Maastricht Treaty

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This article is about the European Union treaty of 1992. For the 1843 treaty between Belgium and the Netherlands, see Treaty of Maastricht (1843).

For the content of the treaty as of 2009, see Treaties of the European Union#Treaty on European Union

Maastricht Treaty
Treaty on European Union
Type of treaty	Amending treaty
Signed Location	7 February 1992 Maastricht, Netherlands
Effective	1 November 1993
Signatories	1992 EC members
Languages	10[show] Danish Dutch English French German Greek Irish Italian Portuguese Spanish
Treaty on European Union at Wikisource

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union

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The Treaty of Maastricht (formally, the Treaty on European Union,^[1] (TEU)^[2]) was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, the Netherlands.^[3] On 9–10 December 1991, the same city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty.^[4] Upon its entry into force on 1 November 1993 during the Delors Commission,^[5] it created the European Union and led to the creation of the single European currency, the euro. The Maastricht Treaty has been amended to a degree by later treaties. For details on the content of the treaty as amended by Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon, see the treaties of the European Union article.

The Provincial Government Buildings on the Meuse where the Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992.

Contents [show] 1 Content 1.1 The Maastricht criteria 2 Ratification 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Content

The signing of the Treaty

The treaty led to the creation of the euro currency, and created what is commonly referred to as the pillar structure of the European Union. This conception of the Union divides it into the European Community (EC) pillar, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) pillar, and the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) pillar. The latter two pillars are intergovernmental policy areas, where the power of member-states is at its greatest extent, whilst under the European Community pillar the Union’s supra-national institutions — the Commission, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice — have the most power. All three pillars were the extensions of existing policy structures. The European Community pillar was the continuation of the European Economic Community with the “Economic” being dropped from the name to represent the wider policy base given by the Maastricht Treaty. Coordination in foreign policy had taken place since the beginning of the 1970s under the name of European Political CooperationSingle European Act but not as a part of the EEC. While the Justice and Home Affairs pillar extended cooperation in law enforcement, criminal justice, asylum, and immigration and judicial cooperation in civil matters, some of these areas had already been subject to intergovernmental cooperation under the Schengen Implementation Convention of 1990. (EPC), which had been written into the treaties by the

The creation of the pillar system was the result of the desire by many member states to extend the European Economic Community to the areas of foreign policy, military, criminal justice, judicial cooperation, and the misgiving of other member states, notably the United Kingdom, over adding areas which they considered to be too sensitive to be managed by the supra-national mechanisms of the European Economic Community. The compromise was that instead of renaming the European Economic Community as the European Union, the treaty would establish a legally separate European Union comprising the renamed European Economic Community, and the inter-governmental policy areas of foreign policy, military, criminal justice, judicial cooperation. The structure greatly limited the powers of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice to influence the new intergovernmental policy areas, which were to be contained with the second and third pillars: foreign policy and military matters (the CFSP pillar) and criminal justice and cooperation in civil matters (the JHA pillar).

NAFTA

North American Free Trade Agreement

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“NAFTA” redirects here. For other uses of the acronym, see Nafta (disambiguation).

North American Free Trade Agreement Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (Spanish) Accord de libre-échange nord-américain(French)
Secretariats		Mexico City, Ottawa and Washington, D.C.
Languages		3[show] English Spanish French
Membership		Canada, Mexico and United States
Establishment
–	Formation	January 1, 1994
Area
–	Total	21,783,850 km2 (1st) 8,410,792 sq mi
–	Water (%)	7.4
Population
–	2010 estimate	457,284,932 (3rd)
–	Density	25.1/km2 (195th) 54.3/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2008 (IMF) estimate
–	Total	$17,153,462 trillion (n/a)
–	Per capita	$35,491 (n/a)
GDP (nominal)		2008 (IMF) estimate
–	Total	$16,792 trillion (n/a)
–	Per capita	$35,564 (18th)
Website http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org

The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Canada. In terms of combined purchasing power parity GDP of its members, as of 2007 the trade bloc is the largest in the world and second largest by nominal GDP comparison.^[update]

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has two supplements, the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) and the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC).

Contents [show] 1 Background 2 Negotiation and ratification 3 Provisions 4 Mechanisms 4.1 Trade 4.2 Industry 4.3 Environment 4.4 Agriculture 4.5 Mobility of persons 5 Criticism and controversies 5.1 Canadian disputes 5.1.1 Change in income trust taxation 5.1.2 Further criticism in Canada 5.2 U.S. deindustrialization 5.3 Impact on Mexican farmers 5.4 Impact of NAFTA on Canada 5.5 Chapter 11 5.6 Chapter 19 5.7 Chapter 14 6 See also 7 References 8 External links 9 Further reading

[edit] Background

In 1988 Canada and the United States signed the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement after which the U.S. Congress approved implementing legislation. The American government then entered into negotiations with the Mexican government for a similar treaty, and Canada asked to join the negotiations in order to preserve its perceived gains under the 1988 deal.^[1] The climate at the time favored expanding trade blocs, such as the Maastricht Treaty, which created the European Union in 1992.

[edit] Negotiation and ratification

Following diplomatic negotiations dating back to 1986 between the three nations, the leaders met in San Antonio, Texas, on December 17, 1992, to sign NAFTA. U.S. President George H. W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas, each responsible for spearheading and promoting the agreement, ceremonially signed it. The agreement then needed to be ratified by each nation’s legislative or parliamentary branch.

Before the negotiations were finalized, Bill Clinton came into office in the U.S. and Kim Campbell in Canada, and before the agreement became law, Jean Chrétien had taken office in Canada.

Bill Clinton had become president of the U.S. before the agreement came into force, and is seen here signing the U.S. implementation legislation.

The proposed Canada-U.S.trade agreement had been extremely controversial and divisive in Canada, and the 1988 Canadian election was fought almost exclusively on that issue. In that election more Canadians voted for anti-free trade parties (the Liberals and the New Democrats) but more seats in parliament were won by the pro-free trade Progressive Conservatives (PCs). Mulroney and the PCs had a parliamentary majority and were able to easily pass the Canada-U.S. FTA and NAFTA bills. However Mulroney himself had become deeply unpopular and resigned on June 25, 1993. He was replaced as Conservative leader and prime minister by Kim Campbell, who then led the PC party into the 1993 election where they were decimated by the Liberal party under Jean Chrétien. Chrétien had campaigned on a promise to renegotiate or abrogate NAFTA, but instead negotiated the two supplemental agreements with the new U.S. president. In the U.S., Bush, who had worked to “fast track” the signing prior to the end of his term, ran out of time and had to pass the required ratification and signing into law to incoming president Bill Clinton. Prior to sending it to the United States Senate, Clinton introduced clauses to protect American workers and allay the concerns of many House members. It also required U.S. partners to adhere to environmental practices and regulations similar to its own. The ability to enforce these clauses, especially with Mexico, and with much consideration and emotional discussion the House of Representatives approved NAFTA on November 17, 1993, by a vote of 234 to 200. The agreement’s supporters included 132 Republicans and 102 Democrats. NAFTA passed the Senate 61-38. Clinton signed it into law on December 8, 1993; it went into effect on January 1, 1994.^[2][3]