scholarly journals Democratic Legitimacy and Soft Law in the EU Legal Order: A Theoretical Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danai Petropoulou Ionescu ◽  
Mariolina Eliantonio
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Empirical Assessment ◽  
The Eu

The increased recourse to soft law by the European Union (EU) as a flexible solution to complex social and policy issues has raised several questions about the democratic legitimacy of decision-making at the EU level. With the aim to provide a normative direction for future empirical assessment of EU soft law, this article explores the democratic credentials that EU soft law measures should fulfil to ensure their legitimacy. Drawing from the intersections of liberal, republican and deliberative conceptions of democracy, this article proposes four democratic legitimacy standards for the evaluation of soft law measures in practice: parliamentary involvement, transparency, participatory quality and reviewability.

Wartości czy interesy? Przyczynek do rozważań o istocie procesów integracji w ramach Unii Europejskiej

2018 ◽  
pp. 96-115
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Szczerba-Zawada
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
International Organization ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Common Values ◽  
The Eu

The purpose of this article is to try to outline the essence of membership of the European Union. This international organization, by virtue of the decision of its creators, i.e. the Member States, has been equipped with attributes, which have determined its unique – supranational – character. As a new legal order, the European Union has been granted some scope of autonomy, but ontologically it is dependent on the Member States. It is the Member States that have taken decision on setting up a new integration structure with a center of decision-making located not only outside but also above them, the scope of its competences and instruments of their exercising, and as “masters of the Treaties”, may decide to dissolve it. The decision to join the European Union seems to be determined pragmatically and praxiologically – upon benefits of cooperation within the framework of the EU. In this perspective solidarity, understood as the unity and equality of the Member States, based on common values, becomes a factor legitimizing the EU, and at the same time – a guarantor of its existence, especially in times of crisis.

5. The European Union legal system

2021 ◽  
pp. 108-139
Author(s):  
Margot Horspool ◽  
Matthew Humphreys ◽  
Michael Wells-Greco
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Legislative Procedures ◽  
System P ◽  
The Eu

This chapter discusses the EU system’s sources of law covering: primary legislation, secondary Union legislation and other sources of law, including ‘soft law’. It also discusses the legislative procedures, decision-making procedure of the Commission and legislative powers and implied powers. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the application of the principle of subsidiarity and proportionality.

Choosing Voting Rules in the European Union

2019 ◽  
pp. 218-236
Author(s):  
Běla Plechanovová ◽  
Madeleine O. Hosli ◽  
Anatolij Plechanov
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Majority Rule ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Voting Rules ◽  
Rule Change ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
The Eu ◽  
The Ideal

This chapter studies voting and representation in the European Union, specifically the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, over time. The authors assess the linkages between decision-making and democratic legitimacy, and then focus on potential alternatives to decision-making in the Council. They discuss development of the double-majority rule in view of aspects such as democratic representation, efficiency, and equitability and then offer analyses for different scenarios for the EU’s future, assuming different membership constellations and changes in member-states’ population sizes. They offer new calculations on voting power, the institution’s capacity to act, and equitability. Equitability, also with new rules incorporated into the Lisbon Treaty and effective as of November 2014, still deviates from the ideal value and with this, might induce the need for a rule change again in the future.

A Demos for the European Union?

Politics ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Jolly
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Popular Support ◽  
Political Relationship ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Eu

The European Union's alleged shortage of democratic legitimacy is said to be caused partly by the polity's lack of a demos which makes it unsuitable for majoritarian decision-making. However, this problem is often overshadowed by – sometimes even confused with – the lack of public enthusiasm as regards European integration. But, although clearly related, these are not synonymous. The no-demos thesis focuses on the lack of a transnational political relationship between individuals and is related mainly to the legitimacy of the EU's decision-making processes, whereas the issue of popular support primarily relates to the legitimacy of European integration itself. In this article, I address the former by attempting to answer the following questions. Firstly, what do we mean when we say that the EU has no demos? Secondly, does the EU really need a demos, and if so, how can one be created?

The Law & Politics of Brexit: Volume II

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Financial Settlement ◽  
The Eu

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the withdrawal agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and the European Union to create the legal framework for Brexit. Building on a prior volume, it overviews the process of Brexit negotiations that took place between the UK and the EU from 2017 to 2019. It also examines the key provisions of the Brexit deal, including the protection of citizens’ rights, the Irish border, and the financial settlement. Moreover, the book assesses the governance provisions on transition, decision-making and adjudication, and the prospects for future EU–UK trade relations. Finally, it reflects on the longer-term challenges that the implementation of the 2016 Brexit referendum poses for the UK territorial system, for British–Irish relations, as well as for the future of the EU beyond Brexit.

scholarly journals The European Union and WTO law: a nexus of reactive, coactive, and proactive approaches

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANTONIS ANTONIADIS
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Direct Effect ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Comprehensive View ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Community Legal Order ◽  
The Eu

Ranging from the denial of direct effect to WTO law by the Court of Justice to a WTO-friendly legislative culture currently booming in the EU's political institutions, different approaches towards WTO law have been adopted within the EU. This article classifies the different approaches into reactive, coactive, and proactive by drawing on their common characteristics. The principal aim is to explore the considerations shaping the development of the different approaches and to argue that these stem from the interaction between the judiciary and the legislature. In doing so, this article purports to provide a comprehensive view of the application of WTO law within the Community legal order.

EU-Sanktionspolitik in geopolitischen Zeiten: Europas schärfstes Außeninstrument und seine Herausforderungen

IG ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 278-294
Author(s):  
Niklas Helwig ◽  
Juha Jokela ◽  
Clara Portela
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Global Competition ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Policy Tool ◽  
Restrictive Measures ◽  
Fine Tune ◽  
The Eu

Sanctions are one of the toughest and most coercive tools available to the European Union (EU). They are increasingly used in order to respond to breaches of international norms and adverse security developments in the neighbourhood and beyond. However, the EU sanctions policy is facing a number of challenges related to the efficiency of decision-making, shortcomings in the coherent implementation of restrictive measures, as well as the adjustments to the post-Brexit relationship with the United Kingdom. This article analyses these key challenges for EU sanctions policy. Against the backdrop of an intensifying global competition, it points out the need to weatherproof this policy tool. The current debate on the future of the EU provides an opportunity to clarify the strategic rationale of EU sanctions and to fine-tune the sanctions machinery.

Towards an Enhanced Institutional Structure of the Eurasian Economic Union

2020 ◽  
Vol 152 ◽  
pp. 102-111
Author(s):  
Igor V. Pilipenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Institutional Structure ◽  
Governance Structures ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Eurasian Economic Union ◽  
Economic Commission ◽  
Economic Union ◽  
The Eu

This article considers how to enhance the institutional structure of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in order to enable timely decision-making and implementation of governance decisions in the interests of Eurasian integration deepening. We compare the governance structures of the EAEU and the European Union (EU) using the author’s technique and through the lens of theories of neofunctionalism and intergovernmentalism elaborated with respect to the EU. We propose to determine a major driver of the integration process at this stage (the College of the Eurasian Economic Commission or the EAEU member states), to reduce the number of decision-making bodies within the current institutional structure of the EAEU, and to divide clearly authority and competence of remaining bodies to exclude legal controversies in the EAEU.

scholarly journals La peculiare costituzione dell'Unione Europea

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Erik Fossum ◽  
Agustin José Menendez
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Institutional Structure ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Distinctive Features

A unique political animal, the European Union has given rise to important constitutional conundrums and paradoxes that John Erik Fossum and Agustín José Menéndez explore in detail in this book. The authors consider the process of forging the EU's constitution and the set of fundamental norms that define the institutional structure, the decision-making procedures, and the foundations of the Union's democratic legitimacy. Their analysis illuminates the distinctive features of the EU's pluralist constitutional construct but also the interesting parallels to the Canadian constitutional experience and provides the tools to understand the Union's development, especially during the Laeken (2001–2005) and Lisbon (2007–2009) processes of constitutional reform.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document