Beknopte samenvatting IER deel Europees Recht (E. Muir) KUL (13/20 eerste zit)

Summary European Law – 2BA Rechten KU Leuven 2021-2022

Inhoudsopgave

CHAPTER 1 – THE FOUNDATIONS OF EU LAW....................................................................................2

1.1 EUROPEAN INTEGRATION: OBJECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND VALUES..............................................................2
1.2 A UNIQUE FORM OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION........................................................................................2
1.3 EVOLUTION...................................................................................................................................3
1.4 THE PRIMARY LEGAL FRAMEWORK......................................................................................................5

CHAPTER 2 – THE ACTORS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION’S INTEGRATION PROCESS..............................7

2.1 MEMBER STATES...........................................................................................................................7
2.2 EU CITIZENS.................................................................................................................................7
2.3 INSTITUTIONS................................................................................................................................8
2.4 LOOKING BEYOND INSTITUTIONS......................................................................................................15

CHAPTER 3 – THE EU SYSTEM OF LEGAL NORMS.............................................................................16

3.1 THE PRIMARY LEGAL FRAMEWORK....................................................................................................16
3.2 THE EXISTENCE OF AN EU COMPETENCE.............................................................................................16
3.3 THE TYPES OF EU COMPETENCES......................................................................................................17
3.4 THE EXERCISE OF AN EU COMPETENCE..............................................................................................18
3.5 SOURCES OF LAW DERIVED FROM THE EU TREATIES.............................................................................18
3.6 PROCEDURES FOR THE ADOPTION OF EU ACTS....................................................................................20

CHAPTER 4 – THE UNIQUE NATURE OF THE EU LEGAL ORDER.........................................................23

4.1 AN ‘INTEGRATED’ LEGAL ORDER.......................................................................................................23
4.2 CENTRALISED COMPONENTS OF THE EU’S DECENTRALISED ENFORCEMENT MACHINERY.................................25
4.3 THE EU IS SUBJECT TO THE RULE OF LAW...........................................................................................26
4.4 EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IS A PROCESS..............................................................................................27




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,Chapter 1 – The foundations of EU Law

1.1 European Integration: Objectives, Principles and Values

An ever closer union
 Art. 1, § 2 TEU: essential purpose of the EU

Equality and sincere cooperation – 2 central principles of European integration (art. 4 TEU)
 Avoid mistakes of the past  WWII
1. Equality of the MS (and its citizens)
o Respect for their national identities (art. 4(2) TEU)
2. Sincere cooperation: MS expected to contribute to achieving the EU’s objectives

Founding values and mutual trust
 Art. 2 TEU: values
 Democratic principles
 Principle of non-discrimination
 Art. 6 TEU: ‘bridge’ between Treaties and other sources of EU law

1.2 A unique form of regional integration

An ambitious integration process
1. Free trade area = group of 2+ customs territories in which duties and other restrictive
regulations are eliminated between these territories  no fees
2. Customs union = single customs union instead of 2+ customs territories  common
policy
3. Internal market = customs union + free movement + common customs tariff  no
internal frontiers
 EU as a broader economic, social and political project
o Common economic and monetary policy
o Area of security, freedom and justice
 Art. 3 TEU: key objectives in current TEU

A regional project that interacts with others
 Regional organisations: for states that aren’t all EU MS
o European Free Trade Association (EFTA): Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, …
o European Economic Area (EEA): strengthening the economic relations between
EU and EFTA states

A powerful set of tools for integration
1. Supranational method = institutions taking into account the MS’ interests and working
towards an ambitious common project
2. Intergovernmental method = MS’ governments come together to discuss common
problems and make law together
3. Community method = empowering institutions at supranational level to work towards
the general interests of the EU
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,4. Integration through law = EU law applies to all MS equally

1.3 Evolution

Introduction to treaty change
 EEC: Rome, 1957 (TEEC)  followed by treaty amendments to deepen the integration
process
o Key objective: art. 2 TEEC = economic goals
 Other treaty amendments: amendments to enact accession of new MS  does not
modify the material scope of action/integration

From Zurich to Lisbon
 Towards the European Economic Community
o Common concerns and realizing human rights
 Cooperation needed after WWII: creation of the Council of Europe, 1949
 first parliament of Europe (Strasbourg)
 Council of Europe agreed on the ECHR, 1950
o A community for Coal and Steel (1951)
 Pooling Germany and France’s resources under the authority of an
independent supranational institution, starting with coal and steel: ECSC,
1951
o No community for defence (yet?)
 No successful form of military integration as of today
o A European Economic Community (Treaty of Rome, 1957)
 Spaak Report as a blueprint for the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, 1957  general common market
o A community for Atomic Energy (1957)
 Spaak Report: Euratom, 1957  relations necessary for the establishment
and growth of nuclear industries (nuclear common market)
o A single institutional framework for three communities
 ECSC, Euratom and EEC merged into single Council and a Commission of
the European Communities
 Towards the European Community within the European Union
o A bumpy start for the EEC
 Empty chair crisis (1965): Charles de Gaulle blocked decision-making by
not attending meetings, as unanimity was required
 Luxembourg compromise: qualified majority, but a member has time to
reach solutions when an important interest is at stake
o Strengthening the initial design in the 1970s
 EEC allocated resources of its own
 More regular meetings
 Increasing role of Court of Justice and the institutions  Council
representatives elected by direct universal suffrage
o Parallel developments: foreign affairs, monetary policy, home affairs
 EEC more important internationally: common foreign and security policy
 Steps towards an economic and monetary union
 Cooperation in the field of police, security and justice

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, o The Single European Act (1986)
 Extension of common policies
 European Parliament more involved
 Greater reliance on qualified majority voting in the Council
 Concept of area without internal frontiers
 Greater institutional efficiency
o The EC within the EU (Maastricht Treaty, 1992)
 European Monetary Union (EMU) needed to complete the internal market
 Creation of a European System of Central Banks
 Replacing national currencies by a single one: Euro
 Focus on “political Union”
 Outcome: Treaty on the EU (Maastricht, 1992)  single
institutional framework, the EU: 3 pillars
1. From EEC to EC (Economic): Communities
2. Common Foreign and Security Policy: safeguard common
vallues
3. Justice and Home Affairs: border control, migration, …
 ad hoc adjustments by MS: references to principle of
subsidiarity + respect for national identities
 ratification difficulties in MS
 Towards the European Union (only)
o A first revamp of the treaties on the EC within the EU (Amsterdam Treaty, 1997)
 Maastricht Treaty in need of change  Amsterdam Treaty
 MT taken further
 Explicit values of liberty and democracy + breach may result in
institutional implications!
 Stronger position of Parliament in decision-making (1ste pillar)
 3rd pillar changed into: Area of Freedom, Security and Justice 
idea of an area without internal frontiers
 Possibility of differentiated integration = allowing a group of MS to
further integrate without the others
o A second revamp of the treaties on the EC within the EU (Nice Treaty, 2001)
 Rule of law + easier enhanced cooperation
 Parliament more legislative competences
 7-year financial framework
o The Charter of Fundamental Rights (Nice Charter, proclaimed in 2000)
 Not binding, merely ‘proclaimed’
 Based on idea of peaceful future based on common values
o A draft constitutional treaty (2004)
 4 key objectives of the Convention
1. Better division of competences
2. Simplification of Union’s instruments of action
3. Increased democracy
4. Constitution for Europe’s citizens
 Constitution never fully ratified
 Constitutional Treaty not accepted as such
 Concept of a ‘constitution’ abandoned

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,  Eventually: prompt ratification of Lisbon Treaty (2007)  amending the
TEU and TFEU
 When history merges into the present
o Key challenges since Lisbon
 Values crisis, COVID-19, Brexit, refugees crisis, …

1.4 The primary legal framework

A legal order defined by the EU treaties
 TEU: objectives of the EU + conferral of competences
 TFEU: working process of the EU + arrangements for exercising its competences
 Same legal value
 Concluded for unlimited period of time: ‘ever closer’ union
 Extra documents of equal legal value: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU,
Protocols, Annexes

A legal order shaped by the Court of Justice of the European Union
 Primacy
o Costa v. Enel (CJEU, 1964): EU > all national law
o It doesn’t matter if MS is dualist or monist
 Direct effect
o Van Gend en Loos (CJEU, 1963): EU law confers rights and creates obligations for
both MS and individuals  direct effect of EU law
 Autonomy
o Opinion 2/13 (2014): EU law is autonomous from both national and international
law

Differentiated integration within the EU treaties
 The Schengen Area
o No internal border control (no passports etc.)
o Common monitoring of external borders
o EU law, but not all EU MS are part of it + includes some non-EU States as well!
 The Euro Area
o Economic and Monetary Union with shared currency
o Not all EU MS use the euro + some non-EU states do use it (Vatican City State,
Kosovo, …)
 Accession processes
o Allowing a third State to join the EU, but remain under a transitory regime for
certain areas of EU law
o Specific conditions to be allowed into the Schengen or Euro area, but can already
be an EU MS meanwhile
 Enhanced cooperation
o Art. 20 TEU: group of at least 9 MS can exercise EU competences + make use of
EU institutions in order to further the EU objectives

A legal order subject to change
 The ordinary treaty revision procedure – art. 48(2-5) TEU
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