THE LEGAL ORDER IN THE European Union

Question 1

european council

Answer 1

• leaders of the MS (PM/pres)

- take strategic decisions which affect the future of the EU e.g. new MS/Brexit

Question 2

council of the eu

Answer 2

• gov’s of MS’s
• promote national interests
• day to day decisions e.g. budget

Question 3

MEPS

Answer 3

• represent the 500m EU citizens
• directly elected mems who represent people w/in the EU
• elected every 5 years
• representing the individuals w/in their constituency
• not representing states interests

Question 4

european commission

Answer 4

• interests of the EU as a whole

- appointed by MS and approved by EP

Question 5

how does the eu see itself?

Answer 5

‘The EU is not a federation like the United States, nor is it simply an organisation for co-operation between governments like the United Nations; it is, in fact unique’
Europa (EU) website

Question 6

van gend en loos 1963

Answer 6

a267 of tfeu

• eu law penetrates into national law
• individuals can directly rely on the treaty, this case a28
• horizontal legal order of which all citizens in the eu are given rights

Question 7

costa v enel

Answer 7

• the treaty overrides conflicting national law

- eu law has primacy over national law within areas of conferred powers

Question 8

kadi

Answer 8

• eu treaties are capable of creating rights that individuals can rely on, w/in the MS

Question 9

Wightman 2018

Answer 9

a new legal order, possessing its own institutions, for the benefit of which the Member States thereof have limited their sovereign rights, in ever wider fields, and the subjects of which comprise not only those States but also their nationals …’

Question 10

commitment to the ‘acquis’

Answer 10

must be done before a state wants to join the eu
- means the whole body of eu law e.g. the states will have to introduce new laws to be the same as the current eu laws e.g. regulations etc

Question 11

the Schulman declaration 1950

Answer 11

• incremental process of integration, Eu will not be made ‘all at once’
• about the institutions building deeper union
• started economically, w/coal and steel etc

Question 12

constitutional nature of the eu

Answer 12

• institutions of gov, created by treaties
• democracy, transparency, values and aims
• EU and the MS: conferred powers and mutual trust = CENTRAL
• multi-level governance and subsidiarity
• flexible integration e.g. Euro, Schengen
• human rights – Charter, general principles of law
• EU citizenship – from 1990s, everyone who is a national of a member state
• effective judicial protection – protection of the individual through the ECJ
• ever closer union – crises – impact of Brexit?

etc

Question 13

overview of the treaties

Answer 13

 Union - replaced & succeeded the Community in 2009 (Lisbon Treaty)
- Continuation treaty (treaty of EU and the treaty of the functioning of the EU : same legal value)
 two treaties (TEU & TFEU) - have “same legal value”
 Charter of Fundamental Rights - not part of Treaties but has “same legal value” – o.g. non-binding but given full legal effect and has same legal value
 Protocols - annexed to the Treaties
- Have same legal value, part of the treaties

Question 14

article 3

Answer 14

the task of the union is to promote its values, internally (within the union) and externally in the wider world

Question 15

article 7

Answer 15

if MS actions are not trying to fulfil the EU’s values, then the eu commission can have suspension of the ms

e.g. Poland case, w/judges, introducing a rule of law contrary to the eu values

Question 16

article 13

Answer 16

sets out the institutional framework

- designed to show coherence between EU institutions which goes w/the consistency of actions

Question 17

on page 13 out of 140

Answer 17

yep, lots to go.