Summary of European and International Law '25 - '26 (lesson notes + lecturer syllabus + notes from documents during class + type of Ex-questions)

Semester 1


EUROPEAN & INTERNATIONAL
LAW

EUROPEAN UNION

1. INTRODUCTION
A. The European Union in brief
core of the EU:
 their Member States (27)
 their citizens
 unique feature of EU:
although these are all sovereign, independent states, they have pooled some of their
‘sovereignty’ in order to gain strength and the benefits of size
pooling sovereignty means in practice:
the Member States delegate some of their decision-making powers to the shared
institutions they have created  so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest
can be made democratically at European level
= supra-national law


EU was created in 1950
 has built a single market for goods and services that spans 27 Member States with
over 450 million citizens free to move and settle where they wish

 created the single currency (Euro); which is now a major world currency and which
makes the single market more efficient

 also the largest supplier of development and humanitarian aid programmes in the
world


looking ahead:
 EU is working to get Europe out of the economic crisis
 it is at forefront of the fight against climate change and its consequences

, helps neighbouring countries and continues ongoing negotiations on
enlargements
 it is building a common foreign policy which will do much to extend European
values around the world
 success of these ambitions depends on the ability to take effective and timely
decisions and to implement them well


B. The EU treaties
EU is based on the rule of law
 every action taken by the EU is founded on treaties that have been approved
voluntarily and democratically by all EU countries
1) the treaties are negotiated and agreed by all the EU Member States
2) then ratified by their parliaments or by referendum


treaties lay down:
 the objectives of the EU
 the rules for EU institutions
 how decisions are made
 the relationship between the EU and its Member States
 they have been amended each time new Member States have joined
from time to time;
they have also been amended to reform the EU’s institutions and to give it new areas
of responsibility
last amending treaty = Lisbon Treaty ;
 signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007
 came into force on 1 December 2009
Earlier treaties are now incorporated into the current consolidated version,
which comprises Treaty on European Union and Treaty on the Functioning of the EU




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,C. Who takes the decisions?
decision-making at EU level involves various European institutions, in particular:
 the European Parliament,
represents the EU’s citizens and is directly elected by them

 the European Counsil
consists of the Heads of State or Government of the EU Member States

 the Council of the EU
represents the Governments of the EU Member states

 the European Commission
represents the interests of the EU as a whole


European Council defines the general political direction and priorities of the EU
BUT does not exercise legislative functions;
1) it is the European Commission that proposes new laws
2) it is the European Parliament and Council that adopt them
3) the Member States and the Commission then implement them


D. What types of legislation are there?
several types of legal acts which are applied in different ways
 a regulation = Verordening
= a law that is applicable and binding in all Member States directly
 does not need to be passed into national law by the Member States
although national laws may need to be changed to avoid conflicting with the
regulation

 a directive = Richtlijn
= a law that binds (a group of) Member States to achieve a particular
objective
usually directives must be transposed into national law to become effective
 significantly, a directive specifies the result to be achieved: it is up to the
Member States individually to decide how this is done

 a decision = Besluit
can be addressed to Member States, groups of people or even individuals
 it is binding in its entirety
f.e. to rule on proposed mergers between companies

 recommendations and opinions have no binding force



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, E. How is legislation passed?
Every European law is based on a specific treaty article ; referred to as the ‘legal
basis’ of the legislation
 determines which legislative procedure must be followed
Treaty sets out the decision-making process, including:
 Commission proposals,
 successive readings by the Council and Parliament,
 and the opinions of the advisory bodies
also lays down when unanimity is required and when qualified majority is sufficient
for the Council to adopt legislation
great majority of EU legislation is adopted using the ordinary legislative procedure
 the Parliament and the Counsil share legislative power in this procedure


procedure begins with the Commission
when considering launching a proposal for action; the Commission often invites
views on the topic from:
 governments,
 business,
 civil society organizations
 and individuals


The opinions collected feed into a Commission proposal that is presented to the
Council and the Parliament
 the proposal may have been made at the invitation of the Council, the
European Council, the Parliament or European citizens,
 or it may have been made on the Commission’s own initiative


1) Council and Parliament each read and discuss the proposal
2) If no agreement is reached at the second reading;
 the proposal is put before a ‘conciliation committee’ comprising equal
numbers of Council and Parliament representatives
Commission representatives also attend the committee meetings and contribute
to the discussions
3) once the committee has reached an agreement;
the agreed text is then sent to the Parliament and the Council for a third reading,
so that it can finally be adopted al law




 in most cases:
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