Constitutional Identity in a Europe of Multilevel Constitutionalism


Book Description

Presents a critical outline and comparison of selected EU Member State constitutional identities in the context of EU multilevel constitutionalism.




Limitations of National Sovereignty through European Integration


Book Description

The book considers the changes which national sovereignty has undergone through the supranational European integration. In various contributions by renowned academics and high judges demonstrate the serious impacts of supranationality on the EU member states and even on third countries which are connected with the EU by international treaties. It becomes clear that primacy of EU law, the most significant expression of supra-nationality, collides with national sovereignty as anchored in the national constitutions. The studies clearly show that most member states do not fully deny EU law primacy but are aware of the need to find an adequate balance between the supranational and the national orders. The result from the analyses of the authors from various European countries is that the upcoming constitutional paradigm is “constitutional identity”, a concept established by jurisprudence in Germany, France, Czech Republic (without being named so) and debated also in Poland which, herself, denies supranational impact on the national Constitution entirely. Studies on selected EU member states clarify the specific national approaches towards the limitations of their sovereignty as developed by the constitutional jurisprudence (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Italy, Germany with comparative references to United Kingdom and France). It is illuminated that traditionally strong sovereignty concepts (UK, France) are considerably relativized and functionally opened towards the integration challenges. Basic issues are furthermore reflected, such as the supranational impact on the State’s power to reform its Constitution, the relation of national and constitutional identity and the national and supranational perspectives of identity. The book also includes Europe beyond the EU by research on the supranational character of association treaties (from a Ukrainian perspective) and on the Europeanization of a third country preparing EU membership (Albania).







National Constitutional Identity and European Integration


Book Description

Over the past few years, 'national constitutional identity' has become the new buzzword in European constitutionalism. Much has been written about the concept involving the Member States' national constitutional identities: it has been welcomed for (finally) accommodating constitutional particularities in EU law, demonized for potentially disintegrating the EU, and wielded as a 'sword' by certain constitutional courts. Scholars, judges, and advocates in general have rendered the concept currently so fashionable and, yet, so ambivalent, that an in-depth analysis is warranted to put some order into the intense debate over constitutional identity. This collection brings together a series of contributions in order to shed some light into the dark corners of constitutional identity. To this end, a threefold approach has been followed: a conceptual or philosophical approach, an approach based on EU law, and an analysis of the case-law of several European courts. First, the book explores what constitutional identity means and who decides on it. Further, the contributions analyze (and at times unveil) the areas that might collide or at least interact with constitutional identity. Among other issues, the book touches upon EU law primacy , Article 53 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, EU criminal law and the essential functions of the State, and the existence of an EU 'constitutional core' enjoyable and enforceable through EU citizenship. Finally, the book deals with the case-law of European courts on national constitutional identity, including the perspective of various national constitutional courts, such as those of Eastern and Central European Member States, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the much-less analyzed European Court of Human Rights. (Series: Law and Cosmopolitan Values - Vol. 4)




National Identity in EU Law


Book Description

Despite nearly sixty years of European integration, neither nations nor national loyalties have withered away. On the contrary, national identity rhetoric seems on the rise, not only in politics but also in legal discourse. Lately we have seen a rise in the number of Member States invoking their national identity in an attempt to justify a derogation from a requirement imposed on them by a Treaty article or an EU legislative act, or to legitimize a particular national reading of such an EU norm. Despite this, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has yet to develop a coherent approach to such arguments, or express a vision of the role national identity should play in EU law. Elke Cloots undertakes this task by providing a principled and coherent scheme for the adjudication of disputes involving claims based on the national identity of a Member State. Should arguments involving national identity be legally relevant? If yes, how should the ECJ approach such identity-related interests? Cloots crafts a normative framework to assist the ECJ in striking the right balance between European integration and respect for the identity concerns at issue. The book combines rigorous theoretical inquiry with thorough analysis of the European Treaties and case law, with particular attention paid to litigation involving domestic measures concerning the national system of government, constitutional rights protections, and language policy. Clarifying the issues at stake and presenting a solution to these problems, this book will be an invaluable resource for the academics, lawyers, and policy makers in the field.




National Constitutions and EU Integration


Book Description

Do individual constitutions, and the legal cultures underlying them, pose an obstacle to future EU integration? This ambitious collection brings together reports from all the European Member States, systematically setting out their individual constitutional guarantees. In doing so, it tracks possible roadblocks to the future evolution of European integration. Written by recognised authorities in each Member State, it offers an authoritative and rigorous overview of the European Union's constitutional landscape. Its single-structure approach allows for comparison while maintaining consistency. It will become the standard reference work for academics, students and practitioners in the field of European Union law and integration.




European Integration and Constitutional Law


Book Description

As constitutional law has become a European issue rather than solely a domestic matter, this volume looks at the common problems that exist between domestic law and EU law in the candidate states to the EU. It also takes into account individual situations in any state, both from the institutional point of view and in material law. It contains the reports presented at a seminar organised by the European Commission for Democracy through Law, held in Cyprus in September 2000: a general report on the situation in EU member states, 11 national reports on EU candidates states, and a concluding report.




EU Law and National Constitutions


Book Description

This book provides an in-depth guide to researchers and practitioners who are interested in analyzing the evolution of EU law from a national and comparative constitutional law perspective. The volume deals with questions of how EU Member States’ constitutional systems, including the subnational tier, interact with the supranational level. It maps the evolution over time of constitutional strategies in the face of multi-level governance and individuates contextual factors on an empirical basis. The volume includes twelve national reports written by leading experts in constitutional and EU law, and in political science. The countries discussed include the six founding Member States, together with a selection of Member States in which a clear-cut evolution in the national constitutional approach towards the EU can be observed. These include the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The latter is included as an “extreme” case in which the change in constitutional strategy over time has resulted in withdrawing from the Union altogether. Taken together, the book assembles the building blocks of an explanatory theory of constitutional strategies in the face of multi-level governance. The volume will be of interest to students and researchers in comparative constitutional law, political science and multidisciplinary EU studies. It will also be a valuable resource for policy-makers.




The Constitution of Europe


Book Description

Joseph Weiler presents essays written during the 1990s on issues related to European constitutional law. In a series of highly accessible discussions concerning the legal framework of the European Communities and the European Union, Professor Weiler describes the gradual strengthening of transnational European institutions at the expense of national legislators. Although individuals as legal consumers have been empowered by Community law, he writes, this has been at the expense of their rights as citizens. The Constitution of Europe thus provides from a legal perspective a balanced and authoritative critique of the attractions and demerits of the goal of European integration.




'Integration through Law' Revisited


Book Description

Over the last twenty years, processes of pluralization, differentiation and trans-nationalization in the European Union have arguably challenged the centrality of law to European integration. Yet these developments also present opportunities to investigate new understandings of law triggered by European integration. The contributors to this book revisit one of the first academic projects to conceptualise and study European legal integration - the early 'Integration through Law' School. On this basis, they consider continuities and discontinuities in the underlying social and political landscape which the law is to integrate (the 'object' of integration), the forms and capacities of the law itself (the 'agent' of integration), and the way these two dimensions reflect on each other. Displaying different normative concerns and varied theoretical starting points, all contributors maintain that 'integration through law' remains of enduring significance to the European integration process. The volume provides a valuable reference for scholars in the field of European integration studies and European legal and political theory.