citizenship is supplementary to national citizenship and affords rights such as the right to vote in European elections, the right to free movement and the right to consular protection from other EU states'...

. With these opt-outs the Danish people accepted the treaty in a second referendum held in 1993

Danish Maastricht Treaty referendum, 1993

A second referendum on the Maastricht Treaty was held in Denmark on 18 May 1993. After rejecting the treaty in a referendum the previous year, this time it was approved by 56.7% of voters with an 86.5% turnout.-Background:...

.

The EMU opt-out means Denmark is not obliged to participate in the third phase of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism

European Exchange Rate Mechanism

The European Exchange Rate Mechanism, ERM, was a system introduced by the European Community in March 1979, as part of the European Monetary System , to reduce exchange rate variability and achieve monetary stability in Europe, in preparation for Economic and Monetary Union and the introduction of...

, i. e. to replace the Danish krone

Danish krone

The krone is the official currency of the Kingdom of Denmark consisting of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. It is subdivided into 100 øre...

with the euro. The abolition of the euro opt-out was put to a referendum in 2000

Danish euro referendum, 2000

A referendum on joining the Euro was held in Denmark on 28 September 2000. It was rejected by 53.2% of voters with a turnout of 87.6%.-Background:...

and was rejected. The CSDP opt-out originally meant Denmark would not be obliged to join the Western European Union

Western European Union

The Western European Union was an international organisation tasked with implementing the Modified Treaty of Brussels , an amended version of the original 1948 Treaty of Brussels...

(which originally handled the defence tasks of the EU). Now it means that Denmark does not participate in the European Union's foreign policy

Common Foreign and Security Policy

The Common Foreign and Security Policy is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, which domains include mainly Trade and Commercial Policy and other areas...

where defence is concerned. Hence it does not take part in decisions, does not act in that area and does not contribute troops to missions conducted under the auspices of the European Union, does not participate in the European Defense Agency. The JHA opt-out exempts Denmark from certain areas of home affairs. Significant parts of these areas were transferred from the third European Union pillar

Three pillars of the European Union

Between 1993 and 2009, the European Union legally consisted of three pillars. This structure was introduced with the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993, and was eventually abandoned on 1 December 2009 with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, when the EU obtained a consolidated legal...

to the first under the Amsterdam Treaty

Amsterdam Treaty

; Denmark's opt-outs from these areas were kept valid through additional protocols. Acts made under those powers are not binding on Denmark except for those relating to Schengen, which are instead conducted on an intergovernmental basis with Denmark. Under the Treaty of Lisbon

Treaty of Lisbon

The Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza....

, Denmark can change its JHA opt-out from a complete opt-out to the case-by-case opt-in version applying to Ireland and the United Kingdom whenever they wish. The citizenship opt-out stated that European citizenship did not replace national citizenship; this opt-out was rendered meaningless when the Amsterdam Treaty

Amsterdam Treaty

adopted the same wording for all members.

The government of Helle Thorning-Schmidt

Helle Thorning-Schmidt

Helle Thorning-Schmidt is a Danish politician and the current Prime Minister of Denmark. She has been leader of the Danish Social Democrats since April 2005 and prime minister since October 2011....

, elected in 2011, has said it intends to hold a referendum on ending the opt-outs on Common Security and Defence Policy, as well as Justice and Home Affairs. A referendum is tentatively planned for the last half of 2012, after the Danish presidency of the European Council.

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Poland and the United Kingdom

Both Poland

Poland

and the United Kingdom had originally opted out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union citizens and residents, into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly proclaimed on 7 December 2000 by the European Parliament, the Council of...

, a part of the Treaty of Lisbon, meaning that European courts would not be able to rule on issues related to the Charter if they are brought to courts in Poland or the UK. Poland's ruling party, Law and Justice

Law and Justice

Law and Justice , abbreviated to PiS, is a right-wing, conservative political party in Poland. With 147 seats in the Sejm and 38 in the Senate, it is the second-largest party in the Polish parliament....

, mainly noted concerns that it might force Poland to grant homosexual couples the same kind of benefits which heterosexual couples enjoy, while the UK was worried that the Charter might be used to alter British labour law, especially as relates to allowing more strikes. The European Scrutiny Committee

European Scrutiny Committee

The European Scrutiny Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the Committee is to assess the legal and political importance of each EU document, and decide which EU documents are debated...

of the British House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

, including members of both the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

and the Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

, has however cast doubts on the provision's text, asserting that the opt-out might not be worded strongly and clearly enough to achieve the government's aims.

After the Civic Platform

Civic Platform

Civic Platform , abbreviated to PO, is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Poland. It has been the major coalition partner in Poland's government since the 2007 general election, with party leader Donald Tusk as Prime Minister of Poland and Bronisław Komorowski as President...

won the 2007 parliamentary election

Polish parliamentary election, 2007

Early parliamentary elections for both houses of parliament were held in Poland on 21 October 2007 after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September 2007. The election took place two years before the maximum tenure of four years, with the previous elections having been in September 2005...

in Poland, it announced that it would not opt out from the Charter, leaving the UK as the only state not to adopt it. However, Donald Tusk

Donald Tusk

Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....

, the new Prime Minister and leader of the Civic Platform, later qualified that pledge, stating he would consider the risks before signing the Charter, and on 23 November 2007 he announced that he would not sign the Charter after all (despite the fact that both his party and their coalition partner, the Polish People's Party, were in favour of signing the Charter), stating that he wanted to honour the deals negotiated by the previous government and that he needed the support of Law and Justice

Law and Justice

to gain the two-thirds majority necessary to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon

Treaty of Lisbon

in the Parliament of Poland. He later clarified that he may sign up to the Charter after successful ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon has taken place.

Area of freedom, security and justice – Ireland and the United Kingdom

Ireland and the United Kingdom do not participate in legislation adopted in the area of freedom, security and justice

Area of freedom, security and justice

The area of freedom, security and justice is a collection of European Union policies designed to ensure security, rights and free movement within the EU. As internal borders have been removed within the EU, cross border police cooperation had to increase to counter cross border crime, and thus...

, which includes all matters previously part of the pre-Amsterdam Justice and Home Affairs pillar. This decision will be reviewed in Ireland three years after the treaty enters into force. Both states can, however, opt-in on these issues on a case-by-case basis.

Future opt-outs: Next European Union treaty

During the ratification process of the Treaty of Lisbon, the Czech President Václav Klaus

Václav Klaus

Václav Klaus is the second President of the Czech Republic and a former Prime Minister .An economist, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus is a eurosceptic, but he reluctantly endorsed the Lisbon treaty as president of...

negotiated an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

similar to that of Poland and the United Kingdom. However, it was at that point too late to include the opt-out in the Treaty of Lisbon itself, so it will instead be formalised following the adoption of the next European Union treaty, which is presumably an accession treaty for a future European Union member state.

Similarly, Ireland needed some extra provisions in order to ratify the treaty (following the failure of the first referendum in 2008, guarantees were formalised prior to the successful second referendum in 2009). Although these guarantees do not constitute an opt-out, they are also likely to be ratified in the next European Union treaty.

Former opt-outs

The United Kingdom had an opt-out from the Social Chapter

Social Chapter

The Social Chapter is the chapter of the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam covering social policy issues, such as promotion of employment and improved living and working conditions. Prior to the Treaty of Amsterdam the "Agreement on Social Policy" protocol of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty was known as the...

, negotiated by John Major

John Major

Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...

in 1991. Tony Blair

Tony Blair

abolished this opt-out immediately after coming to power in the 1997 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1997

The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...

Table

country	policy area
country	Schengen Area Schengen Area The Schengen Area comprises the territories of twenty-five European countries that have implemented the Schengen Agreement signed in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, in 1985...	EMU Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union The Economic and Monetary Union is an umbrella term for the group of policies aimed at converging the economies of members of the European Union in three stages so as to allow them to adopt a single currency, the euro. As such, it is largely synonymous with the eurozone.All member states of the...	Citizenship Citizenship of the European Union Citizenship of the European Union was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty . European citizenship is supplementary to national citizenship and affords rights such as the right to vote in European elections, the right to free movement and the right to consular protection from other EU states'...	CSDP	AFSJ Area of freedom, security and justice The area of freedom, security and justice is a collection of European Union policies designed to ensure security, rights and free movement within the EU. As internal borders have been removed within the EU, cross border police cooperation had to increase to counter cross border crime, and thus...	Charter of Fundamental Rights Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union citizens and residents, into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly proclaimed on 7 December 2000 by the European Parliament, the Council of...

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| style="background: #B200FF; color:white" |• de facto
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• de facto – de facto only, still legally binding but not enforced.

• de jure only – de jure
De jure
De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....

only; common citizenship subsequently adopted by all members.

• post-N – following coming into force

Coming into force

Coming into force or entry into force refers to the process by which legislation, regulations, treaties and other legal instruments come to have legal force and effect...

of the next European Union treaty (probably an accession treaty).

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• opt-in – possibility to opt-in on a case-by-case basis.

• tbr-L – may be reviewed after successful ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon

Treaty of Lisbon

.

• tbr-ref – planned to be reviewed in a referendum

Danish European Union opt-outs referendum

Denmark holds a number of "opt-outs" from European Union policies. These opt-outs relate to the Common Security and Defence Policy, citizenship, police and justice, and the adoption of the euro. The present government plans to hold a referendum on abolishing the opt-outs on defence and justice, but...

• tbr-12 – to be reviewed in 2012.

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External links

Denmark and the European Union, Danish Ministry for Foreign Affairs

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Current opt-outs

Schengen Agreement – Ireland and United Kingdom

United Kingdom

Sweden

Edinburgh Agreement – Denmark

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Poland and the United Kingdom

Area of freedom, security and justice – Ireland and the United Kingdom

Future opt-outs: Next European Union treaty

Former opt-outs

Table

See also

External links