Supranational aspects in the functioning of the European Union

Law and World ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-187

The article is an attempt based on a generalization of the experience of the European Union (EU), to identify the essential characteristic of supranationality in the context of the interaction of international law with domestic law, to assess the legal nature of the EU and to offer the reader an authorial definition of “supranationality”. The general conclusion of the paper is that supranationality should be understood as an effective form of interstate cooperation and activity within the international organization, based on unity of interests, in which the authority serving these interests receives some degree of autonomy from the participating countries by transferring (conceding) part of their internal powers to it. As a result, its decisions, without prior transformation into domestic law, have a general normative character and direct effect not only on member states, but also on their natural and legal persons, which is ensured by effective enforcement mechanisms. At the same time, the supranational level, which has a considerable number of independent regulatory powers, is hierarchically higher than inter-state level, therefore, its law also has primacy over the national law. Besides, within the framework of the article, particular attention is paid to description of main approaches that characterize the legal essence of the European Union. The author expresses an opinion on the appropriateness of understanding the EU as an international organization of a special kind (sui generis), which combines elements of classical international organizations with supranational features in its functioning.

2018 ◽  
pp. 10-37
Author(s):  
Barbara Curyło

In the discussion on the future of the EU, the topic of differentiated integration has become a strategic issue, with different variants beginning to appear as modus operandi of the European Union, which has become a subject of controversy among Member States. Significantly, the debate on differentiated integration began to be accompanied by reflections on disintegration. This article attempts to define disintegration on the assumption that it should be defined through the prism of integration, and that such a defining process can not be limited to concluding a one-way contrast between disintegration versus integration and vice versa. This is due to the assumption that the European Union is a dichotomous construct in which integration and disintegration mutually exclude and complement each other. This dichotomy is most evident in the definition of integration and disintegration through the prism of Europeanisation top-down and bottom-up processes that generate, reveal, visualize, stimulate integration mechanisms what allows to diagnose their determinants.


Author(s):  
Pavlos Eleftheriadis

This book offers a legal and political theory of the European Union. Many political and legal philosophers compare the EU to a federal union. They believe that its basic laws should be subject to the standards of constitutional law. They thus find it lacking or incomplete. This book offers a rival theory. If one looks more closely at the treaties and the precedents of the European courts, one sees that the substance of EU law is international, not constitutional. Just like international law, it applies primarily to the relations between states. It binds domestic institutions directly only when the local constitutions allow it. The member states have democratically chosen to adapt their constitutional arrangements in order to share legislative and executive powers with their partners. The legal architecture of the European Union is thus best understood under a theory of dualism and not pluralism. According to this internationalist view, EU law is part of the law of nations and its distinction from domestic law is a matter of substance, not form. This arrangement is supported by a cosmopolitan theory of international justice, which we may call progressive internationalism. The EU is a union of democratic peoples, that freely organize their interdependence on the basis of principles of equality and reciprocity. Its central principles are not the principles of a constitution, but cosmopolitan principles of accountability, liberty, and fairness,


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4772
Author(s):  
Hanna Klikocka ◽  
Aneta Zakrzewska ◽  
Piotr Chojnacki

The article describes and sets the definition of different farm models under the categories of being family, small, and large-scale commercial farms. The distinction was based on the structure of the workforce and the relationship between agricultural income and the minimum wage. Family farms were dominated by the farming family providing the labour and their income per capita exceeded the net minimum wage in the country. The larger commercial farms feature a predominance of hired labour. Based on surveys, it was found that in 2016 in the EU-28 there were 10,467,000 farms (EU-13—57.3%, EU-15—42.7%). They carried out agricultural activities on an area of 173,338,000 ha (EU-13—28.5%, EU-15—71.5%). Countries of the EU-28 generated a standard output (SO) amounting to EUR 364,118,827,100 (EU-13—17.2% and EU-15—82.8%). After the delimitation, it was shown that small farming (70.8%) was the predominant form of management in the European Union (EU-13—88.2% and EU-15—79.8%) compared to family farming (18.4%) (EU-13—10.5% and EU-15—29%). In most EU countries the largest share of land resources pertains to small farms (35.6%) and family farms (38.6%) (UAA—utilised agricultural area of farms).


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna J Young ◽  
Denis Coulombier ◽  
Dragoslav Domanović ◽  
Hervé Zeller ◽  
Céline M Gossner ◽  
...  

West Nile virus (WNV) infection is notifiable in humans and equids in the European Union (EU). An area where a human case is detected is considered affected until the end of the mosquito transmission season (week 48) and blood safety measures have to be implemented. We used human and equine case notifications between 2013 and 2017 to define the WNV distribution in the EU and to investigate the relevance of using equine cases as a complementary trigger for blood safety measures. Adding areas with equine cases to the definition of an affected area would have a major impact on blood safety measures. Adding areas with equine cases where human cases have been reported in the past would increase the timeliness of blood safety measures with only a limited impact. Although the occurrence of human and/or equine cases confirms virus circulation in the EU, no evidence was found that occurrence of equine cases leads to human cases and vice versa. We conclude that information about equine data should contribute to raising awareness among public health experts and trigger enhanced surveillance. Further studies are required before extending the definition of affected areas to areas with human and/or equine cases.


Author(s):  
Laurence Favier ◽  
Joël Mekhantar

This chapter deals with the integration of OSS in local and territorial e-administration and its relations with the state level in France. France includes both many local collectivities: (36,568 local collectivities) on four levels (local, departmental, regional, and central) and a centralized State. The policies defined in France and promoted by initiatives from the European Union are leading to the definition of a normative framework intended to promote interoperability between information systems, the use of free software and open standards, public-private partnerships, development of know-how and abilities. These policies are applicable to State agencies but are not required for local and regional collectives because of the constitutional principle of administrative freedom. The chapter shows how the integration of all administrative levels can be operated in an e-administration framework OSS based, often coexisting with proprietary software. The legal, political, and technical (III) frameworks of such integration are presented.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 103-114
Author(s):  
Ilona Grądzka

The article’s goal is to present the consequences of Polish membership in the European Union (EU) for the functioning of the Polish Sejm and Senate at the national and international level. Polish accession to the European Union resulted in changes to the scope of competences of certain organs of the Republic of Poland. This was related to the transfer of specific state competences to an international organization and it applied, in particular, to the Polish Parliament (the Sejm and Senate) which has lost its primary role as legislator of laws applicable in Poland. In order to avoid the marginalization of national parliaments in the EU decision-making process, appropriate legal measures have been introduced at the national and international level. Additionally, after the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, national parliaments have received new competences which allowed them to exist on the forum of the European Union. The article puts forward the thesis that the Polish Sejm and Senate have lost their position as main legislative bodies at the national level but, at the same time, they have acquired a new European function which can neither be qualified as traditionally understood legislative nor controlling functions.


2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-123
Author(s):  
Hajnalka Vincze

This article examines the relations between the European Union (EU) and NATO in light of both of the current, deeply unhealthy, state of the transatlantic relationship, and of its ongoing evolution. The first part is devoted to a retrospective outline of the links between European defence and the Atlantic system, which highlights the major constant features of these last sixty years, as well as the rupture points. Then, various issues, from the problem of the division of labour and the definition of the chain of command to coordination on the ground and arms procurement, are evoked as concrete examples where the same fundamental question marks emerge, again and again; all of them revolving around the concept of sovereignty – that of the Europeans vis-à-vis America. It is suggested in the article that current European dependence does not allow but superficial and/or temporary ‘progress’ in EU-NATO relations, just as is the case in the broader Euro-American relationship. As long as Europeans will not assume fully the objective of autonomy (i.e. freedom of decision and action, with all the commitments it would imply), their subjection will continue to generate increasing tensions, since this inherent imbalance is not only detrimental to Europe’s own interests, but it also excludes any reciprocity and prohibits any genuine partnership with the United States.


Author(s):  
Adriana Skorupska

One objective of this chapter is to characterize the activities between Spanish communities and Chinese provinces and cities – their intensity, scope, advantages and obstacles that they face. The question relates to a broader perspective – the bilateral state government relations and the EU-China cooperation: is there any correlation between the relations at the state level and the regional level? Moreover, one of the ultimate goals of the whole project is to analyse the impact of the EU-China relations on paradiplomacy. Do the autonomous communities see any role of the EU in their activities with Chinese partners? Do they need any support from the European Union to have more intense or effective cooperation with this Asian partner?


Author(s):  
Ihor Alieksieienko

The article discusses some of the issues of the application of labor (employment) law to regulate labor relations in the gig economy of Ukraine. In recent years Ukraine occupied one of the first places in the world by its growth rate. A small part of those employed in it work as employees on the basis of employment contract, and the overwhelming majority as self-employed contractors or without formalized legal relations. At the same time, there are signs of labor relations in the work of the latter. Therefore, the issue of legal regulation of their work by labor law is of great practical and theoretical importance not only in Ukraine, but also in the European Union and other countries. The author paid some attention to studying the experience of the European Union on the regulation of labor relations in the gig economy. Here, judicial practice, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU, as well as legal acts of the Parliament and Council of the EU. According the author, these documents pursue the goal of extending the labor law to workers of gig economy, who are in fact not self-employed, but employees. The person is qualified by EU law as employee if his independent is merely notion, thereby disguising an employment relationship. Among the legal documents of Ukraine regarding these issues first of all, it is necessary to name the draft law “On Amendment to Labor Code on Definition of Labor Relationships and signs of their Existence”. It introduces 7 signs of employment: if three of them are present – a person is presumed to be an employee. In general, this draft law contains progressive provisions. At the same time, the Law “On Promoting the Development of Digital Economy in Ukraine” is quite contradictory. So if the whole world tries to provide labor rights for gig workers who have no signs of self-employed independent contractor, this Law introduces the terms “gig-specialist” and “gig-contract” and takes them outside the labor law, qualifying them as civil law. At the same time this Law grants “gig-specialists” their own separate labor rights instead of others, including collective. Thus, regulation of labor relations in the gig economy of Ukraine needs improvement based on the study and application of the positive experience of EU legislation and jurisprudence.


2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Best

The Product Liability Directive of 1985 (85/374/EEC) (“the Directive”), which sought to harmonise a strict liability regime for defective products across the European Union, has now been implemented into domestic law by all EU member states. In some countries the implementing legislation has been in force for more than 10 years. Nevertheless, until recently, there were few decided cases, both in the United Kingdom and across Europe generally, considering in detail the often critical provisions of articles 6 (definition of defectiveness) and 7(e) (the development risks defence).


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document