The European Court of Justice once stated that the European Community is governed by the rule of law inasmuch as member states, Community institutions and individuals are bound to the basic constitutional charter, the Treaty. The purpose of this book is to answer the question whether this statement is still valid for the European Union, and to analyse which features best define the rule of law at the European level. In order to define the principle of the rule of law at the European level, this book undertakes a comparative analysis of what the principle means in different legal systems. An analysis is also made of the implications for national legal orders, specifically for judges. The conclusion reached as a result of the research undertaken for this book is the co-existence of two visions of the rule of law within national legal orders: the traditional view of each legal order by itself, and the new vision of the principle as defined by the Court of Justice. This legal phenomenon involves what is defined as `the paradox of the two paradigms of law', which determines a share of concepts, tools and remedies amongst legal systems.
This two-volume book, published open access, brings together leading scholars of constitutional law from twenty-nine European countries to revisit the role of national constitutions at a time when decision-making has increasingly shifted to the European and transnational level. It offers important insights into three areas. First, it explores how constitutions reflect the transfer of powers from domestic to European and global institutions. Secondly, it revisits substantive constitutional values, such as the protection of constitutional rights, the rule of law, democratic participation and constitutional review, along with constitutional court judgments that tackle the protection of these rights and values in the transnational context, e.g. with regard to the Data Retention Directive, the European Arrest Warrant, the ESM Treaty, and EU and IMF austerity measures. The responsiveness of the ECJ regarding the above rights and values, along with the standard of protection, is also assessed. Thirdly, challenges in the context of global governance in relation to judicial review, democratic control and accountability are examined. On a broader level, the contributors were also invited to reflect on what has increasingly been described as the erosion or ‘twilight’ of constitutionalism, or a shift to a thin version of the rule of law, democracy and judicial review in the context of Europeanisation and globalisation processes. The national reports are complemented by a separately published comparative study, which identifies a number of broader trends and challenges that are shared across several Member States and warrant wider discussion. The research for this publication and the comparative study were carried out within the framework of the ERC-funded project ‘The Role and Future of National Constitutions in European and Global Governance’. The book is aimed at scholars, researchers, judges and legal advisors working on the interface between national constitutional law and EU and transnational law. The extradition cases are also of interest to scholars and practitioners in the field of criminal law. Anneli Albi is Professor of European Law at the University of Kent, United Kingdom. Samo Bardutzky is Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
This open access book deals with Article 7 TEU measures, court proceedings, financial sanctions and the EU Rule of Law Framework to protect EU values with a particular focus on checks and balances in EU Member States. It analyses substantive standards, powers, procedures as well as the consequences and implications of the various instruments. It combines the analysis of the European level, be it the EU or the Council of Europe, with that of the national level, in particular in Hungary and Poland. The LM judgment of the European Court of Justice is made subject to detailed scrutiny.
'I can enthusiastically recommend and endorse this book. It serves the very important purpose of collecting key documents together in an elegant and accessible text. There currently exists a huge proliferation of material on the EU Constitution this volume makes a very wise selection of this profusion, compiling it into a manageable and informative whole. Nine chapters deal with the most significant matters concerning the Constitution. A short but well written introduction at the start of each chapter precedes following extracts. Part of the value of this book lies in the fact that it includes translations of some important documents which are difficult, or impossible, to access in English for example, recent decisions of national courts concerning the European Arrest Warrant. All in all, this work is a comprehensive, but not overwhelmingly large, collection of materials on the EU Constitution, and it will prove extremely valuable to all those working within this area of law. By presenting the Constitution, the background to the Constitution, and the issues it deals with, in this clear and informative way, it will shed new light upon, and help all of us to form our own judgements on, the EU Constitution, and its importance to our lives.' Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, King's College London, UK 'Whatever the ultimate fate of the EU's Constitutional Treaty, both the events which led to its conclusion and those which occurred afterwards during its ill-fated ratification process have profoundly shaped the future of the European Union as a constitutional project. This collection of materials offers an invaluable set of resources for understanding these events, in their widest legal and political context. The text will be useful to all those who seek to understand both why the EU has reached such a turning point, and where it might go in the future.' Jo Shaw, Edinburgh Law School, UK This book offers a selection of materials that enable a better understanding of some of the most important changes that would be introduced by the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe in the EU legal and political system. It also helps to assess the need for the reforms embedded in the Constitutional Treaty as well as the quality of the formulations agreed upon by the signatory Member States. The book includes excerpts of the European Convention's work, selected statutory and constitutional provisions of the Member States, and also related passages from pertinent court decisions from both European courts as well as Member States' constitutional courts. Institutional and doctrinal analyses and relevant excerpts from the Constitutional Treaty itself are also included. Many of these documents directly relate to the provisions of the Constitutional Treaty, while the others, although not directly related, are nevertheless relevant to the debate surrounding it. The European Constitution, by two of the best experts on the Constitution for Europe, will be of great interest to researchers and teachers in the fields of European Law and European politics, and also to policy makers in European affairs.
For the time being, the political project of basing the European Union on a document entitled 'Constitution' has failed. The second, revised and enlarged edition of this volume retains its title nonetheless. Building on a scholarly rather than black-letter law account, it shows European constitutional law as it looks following the Treaty of Lisbon, with the EU's foundational treaties mandating the exercise of public authority, establishing a hierarchy of norms and legitimising legal acts, providing for citizenship, and granting fundamental rights. In this way the treaties shape the relations between legal orders, between public interest regulation and market economy, and between law and politics. The contributions demonstrate in detail how a constitutional approach furthers understanding of the core issues of EU law, how it offers theoretical and doctrinal insights, and how it adds critical perspective. From Reviews of the First Edition: "...should be mandatory reading for anyone who wants to get a holistic perspective of the academic debate on Europe's constitutional foundations...It is impossible to present the richness of thought contained in the 833 pages of the book in a short review." Common Market Law Review "an enduring scholarly work, which gives an English-speaking audience important, and overdue, access to the long-standing and forever-vigorous traditions of (European) constitutional law... unhesitatingly recommend[ed]." European Law Journal "...real scholarship in the profound sense of the word..." K Lenaerts, Professor of European Law, Leuven
This book challenges the idea that the Rule of Law is still a universal European value given its relatively rapid deterioration in Hungary and Poland, and the apparent inability of the European institutions to adequately address the illiberalization of these Member States. The book begins from the general presumption that the Rule of Law, since its emergence, has been a universal European value, a political ideal and legal conception. It also acknowledges that the EU has been struggling in the area of value enforcement, even if the necessary mechanisms are available and, given an innovative outlook and more political commitment, could be successfully used. The authors appreciate the different approaches toward the Rule of Law, both as a concept and as a measurable indicator, and while addressing the core question of the volume, widely rely on them. Ultimately, the book provides a snapshot of how the Rule of Law ideal has been dismantled and offers a theory of the Rule of Law in illiberal constitutionalism. It discusses why voters keep illiberal populist leaders in power when they are undeniably acting contrary to the Rule of Law ideal. The book will be of interest to academics and researchers engaged with the foundational questions of constitutionalism. The structure and nature of the subject matter covered ensure that the book will be a useful addition for comparative and national constitutional law classes. It will also appeal to legal practitioners wondering about the boundaries of the Rule of Law.
This book departs from the 'statist' imagination by suggesting the EU is a federal union of states, or a federation. Dedicated to the constitutional theory of federalism, this book gives the strengths and weaknesses of a federation as a political form, its histories, and current perils for the EU.
