The Commission report on the European Union

The Commission report on the European Union


On 26 June 1975, as a follow-up to the recommendations adopted by the Nine at the Paris Summit in October 1972 on the development of a European Union, the Commission submitted to the Heads of State or Government of the Member States of the European Community a report on the conversion of the existing relations among Member States into a European Union. Noting, in particular, the inability of the Community institutions to curb the chronic tendency of the individual countries to promote national solutions to international economic problems, the Commission reviewed the possibility of putting in place new joint actions and common policies (such as foreign policy, defence, and human rights protection) and the requisite institutional changes.


It advocated the establishment of a single institutional structure for all the power and responsibilities conferred on the European Union. It also set out a series of duties, in particular legislative, governmental and jurisdictional duties, that were specifically devolved to the Community institutions with a view to creating a European Union. The Commission, which favoured greater democratic legitimacy, advocated that the European Parliament be transformed into a bi-cameral Assembly consisting of a House of the States, representing national governments, and a House of the Peoples, elected by direct universal suffrage. It also suggested that Parliament should be granted the right to propose legislation. The Commission advocated the setting up of a Court of Auditors and the creation of a European Government to replace the Council of Ministers and Commission established by the basic treaties. Finally, the Report reviewed the possibility of a new Committee of Ministers being set up, like the one proposed in the European Political Community project definitively abandoned in August 1954. The European Council of Heads of State or Government, the principle of which was adopted at the Paris Summit in December 1974, was greeted as a welcome initiative. As for the Court of Justice, the Commission report suggested that it should be assigned an explicitly acknowledged constitutional role and expressed support for the idea of strengthening the individual’s right of appeal.

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