Critical Reflections on Constitutional Democracy in the European Union and its Member States

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sacha Garben ◽  
Inge Govaere ◽  
Paul Nemitz
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
Member States ◽  
Critical Reflections

scholarly journals A bicameral parliament in the context of forming constitutional democracy

2020 ◽  
pp. 136-139
Author(s):  
Andrey Irkliienko
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Constitutional Theory ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The World

The article analyzes peculiarities of formation of a two-house parliament in the conditions of constitutional democracy. It has been established that parliamentarism, which theoretical origins date back into the doctrines about folk and national sovereignty, is logically connected with the establishment of principles of the supremacy of law and democracy in society and the state, with the implementation of effective mechanisms to guarantee constitutional human rights, as well as with the formation of such institutions that would ensure the most complete and comprehensive conduction of its functions and meeting the needs of society. Ukrainian parliamentarism has long-standing historical roots. Modern legal scholars consider that there are a few precursors of national parliamentarism. These are Viche democracy and feudal congresses in Kyievan Rus, Cossack councils and Cossack democracy in general, the activities of the Central Rada and even to some extent the “parliamentarism” of the Soviet era. However, the establishment and development of full-fledged national parliamentarism became possible only after Ukraine’s independence in 1991. It has been summarized that nowadays, comprehensive outspread of the theory and practice of bicameralism should be recognized as one of the most distinctive tendencies of genesis of modern constitutionalism. In the last decades, many countries around the world, regardless their state form of government, have intensified processes of transition to a bicameral structure of a parliament. Even if in the early 70’s of XX century two-house parliaments functioned in 45 countries in the world, in 2008 their number reached 70. Yet, another ten more countries are preparing to switch to the bicameral structure of their parliaments. Currently, two-house parliaments have ceased to be a tribute of historical traditions of constitutionalism or some “anomaly” of the state legal development of countries, which are united by one legal system. Bicameralism has become a daily political and legal phenomenon for a large number of population of our planet. These are the most economically developed countries of the world that have chosen such a system of parliamentarism at present. Therefore, out of fifteen countries that have the highest indicators of the gross domestic product in the world, only two, that is China and South Korea, have one-house national legislative bodies. It has been recapitulated that the European Union and its member states are gradually asserting bicameralism both in the constitutional theory and in practice. Particularly, two-house parliaments are successfully functioning in such unitary member states of the European Union as Austria, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Romania, France, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and others.

Political aspects of security of the European Union Member States

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-105
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Kusztykiewicz-Fedurek
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Political Security ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The Eu

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.

Foreign Affairs Federalism in the European Union

2019 ◽  
pp. 331-351
Author(s):  
Robert Schütze
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
European Court ◽  
Treaty Of Rome ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
Mixed Agreements

The European Union was born as an international organization. The 1957 Treaty of Rome formed part of international law, although the European Court of Justice was eager to emphasize that the Union constitutes “a new legal order” of international law. With time, this new legal order has indeed evolved into a true “federation of States.” Yet how would the foreign affairs powers of this new supranational entity be divided? Would the European Union gradually replace the member states, or would it preserve their distinct and diverse foreign affairs voices? In the past sixty years, the Union has indeed significantly sharpened its foreign affairs powers. While still based on the idea that it has no plenary power, the Union’s external competences have expanded dramatically, and today it is hard to identify a nucleus of exclusive foreign affairs powers reserved for the member states. And in contrast to a classic international law perspective, the Union’s member states only enjoy limited treaty-making powers under European law. Their foreign affairs powers are limited by the exclusive powers of the Union, and they may be preempted through European legislation. There are, however, moments when both the Union and its states enjoy overlapping foreign affairs powers. For these situations, the Union legal order has devised a number of cooperative mechanisms to safeguard a degree of “unity” in the external actions of the Union. Mixed agreements constitute an international mechanism that brings the Union and the member states to the same negotiating table. The second constitutional device is internal to the Union legal order: the duty of cooperation.

Review by Constitutional Courts of the Obligation of National Courts of Last Instance to Refer a Preliminary Question to the Court of Justice of the EU

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1663-1700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clelia Lacchi
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
Member States ◽  
Constitutional Review ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Judicial Remedy ◽  
The Eu

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.

scholarly journals European Regional Inequalities: The Other Face of Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Celeste Perrucchini ◽  
Hiroshi Ito
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Capita Income ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Per Capita Income ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Per Capita

Empirical evidence suggests an overall convergence in terms of GDP and per capita income occurring among the European Union (EU) Member States. Nevertheless, economic inequalities have been increasing at the regional level within European Union countries. Through the review of relevant literature, this study analyzes the increasing inequalities from an economical point of view, focusing on Italy and the UK as examples. First, a general overlook of the empirical evidence of the GDP and per capita income at national and sub-national levels will be presented. Second, an explanation of the possible causes of the results will be proposed through the use of economical and sociological theories. The findings of this research might uncover the relative inefficacy of EU Cohesion policies and point towards the necessity for deeper and more thoughtful measures to continue the convergence of Member States while preserving internal equilibria. This paper ends with discussions for the future directions of the EU.

scholarly journals Assessing the Level of Renewable Energy Development in the European Union Member States. A 10-Year Perspective

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3765
Author(s):  
Jarosław Brodny ◽  
Magdalena Tutak ◽  
Peter Bindzár
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Development ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Current State ◽  
Renewable Energy Development ◽  
European Union Countries

The global economic development is, to a great extent, dependent on access to large amounts of cheap energy sources. The growing social awareness of ecology and the enormous damage to the Earth’s ecosystem due to the production of energy from conventional sources have forced fundamental changes in the energy sector. Renewable energy is considered to be an opportunity for such changes. The current state of the art allows such changes to be made without restricting economic development. Therefore, activities related to the energy transition are being taken all over the world. The European Union has definitely managed to achieve the most tangible effects in this regard. This article presents the findings of the research aimed at presenting the current state of renewable energy in the European Union and analyzing the changes reported in this sector in the last decade. The research was carried out using a selected set of 11 indicators characterizing renewable energy in individual countries. These indicators were selected on the basis of literature review and own studies of the state of renewable energy and its development prospects. Based on these indicators, changes in the energy structure of individual European Union countries between 2008–2018 were determined. The study is divided into two main stages. The principal components analysis (PCA) was used for the first analysis. In turn, the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was adopted to assess the level of renewable energy development in the European Union countries. Both these methods and the extended statistical analysis were applied to determine the state of renewable energy development in the European Union countries in the studied period and to divide the Member States into classes with different levels of development. The results of the study showed that the EU countries are characterized by significant differences in the development of RES during the period in question. The unquestionable leaders in this respect are Sweden, Austria, Finland, and Latvia. Based on the findings, it is possible to evaluate the effects of activities related to renewable energy development and to prepare assumptions for future activities. Additionally, both the research and its findings broaden the knowledge of the directions of renewable energy development in individual European Union countries. This is particularly important in the context of changes related to the need to reduce harmful substance emissions and the implementation of the European Green Deal idea.

scholarly journals The Impact of the Introduction of Uniform European Collective Action Clauses on European Government Bonds as a Regulatory Result of the European Sovereign Debt Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Nicoletta Layher ◽  
Eyden Samunderu
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Bond Yields ◽  
Member States ◽  
Sovereign Bond ◽  
European Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
Collective Action Clauses

This paper conducts an empirical study on the inclusion of uniform European Collective Action Clauses (CACs) in sovereign bond contracts issued from member states of the European Union, introduced as a regulatory result of the European sovereign debt crisis. The study focuses on the reaction of sovereign bond yields from European Union member states with the inclusion of the new regulation in the European Union. A two-stage least squares regression analysis is adopted in order to determine the extent of impact effects of CACs on member states sovereign bond yields. Evidence is found that CACs in the European Union are priced on financial markets and that sovereign bond yields do respond to the inclusion of uniform CACs in the European Union.

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