Konstadinides Division of Powers in European Union Law

The Delimitation of Internal Competence between the EU and the Member States
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-90-411-4651-9
Verlag: Wolters Kluwer
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 350 Seiten, Web PDF

Reihe: European Monographs Series

The European Union has flourished and expanded over the last fifty years

as a unique system that lies midway between a federal state and an anarchical

international system. Different actors coexist within a cooperative hegemony

of Member States, and the allocation of competences and decision-making among

them has always been at the centre of the integration process. In fact,

demands for clearer limits to the Union’s decision-making power and enduring

tension over the nature and purpose of European integration have been the key

drivers of integration and change.

This deeply informed and thoughtful book thoroughly examines the manner in

which the principle of division of powers has developed in EU Law over the

course of European integration, and casts light on the path towards a more

efficient delimitation of internal competence between the main actors: namely,

the European Union and the Member States. Among the topics investigated in

depth are the following:

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the place of the ‘competence provisions’ in the current and future EU Treaty

structure;

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the scope and limits of the powers of institutional actors involved in EU

decision-making;

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the contribution of the Court of Justice in declaring the pre-emptive effect

and overarching precedence of Community law;

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the role of subsidiarity as a tool for monitoring the jurisdictional limits of

the Community’s legislative competence;

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areas where ‘creeping competence’ occurs;

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the constitutional checks and balances available to Member States against

unprecedented expansion of EU competences; and

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the spectre of a powerful ‘core’ Europe and a ‘multi-speed’ Europe of

pacesetters and laggards.

Addressing numerous crucial issues – among them the degree of permanence of

the nation-state in a context of ambiguous constitutional authority, and the

width of the democratic base of the Union’s ‘institutional dynamic’ of

cooperation and consensus – the author lucidly describes a seeming paradox: an

‘ever-closer union’, with a growing democratic legitimacy, congruent with a

supranational community that falls short of a fully-fledged democratic

political entity. The countless perspectives and clarifications discovered

along the way are sure to engage academics and policymakers working in the

fields of the European integration project, and will provide ample insights

and food for thought.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Konstadinides, Theodore

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Internationales Recht und Europarecht Internationales Recht