Few Britons have ever heard of the Acquis Communautaire. Yet it is the bedrock of the European Union. As the debate about returning to the EU persists, it is essential to understand the importance of the acquis communautaire, also known as the community acquis, the EU acquis or just acquis.
The term is French: acquis meaning “that which has been acquired or obtained”, and communautaire meaning “of the community”. In a nutshell the acquis is the accumulated legislation, legal acts, treaties, regulations, directives and European Court of Justice decisions that altogether constitute the body of European Union law. The acquis takes precedence over national law if there is a conflict. It is dynamic. Over the years as different countries have sought entry into the EU, so the acquis has been refined and enlarged.
Niall Ó Conghaile describes the acquis as a “shield against history” – protection against the re-occurrence of Europe’s very turbulent past of territorial fights and land-grabs. The acquis is the commitment each and every EU member gives to each other.
The importance of the acquis communautaire
For a country to become an EU member state they must agree to adopt, implement and enforce all the acquis. Total commitment. And this may mean establishing or changing administrative or judicial bodies. So it is important to understand the totality.
If War and Peace is considered a heavy read, then the 35 chapters of the acquis must rival it. It covers among other things:
- Freedom of movement of workers, services, goods and capital; customs union
- Public procurement, company, media and intellectual property law, and competition policy
- Financial services, control and budgetary provisions; taxation; economic and monetary policy; statistics
- Environment, agriculture, fisheries, food, veterinary and phytosanitary policy
- Transport, energy, trans-European networks
- Social, employment, enterprise, industrial and regional policy; institutions
- Judiciary & fundamental rights; justice, freedom and security
- Science, research, education and culture
- Consumer and health protection
- External relations, foreign, security and defence policy
These rules are based on shared principles and beliefs. They are rules that are shared across 27 different countries and which continue to bring a degree of harmony among the member states. Of course, countries have differences. But the underlying idea that member states all share common rules on humanity has enabled a very successful ‘brotherhood of man’ and created a powerful economic bloc. This in turn allows the individual to prosper.
Cherry-picking
The Brexit impact on the UK differs depending on the sector. Fisheries, farmers and haulage have repeatedly expressed issues. Increasingly the general public are aware of the consequences of Brexit. For example, higher food costs due to increased ‘red tape’; the forthcoming post-Brexit controls on plants, food and farm imports; the “Not For Sale in EU” stickers on supermarket food; weaker environmental protections allowing water companies to dump sewage at record levels; travel disruptions into the EU and restrictions on how long visitors may stay, work or perform, or take their pets. These are all visible signs of the consequences of departing from the acquis.
To address these self-inflicted problems, political parties and pundits are back to what Brits do best – exceptionalist cherry-picking. We want “to make Brexit work” but we also want freedom of movement of workers, services, goods and capital; we want to be part of the customs union to reduce administration, customs checks and charges; we want to be part of the single market; we want the Norway option; we want the Swiss solution; we want to be in the EEA.
We want to benefit from selected bits of the acquis that might alleviate our domestic pressures. And this is a fundamental problem. Our politicians either do not understand or are too afraid to publicly state – the EU will have none of it. The UK is either in or out. No choosing which bits we’d like and discarding the rest. No cherry-picking. Total commitment.
So where do we go now?
Some might say the UK sleep-walked into Brexit, failing to understand the nuances and life changes that came with walking away from the Acquis Communautaire; failing to understand the protections we were giving up.
Until the UK is very clear about what it wants: clear about committing whole-heartedly to EU membership; clear about adopting, implementing and enforcing the totality of the acquis; until then, any debate about being part of the EU will always remain just that. A debate.
