A Super-myth, not a Super-state

Most people probably figure that in 1973 Ireland joined the European Economic Community or “Common Market”. That somewhere along the way this became the European Community and then, with the Maastricht Treaty, it became the European Union. This was pretty much what I thought before I sat in on what was probably my first EU law lecture at uni. In fact, the EU consists of three pillars, one of which is the European (Economic) Community (“Economic” was deleted by Maastricht). Thus it was explained to us that the European Community continues to exist, albeit only on paper.

This so-called pillar structure is unnecessarily complicated and the Lisbon Treaty proposes to abolish it. It would do this by replacing all references to the “European Community” in the treaties with one to the “European Union” and by asserting that: “The Union shall replace and succeed the European Community.” In so doing the EU would get its own legal personality. This is not an unusual feature of international organisations. The United Nations has one, as does the World Trade Organisation, the World Health Organisation and the Universal Postal Union. Perhaps more importantly the European (Economic) Community has had one for the last fifty years. None of these organisations are super-states, (not last time I checked anyway), and there’s no reason to think the EU would become one either.

If you took a bit of a double take over my legal personality - super-state analogy, or wondered why I would mention it at all, don't worry about it too much. I’ve been scratching my head over for whole thing for a while as well. Claims on this topic can reach absurd lengths:

“One of the most dramatic consequences of this change is that the EU will become for the first time a ‘single legal personality’. This means that the EU will be able to act in the international arena in the same way as a state; it will be entitled to a seat at the United Nations”, Sinn Féin.

And even:

”It [the Lisbon Treaty] establishes a European Union with an entire legal personality and independent corporate existence in all Union areas for the first time, so that it can function as a State vis-à-vis other States”, Anthony Coughlan.

Legal personality in international law (essentially treaty making power) goes hand in hand with the powers that any particular body has. The EU can't agree to do anything in a treaty that it couldn't do anyway. A legal personality, whether it technically belongs to the European Community or the European Union, doesn't extend the powers of the EU, it just allows it to use those powers it already has.