Treaties between EU Member States as Quasi-Instruments of EU Law

Author(s):  
Bruno De Witte ◽  
Thibault Martinelli

This chapter deals with legal instruments that formally speaking are not EU legal acts, but whose function is so intimately linked to the EU legal order that they can be called ‘quasi-instruments of EU law’. These are treaties concluded between all of the EU Member States (complementary agreements) or between only a selected number of them (partial agreements), in close connection with the operation of the European Union. Such international ‘side agreements’ have lately become rather prominent and controversial, particularly in the context of the euro crisis. The chapter discusses the variety of reasons for the adoption of those instruments, as well as the questions of legitimacy and compatibility with EU law which they raise.

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Pavlos Eleftheriadis

This chapter introduces the central legal and political interpretations of the European Union (EU). The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) suggests a federalist legal account when it speaks of EU law as a ‘new legal order’ and as ‘autonomous’ from international law and the law of the member states. This doctrine has met with resistance by the courts of the member states, which have refused to apply EU law without reference to their domestic constitution. The courts’ views can be seen as either a ‘constitutional’ approach, which we find in Neil MacCormick’s ‘pluralism’ under international law, or in the ‘pluralism’ defended by Mattias Kumm, Neil Walker, and others. But the general legal architecture of the EU is not only a theoretical but also a political problem. These legal interpretations correspond to rival political approaches, namely ‘federalism’, ‘statism’, and a new view proposed in this book ‘internationalism’. The most challenging political view of the EU, articulated for example by the historian Noel Malcolm, believes that it is actually a serious risk to self-government and democracy. Any legal and political interpretation of the treaties supporting the legitimacy of the EU requires that we have an effective response to this democratic challenge. Can the EU be democratically legitimate?


Author(s):  
Ilya Lifshits

The Member States of the European Union have transferred to it the substantial scope of the domestic competence in financial sphere. So, the EU exclusive competence covers the monetary policy of the Member States whose currency is the euro. Besides that, the legal regulation of the activities in the banking, insurance and stock markets are largely performed from the EU level. The European Union is not a member of many international financial institutions that determine global financial legal order in the modern world. Moreover, until now there is no established procedure for EU Member States coordination in such institutions. Based on systemic and comparative legal methods, the article explores peculiarities of realization of the EU external competence. The author concludes that development of financial integration in the European Union will inevitably lead to development of the legislation that would clearly regulate the procedure of EU Member States coordination in the international financial institutions. It would further limit legal capacity of the Member States and would result in so called “Europeanization” of the international financial legal order. Brexit would enhance this process.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (127) ◽  
pp. 68-78
Author(s):  
Victor Muraviov

The signing of the Association Agreement by Ukraine with the European Union and its member-states provides for the country a perspective of its integration in the Union with possible membership in it upon the creation of the free trade area between both partners. The realization of the Association Agreement is carried out on the international and national levels and is exercised by various means-accessions by Ukraine to international treaties, making national laws consistent with legal acts of EU institutions, recognition by Ukraine of national standards of EU Member States, mutual recognition of rules of the other side etc. The effective using of implementation legal tools requires from Ukraine establishing the proper and relevant legal background. Certain prerequisites for the application of the EU law into the Ukrainian legal framework have been existed. Nevertheless, they require be improving and reforming. The legal mechanism for implementing acts of association is still unsettled. It is related to the Council and the Committee of the association decisions. The corresponding mechanism in Ukraine has not been set up. It has the same concern with the European standards. Ukraine has to transpose the array of technical regulations as national standards with the conformity with EU legislation. However, it is not clear how this will be achieved. The article is focused on the analysis of the legal bases of the interaction of the European Union law and the Law of Ukraine. Specially elucidated the questions of the correlation of the EU law and the law of Ukraine, as well as the actual means of the implementation of the EU law in the legal order of Ukraine. The ways of the improvement of the legal mechanism of the realization of the EU law in the internal legal order of Ukraine are determined. There is emphasized that integration of Ukraine into the European Union will require important amendments into Ukrainian Constitution and other national legislation to provide the legal prerequisites for the realization of the EU law in the internal legal order of Ukraine. Special attention is paid to the means of implementation of international legal obligations in Ukraine.


Lex Russica ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
V. Yu. Slepak

The article deals with some features of the systems of revision of decisions made in the compliance with the results of procurement procedures in the EU Member States in the light of the requirements of EU law. In particular, the author investigates the EU law requirements applied to bodies reviewing decisions in the context of the need to determine the balance between the principle of procedural autonomy of the European Union member States (Article 4 of the Treaty on European Union) and the principles of efficiency and equivalence (derived from jurisprudence interpreting Article 19 of the Treaty on European Union). Also, the paper analyzes the problems arising while determining the applicant’s locus standi, since an excessively narrow interpretation of the notion “interest in obtaining a relevant contract” may serve as an unreasonable restriction for the access to the procedures of reviewing and, more generally, access to justice. The author explores the issues of applying such grounds in order to exclude the procurement participant from the number of bidders on the ground of “commission of a significant violation of the rules of professional activity” in the understanding of EU restrictive measures applied to managers of the procurement participant. There may be situations when the actions of the sole executive body result in the application of restrictive measures and that may be considered as evidence of the commission of a fundamental violation of rules of professional activity; the article considers standings that both confirm this thesis and indicate an excessively broad interpretation of this rule. On the one hand, the European Court of Justice has affirmed that organs of governance, especially the sole executive bodies, have a decisive influence and effective control over business activity to such an extent that their actions can be regarded as actions of the company also with regard to issues of liability. On the other hand, restrictive measures themselves do not, by their nature, constitute a measure of liability. However, the question of whether national authorities have the right to reassess the conclusions of the EU Council with regard to challenging the bidding results remains open.


2020 ◽  
pp. 97-105
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Kusztykiewicz-Fedurek

Political security is very often considered through the prism of individual states. In the scholar literature in-depth analyses of this kind of security are rarely encountered in the context of international entities that these countries integrate. The purpose of this article is to draw attention to key aspects of political security in the European Union (EU) Member States. The EU as a supranational organisation, gathering Member States first, ensures the stability of the EU as a whole, and secondly, it ensures that Member States respect common values and principles. Additionally, the EU institutions focus on ensuring the proper functioning of the Eurozone (also called officially “euro area” in EU regulations). Actions that may have a negative impact on the level of the EU’s political security include the boycott of establishing new institutions conducive to the peaceful coexistence and development of states. These threats seem to have a significant impact on the situation in the EU in the face of the proposed (and not accepted by Member States not belonging to the Eurogroup) Eurozone reforms concerning, inter alia, appointment of the Minister of Economy and Finance and the creation of a new institution - the European Monetary Fund.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1663-1700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clelia Lacchi

The Constitutional Courts of a number of Member States exert a constitutional review on the obligation of national courts of last instance to make a reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).Pursuant to Article 267(3) TFEU, national courts of last instance, namely courts or tribunals against whose decisions there is no judicial remedy under national law, are required to refer to the CJEU for a preliminary question related to the interpretation of the Treaties or the validity and interpretation of acts of European Union (EU) institutions. The CJEU specified the exceptions to this obligation inCILFIT. Indeed, national courts of last instance have a crucial role according to the devolution to national judges of the task of ensuring, in collaboration with the CJEU, the full application of EU law in all Member States and the judicial protection of individuals’ rights under EU law. With preliminary references as the keystone of the EU judicial system, the cooperation of national judges with the CJEU forms part of the EU constitutional structure in accordance with Article 19(1) TEU.


Author(s):  
Ivan Yakovyuk ◽  
Suzanna Asiryan ◽  
Anastasiya Lazurenko

Problem setting. On October 7, 2021, the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland ruled in favor of Polish law over European Union law, which in the long run may violate the principles according to which the Union operates and the rights enjoyed by citizens of the state. Such a precedent can further serve as a basis for identical decisions of the bodies of constitutional jurisdiction of those states that have problems in fulfilling their obligations in the European community. Analysis of recent researches and publications. The problems of the functioning of the bodies of the European Union, the implementation of their decisions and the general status in EU law are widely studied in national science. In particular, many scholars have studied the legal nature of the EU, including: TM Anakina, VI Muravyov, NM Ushakov, A. Ya. Kapustina, NA Korolyova, Yu. Yumashev, BN Topornin, OYa Tragniuk, SS Seliverstov, IV Yakovyuk and others. Target of research is to establish the foundations of EU law in the functioning of Union bodies, especially the Court, as well as to determine the hierarchy of national law and EU law. Article’s main body. Over the years, the Court has, within its jurisdiction, issued a large number of judgments which have become the source of the Union’s Constituent Treaties and of EU law in general. Over the last two decades, the powers of the Court of Justice have changed significantly. In particular, this is due to the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, which amended the EU’s founding treaties on the powers of the Court, then the reform of the European Court took place in 2015-2016, which concerned a change in the organizational structure of the Court. Despite the generally well-established case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the unification of the observance by the Member States of the basic principles of the European Union, the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland adopted a decision on 7 October. Conclusions and prospects for the development. Following the decision of the Constitutional Court, the Polish authorities found themselves in a situation that significantly complicated its internal and external situation. The way out of which requires answers to fundamental questions about the legal nature of the EU. Undoubtedly, this is an issue not only between Poland and the EU, but also between other member states.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmytro S. Melnyk ◽  
Oleg A. Parfylo ◽  
Oleksii V. Butenko ◽  
Olena V. Tykhonova ◽  
Volodymyr O. Zarosylo

Purpose The experience of most European Union (EU) Member States has demonstrated effective anti-corruption practices, making the EU one of the leaders in this field, which can be used as an example to learn from in the field of anti-corruption. The purpose of this study is to analyze and identify the main features of anti-corruption legislation and strategies to prevent corruption at the national and supranational levels of the EU. Design/methodology/approach The following methods were used in the work: discourse and content analysis, method of system analysis, method of induction and deduction, historical-legal method, formal-legal method, comparative-legal method and others. Using the historical and legal method, the evolution of the formation of anti-corruption regulation at the supranational level was revealed. The comparative law method helped to compare the practices of the Member States of the EU in the field of anti-corruption regulation. The formal-legal method is used for generalization, classification and systematization of research results, as well as for the correct presentation of these results. Findings The main results, prospects for further research and the value of the material. The paper offers a critical review of key EU legal instruments on corruption, from the first initiatives taken in the mid-1990s to recent years. Originality/value In addition, the article analyzes the relevant anti-corruption legislation in the EU member states that are in the top 10 countries with the lowest level of corruption, namely: Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Hadjigeorgiou ◽  
Elpidoforos S. Soteriades ◽  
Anastasios Philalithis ◽  
Anna Psaroulaki ◽  
Yiannis Tselentis ◽  
...  

This paper is a comparative survey of the National Food Safety Systems (NFSS) of the European Union (EU) Member-States (MS) and the Central EU level. The main organizational structures of the NFSS, their legal frameworks, their responsibilities, their experiences, and challenges relating to food safety are discussed. Growing concerns about food safety have led the EU itself, its MS and non-EU countries, which are EU trade-partners, to review and modify their food safety systems. Our study suggests that the EU and 22 out of 27 Member States (MS) have reorganized their NFSS by establishing a single food safety authority or a similar organization on the national or central level. In addition, the study analyzes different approaches towards the establishment of such agencies. Areas where marked differences in approaches were seen included the division of responsibilities for risk assessment (RA), risk management (RM), and risk communication (RC). We found that in 12 Member States, all three areas of activity (RA, RM, and RC) are kept together, whereas in 10 Member States, risk management is functionally or institutionally separate from risk assessment and risk communication. No single ideal model for others to follow for the organization of a food safety authority was observed; however, revised NFSS, either in EU member states or at the EU central level, may be more effective from the previous arrangements, because they provide central supervision, give priority to food control programs, and maintain comprehensive risk analysis as part of their activities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 900 (1) ◽  
pp. 012035
Author(s):  
P Polko

Abstract The European Green Deal (EGD) is a set of policy initiatives by the European Union with the overarching and ambitious aim of making Europe climate neutral in 2050. Being world’s first ‘climate-neutral bloc’ and fulfilling other goals extending to many different sectors, including construction, biodiversity, energy, transport, food and others has also an impact on different sectors of security. The implementation of the tasks set out in the EGD requires taking into account the necessity of sustainability in reaching the goals, including not violating sectoral security in the EU Member States. Nexus approach might be useful in the processes of finding and implementation of particular solutions.


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