THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE (original) (raw)

Constitutionalism of the European Union: Judicial Legislation and Political Decision-Making by the European Court of Justice

2001

Since tiie end of the Cold War and, indeed, at the beginning of this century, the European Union is being challenged with both an increasing number of members and by those countries who aspire for future membership. Established among six Member States as the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Union now consists of fifteen Member States and is faced with the application for membership of at least thirteen additional countries.' President Clinton, when presented with the prestigious Charlemagne Prize for promoting European unity in June 2000, even called for the ftill inclusion of Russia into the European Union.^ He stated: "No door can be sealed shut to Russia, not NATO's, not the European Union's.'" As this message demonstrates, the ever­changing character and definition of Europe remains today as it has in past centuries.' Moreover, it proves that in an age of constitutionalism, European integration and the European Union in particular can...

The effects of the Accession of the EU to the ECHR on the jurisdictional architecture of Europe

"This work is devoted in exploring the consequences of the Accession of the European Union to the European Convention of Human Rights after the conclusion of the negotiations between the Council of Europe and the EU on the 22nd of June, 2011. The main focus will be represented by the relationship between the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. The paper explores the direct and indirect consequences of the Accession, starting from the text of the Draft legal instruments prepared by the Working Group CDDH-EU. In the last part there will be an attempt to drawn some considerations concerning the future of the relationships between the CJEU and the ECourtHR. The core of this work has two different concerns: the first one is represented by the solution to the controversial relationships between the two European Courts(the CJEU and the ECourtHR), to which the Draft is devoted through the establishment of a procedure(the corespondent procedure) expressly prepared in order to reduce to a minimum the clashes between the two jurisdictions. The second, as a corollary of the first one, is the consistency of the protection of human rights throughout Europe without forgetting the different cultural, political and religious traditions which shaped Europe as we know nowadays. This work is addressed to stress the importance of the step of the Accession as a fundamental one in the history of the Union. But it is also maintained that the large amount of power descending from this merger should be used wisely by the judges of the Courts. In this sense, the conclusion of this work is addressed to explain that the enhancing of the dialogue between the two Courts and the application of a proper margin of appreciation doctrine could help in initiate a new era in which human rights will be probably considered as the cornerstone of the European Constitutional Order"

The European Constitution and the Relation between European and Member State Powers

Zeitschrift für Staats- und Europawissenschaften, 2007

Whereas the future of the European Constitution is still uncertain, the separation of powers between the EU institutions as well as between the Union and its Member States remains a crucial issue. The question whether the "Constitutional Treaty" forms a constitution can be answered positively if the term "constitution" is understood in a broader sense. The European Constitution reemphasises the existing superiority of the EU legal order to national law, but does not essentially alter the complex relationships with the Member States' constitutions. On the vertical axis of the institutional balance, it elucidates the different kinds of competencies that evolved from the ECJ case-law and strengthens the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. On the horizontal axis, it clarifies the dividing lines between legislation, administration, and the dispensation of justice. Auch angesichts der unklaren Zukunft der Europäischen Verfassung bleibt das Problem der Gewaltenteilung sowohl zwischen den Unionsorganen als auch zwischen der EU und ihren Mitgliedstaaten aktuell. Zunächst lässt sich die Frage, ob der "Verfassungsvertrag" überhaupt eine Verfassung ist, positiv beantworten, wenn man von einem breiteren Verständnis des Begriffs ausgeht. Die Europäische Verfassung betont den Vorrang des Europarechts vor den nationalen Rechtsordnungen, ändert jedoch das komplexe Verhältnis zu den mitgliedstaatlichen Verfassungen nicht wesentlich. Auf der vertikalen Dimension des institutionellen Gleichgewichts werden die aus dem Richterrecht des EuGH entwickelten Kompetenzkategorien festgehalten und die Prinzipien der Subsidiarität und der Verhältnismäßigkeit gestärkt. Horizontal wird die Unterscheidung zwischen den Aufgaben der Gesetzgebung, der Verwaltung und der Rechtsprechung klarer herausgearbeitet. I. Introduction and Apology After the French and Dutch "no" votes, obituaries of all sizes and shapes emerged to commemorate the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (hereinafter: European Constitution). Although the current status quo is officially a "reflection period", extended until June , 1 the resurrection of the constitutional project ZSE  ⁄  25 1 The original deadline for the reflection period passed in June . During the EU summit of . . , the European leaders decided-due to the lack of agreement on workable solutions to resolve the constitutional crisis-to extend the reflection period until June .

The Primacy of European Union Law over National Law Under the Constitutional Treaty

German Law Journal, 2005

The primacy of Community law over national law of the EC/EU Member States was recognized as one of the constitutive principles of the Community legal order as early as before the signing of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe on 29 October 2004. The primacy principle together with the principles of direct effect and of uniform applicability are believed to constitute not only the foundation of effectiveness of the Community legal order but also play the role of the pillars of the unofficial European Constitution. The primacy principle is even seen as the embodiment of actual transfer of constitutional power to Europe.

Current trends and perspectives regarding constitutional jurisdiction in the Member States of the EU

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the analysis and development of European constitutional law from the constitutional interaction between the European Union and the Member States. Against the traditional definitions of constitutional jurisdiction, it is now necessary to establish a concept of constitutional jurisdiction that is coherent with the multilevel constitutionalism of the European Union. From these methodological premises, the different models of constitutional jurisdiction in the Eu, their characteristics and their main processes are described and analysed. This comparative analysis shows the asymmetries and differences in constitutional jurisdiction within the European Union, to inform a model of constitutional jurisdiction that is coherent with the different national identities of the Member States but that is adapted to provide the necessary degree of homogeneity for the process of constitutional integration, thus responding to the new needs of the European Union. Thus, the paper discusses the role that the different models of constitutional jurisdiction can or must play in the new European constitutional context.

The Law-making procedure in the European Union, types of legal acts and the course of passing them

Denny BABOR, 2014

Deliberating about the issue of legislative procedure one should start by noticing that the European Union is currently made up of twenty eight countries, which retain their own sovereignty, moreover, they constitute rightful entities of international law. However, due to the fact that both functioning as well as the development of the European Union requires (making - taking decisions), in order to execute the tasks set to the European Union, these countries have voluntarily transferred a part of their entitlements to Pan European organs of the Community.