The New Constitutionalism and its Discontents

<Online Only>This chapter examines the unsettling of the political constitution by domestic challenges to the euro crisis response, particularly against the actions of the European Central Bank (ECB). The disconnect between postnational discourse and domestic constitutionalism generated critical constitutional moments over who was ‘the guardian’ of the European constitution. These moments were exemplified by the OMT saga, when the German Constitutional Court threatened to invalidate an ECB programme that had existential implications for the eurozone. The chapter will examine how the ECJ’s assertive ruling, in response, did not signal the perfection of European constitutionalism, as suggested by the new constitutionalists, but revealed its precarity, rubber-stamping a programme that was of dubious legitimacy. If this would ‘buy time’ for the project, it would do so in a way that merely concealed the dysfunctionality of Economic and Monetary Union. The chapter concludes that authoritarian liberalism was, ultimately, juridically fortified by these challenges, but left open to further constitutional contestation, revealing the erosion of sovereignty underlying the European construct.</Online Only>

11. Parliamentary Sovereignty within the European Union

This chapter examines the way in which the UK’s membership in the European Economic Community (EEC) prompted changes in the domestic constitutional order. The discussions include the founding principles of the Treaty of Rome; the accession of the UK into the EEC; EEC law, parliamentary sovereignty, and the UK courts; and the horizontal and vertical effects of directives. The chapter explores the controversies engendered by the Maastricht, Amsterdam, and Lisbon Treaties; and concludes by assessing in what senses continued EC membership in the early part of the twenty-first century might have entailed a loss of the UK’s ‘sovereignty’ to a federal European constitution and a rebalancing of power within the domestic constitution between Parliament and the courts.

1. Constitutional History

This introductory chapter assesses whether there is a European constitution. When examined in the light of the broader historical tradition, the European Union has a constitution. And this view firmly corresponds to the self-understanding of the European legal order. The ‘real’ problem of the European Union is not whether there is a European constitution, but rather that there is ‘too much constitutional law’; the European Treaties alone contain 413 articles. Length is unfortunately not the only problem of the European constitution, for unlike more mature legal orders, the European constitutional order still struggles with its ‘vocabulary’. The semantic confusions are partly the result of the constant legal revolutions within the European Union. This book then aims to reflect the judicial and legislative practice of the Union as at October 31, 2020. It provides a guide through the most important theories and realities of the European Union law.

European Constitutional Law

European Constitutional Law uses a distinctive two-part structure to examine the legal foundations and powers of the European Union. The text takes a critical approach to ensure awareness of the intricacies of European constitutional law. Part I looks at the constitutional foundations including a constitutional history. This part also looks at the governmental structure of the European constitution. Part II moves on to governmental powers. It looks at legislative, external, executive, and judicial powers. It ends with a study of limiting powers and EU fundamental rights.

Radicalization of the rightwing in France: from the failure of the European constitution and “La Manif Pour Tous” to Éric Zemmour

The author of the article uses the newest French scientific literature, Mass Media materials and analytical research of social organizations to study the evolution of the process of polarization of political life in France and radicalization of the rightwing, in which moderate ideas give way to the rightist ones. The failure of the European constitution referendum in 2005, the legalization of same-sex marriage by the French Parliament in 2013, Fran&ccedil;ois Fillon&rsquo;s victory in the primaries of the rightists and the centrists in 2016 - are the crucial steps in the process of radicalization of the rightwing in France. The author gives special attention to &Eacute;ric Zemmour&rsquo;s ideas and his role in the modern political system of the Fifth Republic. Zemmour intentionally puts the question of preservation of national and religious identity of France and the problem of the spread of Islam in the country to the centre of political discussion, adding the islamophobia issue to the Marine Le Pen&rsquo;s arabophobia and trying to make a new core of France&rsquo;s political life out of the confrontation of the moderate and the radical ideas, as it was with the struggle of the rightwing and the leftwing before 2017. Zemmour has no chances to win the 2022 election, and his participation is questionable, however the popularity of his ideas can lead to the formation of a new pole of France&rsquo;s politics as a result of the 2022 election - Identitarian, conservative and Catholic.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Il laboratorio intellettuale di Bruno Trentin (2001-2006)

A selection of Trentin’sdiaries from 2001-2006, some unpublished pages on his political activity in the European Parliament and the elaboration of The Freedom Comes First: these works allow us to enter Bruno Trentin's intellectual laboratory and to follow, from the inside, the editing of the essays and the realization of the volume. Public and private intertwine in a melee with a heavy depression, which demands to "cope with death by accelerating the production of writings that can clarify or conclude my testimony." The notes on the Italian and international situation after September 11th, 2001, the American intervention in Iraq in 2003 and the European Constitution project are significant. The section is completed by some coeval political interventions, including the last article of July 2006 on meritocracy and the affirmation of individual rights.

Towards a European Constitution? The European Parliament and the Institutional Reform of the European Communities 1979-84

Drawing on archival sources of the European Parliament (EP), the EP Groups, and Spinelli’s private papers as well as contemporary media reports and 13 semi-structured interviews with eyewitnesses, this article examines the EP’s attempt to foster European union after its first direct election in 1979. In tracing the conflicts and compromises within the EP during the preparation of its Draft Treaty on European Union (DTEU) the article makes a three-fold argument. First, it demonstrates how this internal process enhanced cross-party cooperation on institutional reform in the EP. Second, it shows how the EP’s work on institutional reform impacted the inter-institutional dynamics with the European Commission and the European Council. Third, it elaborates how the DTEU, although not ratified, nevertheless constituted an important constitutional marker with long-term effects on European integration until the 2009 Lisbon Treaty.

Europe

The chapter deals with the impact of European interpretation on the national constitution and the national constitutional courts. It reflects Dieter Grimm’s position on a European constitution, his controversy with Jürgen Habermas, his thesis of the “over-constitutionalization” of the EU as one of the most important, but at least noticed causes of the diminishing acceptance of the EU.