Festschrift für Fritz W. Scharpf - MPIfG

104 II · Politik und Demokratie in Europa
bring about the common market in agriculture … and as it was explicitly required
for the creation of a common transport policy. (Scharpf 1999: 51–52)
Instead, the Commission, particularly in telecommunications, made active
use of its legislative powers under Art. 86.3 TEC (old Art. 90.2 TEC) to liberalize
national monopolies. It included neither the Council nor the EP in the
decision-making process, and it was supported in this by rulings of the ECJ.
While Fritz Scharpf identifies this trend in European policy-making in
the 1980s, he also draws attention to a certain moderation in the thrust of
policy-making during the second half of the 1990s. Scharpf points out that
although the Amsterdam Treaty has done little to increase the institutional
capacity for positive integration, there are some tendencies to stem the
forces of negative integration. Thus, by introducing the “Open Method of
Coordination” in employment policy, which relies on comparing and monitoring
national performance, certain social and labour market policies are
declared a matter of common concern for member states.
[T]here is a hope that innovative solutions to common problems could be worked
out that would not have been found in the rough-and-tumble of competitive party
politics dominating national policy processes … Last, but not least, the explicit
postulation of an employment goal, coequal with the fundamental commitment
to the four freedoms of the internal market, may have beneficial effects against
the dominance of neoliberal interpretations of what European integration is about
in the practice of the Commission and in the decisions of the European Court of
Justice. At any rate, it will now be harder to argue that, as a matter of positive
law, the Community should be strictly limited to achieving, and protecting, the
“four freedoms” and undistorted market competition. (Scharpf 1999: 160)
As regards the public service sector, Scharpf mentions the new Art. 16 of
the Amsterdam Treaty, which states that
without prejudice to Art. 73, 86 and 87, and given the place occupied by services
of general economic interest in the shared values of the Union as well as their
role in promoting social and territorial cohesion, the Community and the Member
States, each within their respective powers and within the scope of application
of this Treaty, shall take care that such services operate on the basis of principles
and conditions which enable them to fulfil their missions.
(Art. 16, Amsterdam Treaty)
In this way, according to Scharpf, the Council signals “… to the Commission,
the Court, and the legal profession that – in light of the ‘shared values
of the Union’ – more weight ought to be given to the purposes served by
public-service missions” (Scharpf 1999: 162). This message can be found