In search of a voice: EU law constraints on Member States in international law-making PANOS KOUTRAKOS

2014 ◽  
pp. 253-266
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
Law Making

scholarly journals Brexit and Acquired Rights

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 440-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Waibel
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
International Law ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Article 50

On March 29, 2017, the U.K. Government triggered Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) on withdrawal from the European Union following a referendum on June 23, 2016 in which 51.89 percent voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. As a hybrid provision, the much-discussed withdrawal provision in Article 50 TEU is part of EU law yet also anchored in public international law. Although the European Union is a unique, supranational organization that creates rights for individuals that are directly effective in national law, its member states created the European Union based on traditional treaties under international law.

Weak Members and the Enforcement of EU Law

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Ioannidis
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Weak States ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Eurozone Crisis ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Eu

This chapter focuses on cases where the presumption that all Member States are effective in enforcing their law does not hold: when Member States show structural, persistent, and cross-sector ineffectiveness in enforcing their law. Borrowing from literature on international law as well as insights from the rich research on EU compliance, this chapter develops three main points. The first is that, on some occasions, the EU might face a similar challenge with that of international law when dealing with weak states. To describe such cases of structural ineffectiveness, this chapter develops the concept of ‘weak member’. The second point is that these problems can be captured through the lens of EU constitutional law, and more specifically as Rule of Law problems. The last point is to present some of the measures taken during the Eurozone crisis to respond to this type of problem with regard to Greece.

4. Principle of supremacy of EU law

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorna Woods ◽  
Philippa Watson ◽  
Marios Costa
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Domestic Law

This chapter examines the Court of Justice's (CJ) case law on the supremacy of European Union (EU) law over national laws of Member States, analyses the question of priorities between directly effective EU law and domestic law, and also looks at this problem from the perspective of the national courts. It argues that the CJ's introduction of the notion of supremacy was instrumental in providing a view of the Union as a body which went beyond what was normal for an international law organization. The chapter also describes how Member States developed their own constitutional rules as a response to EU law.

25. EU criminal law

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Procedure ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
Criminal Justice Systems ◽  
Practical Necessity ◽  
Ideological Resistance ◽  
Law Making ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines what EU criminal law consists of; the reasons for its existence; and the mechanism by which it is created. It then describes the more important of its practical manifestations. It shows that Member States are torn between the practical necessity for certain problems in the area of criminal law to be dealt with at an EU level, and a deep-seated ideological resistance to this happening. A consequence of this is that the bulk of the EU instruments of which EU criminal law is composed are designed to help and encourage the criminal justice systems of the various Member States to work together, rather than to impose upon them uniform rules of criminal law or criminal procedure devised by EU law-making institutions.

The Constitutional Price for International Unilateralism in the European Banking Union

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 320-360
Author(s):  
Adrian Dumitrescu-Pasecinic
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Voluntary Action ◽  
Banking Union ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
European Banking Union ◽  
The Eu

Abstract In order to enter the Banking Union, non-euro EU Member States must ‘step outside’ the EU legal order and the Union’s institutional framework, and resort to unilateral instruments of public international law. If the intergovernmental method has advanced the alternative project of integration based on voluntary policy, international unilateralism is seen as a similar integration technique based on the voluntary action of non-euro Member States, ie a tool for deeper integration that appears as a variation of intergovernmentalism. This article focuses on the constitutional deficiencies caused by the choice of unilateral instruments in the institutional set-up of a close cooperation arrangement in the Single Supervisory Mechanism. At first sight, leaving the EU legal order and entering the world of international law opens entirely new perspectives for the participating Member States. The possible attraction is escaping the constraining institutional framework of EU law. However, the international law route poses significant constitutional challenges vis-à-vis compatibility with the EU law.

scholarly journals A Matter of (A)Political Interpretation

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-106
Author(s):  
Davor Petrić
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
Legal Scholarship ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Border Dispute ◽  
The Status ◽  
Political Interpretation ◽  
The Eu

This contribution reflects on the EU law side of the story of Slovenia and Croatia’s border dispute. It discusses some of the key parts of the Advocate General’s opinion and the Court of Justice’s judgment in this case, including the issue of the scope of EU law, the status of international law in EU law, the interpretation of international law for the purposes of EU law adjudication, and the rule of law dimensions of the border dispute between the two neighbouring Member States. It also offers some general remarks on the nature of legal scholarship that can be read as a response to some of the academic commentary of this case.

24. EU criminal law

2020 ◽  
pp. 792-825
Author(s):  
John R Spencer ◽  
András Csúri
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Procedure ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
Criminal Justice Systems ◽  
Practical Necessity ◽  
Ideological Resistance ◽  
Law Making ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines what EU criminal law consists of; the reasons for its existence; and the mechanism by which it is created. It then describes the more important of its practical manifestations. It shows that Member States are torn between the practical necessity for certain problems in the area of criminal law to be dealt with at an EU level, and a deep-seated ideological resistance to this happening. A consequence of this is that the bulk of the EU instruments of which EU criminal law is composed are designed to help and encourage the criminal justice systems of the various Member States to work together, rather than to impose upon them uniform rules of criminal law or criminal procedure devised by EU law-making institutions.

3. Scope of the EU Treaty: laws and lawmaking

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-88
Author(s):  
Marios Costa ◽  
Steve Peers
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Law Making ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the lawmaking powers of the European Union (EU) in the context of its Treaties. It explains that the EU has the competence to make law of various types (including secondary legislation, soft law, delegated acts and implementing acts) in a broad range of areas and that the amendments to the lawmaking procedures have affected the institutional balance, giving an increased role to the European Parliament. It discusses the changes made to improve the level of democracy at EU level, to address concerns that EU law-making has a ‘democratic deficit’ and lacks transparency and proportionality. The chapter also considers the different aspects of EU competence, describes the lawmaking process and sources of EU law and also addresses questions concerning the determination of exclusive, shared and concurrent competence, particularly in the context of subsidiarity. Furthermore, it examines the rules on the EU adopting legislation without all Member States participating (closer cooperation).

Consequences of Choosing an External Legal Basis

2019 ◽  
pp. 113-148
Author(s):  
Christina Eckes
Keyword(s):  
Political Power ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Member States ◽  
Adequate Level ◽  
External Relations ◽  
International Obligations ◽  
Law Making ◽  
The Eu

Chapter 4 discusses the constitutional consequences of the choice of legal basis in the context of external relations. The Union and its Member States are interlocked in a tight embrace, which leads to a far more complicated power division than may appear from a straightforward reading of the Treaty provisions on competences. The choice of the appropriate legal basis is the legal emanation of political power struggles between the Member States and the Union and among the EU institutions. The chapter identifies situations, in which the fact that law-making moves from the internal EU sphere to the external (i.e. international) sphere places more far-reaching restrictions on the Member States’ exercise of powers than would apply internally. It also argues that clarity in attributing responsibilities is a foundational requirement for bonding structures in a divided representative democracy, in which individuals are represented as EU citizens and national citizens. An adequate level of clarity on who is responsible for what is a necessary, albeit insufficient, condition for feeling represented and for limiting the ability of representatives to deny responsibilities. Finally, the chapter illustrates how the international obligations of the Member States are vested with the particular bite (i.e. effectiveness) of EU law when the question of who should take action, which is at the centre of the choice of legal basis, is avoided by concluding a mixed agreement. This limits the scope of manoeuvre of Member States as international actors.

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