Principles of European Constitutional Law: Second Revised Edition

The historic attempt to adopt a Constitution for Europe and its eventual rejection by the electorates of France and the Netherlands led to a renewed and impassioned debate about the future of the EU. Now, with the adoption of the Reform Treaty, the debate about the constitutional architecture of Europe is once again in the full public gaze. More than at any time in the past, Europe is engaged in a process of constitutionalization which will shape its powers and activities for a generation. Following the warm critical reception given to the first edition of this work, the same editors and contributors have embarked on a second edition which once again presents European constitutional law not merely as a project but as binding law, law which establishes public power, legitimates legal acts, provides for citizenship, protects fundamental rights, and regulates the relationships among legal orders, as well as between law and politics. This, then, is European constitutional law both as it presently stands and as it will look following the Reform Treaty. The contributions present the theoretical and doctrinal fundamentals, reflecting the state of modern research and methodology, illuminating legal doctrines and assumptions, and identifying the future research agenda. The historic attempt to adopt a Constitution for Europe and its eventual rejection by the electorates of France and the Netherlands led to a renewed and impassioned debate about the future of the EU. Now, with the adoption of the Reform Treaty, the debate about the constitutional architecture of Europe is once again in the full public gaze. More than at any time in the past, Europe is engaged in a process of constitutionalisation which will shape its powers and activities for a generation Following the warm critical reception given to the first edition of this work, the same editors and contributors have embarked on a second edition which once again presents European constitutional law not merely as a project but as binding law, law which establishes public power, legitimates legal acts, provides for citizenship, protects fundamental rights, and regulates the relationships among legal orders as well as between law and politics. This, then, is European constitutional law both as it presently stands and as it will look following the Reform Treaty. The contributions present its theoretical and doctrinal fundamentals from the perspective of German-speaking scholarship, reflecting the state of modern research and methodology, illuminating legal doctrines and assumptions, and identifying the future research agenda." ... should be mandatory reading for anyone who wants to get a holistic perspective of the academic debate on Europe's constitutional foundations ... It is impossible to present the richness of thoughts contained in the 833 pages of the book in a short review." Common Market Law Review " ... an enduring scholarly work, which gives an English-speaking audience important, and overdue, access to the long-standing and forever-vigorous traditions of (European) constitutional law ... unhesitatingly recommend[ed]." European Law Journal " ... real scholarship in the profound sense of the word ..." K Lenaerts, Professor of European Law, Leuven For the time being, the political project of basing the European Union on a document entitled 'Constitution' has failed. The second, revised and enlarged edition of this volume retains its title nonetheless. Building on a scholarly rather than black-letter law account, it shows European constitutional law as it looks following the Treaty of Lisbon, with the EU's foundational treaties mandating the exercise of public authority, establishing a hierarchy of norms and legitimising legal acts, providing for citizenship, and granting fundamental rights. In this way the treaties shape the relations between legal orders, between public interest regulation and market economy, and between law and politics. The contributions demonstrate in detail how a constitutional approach furthers understanding of the core issues of EU law, how it offers theoretical and doctrinal insights, and how it adds critical perspective. From Reviews of the First Edition: " ... should be mandatory reading for anyone who wants to get a holistic perspective of the academic debate on Europe's constitutional foundations ... It is impossible to present the richness of thought contained in the 833 pages of the book in a short review." Common Market Law Review "an enduring scholarly work, which gives an English-speaking audience important, and overdue, access to the long-standing and forever-vigorous traditions of (European) constitutional law ... unhesitatingly recommend[ed]." European Law Journal " ... real scholarship in the profound sense of the word ..." K Lenaerts, Professor of European Law, Leuven Cover 1 Prelims 2 Preface 6 Short Contents 8 Contents 10 List of Contributors 30 Table of Cases 32 The Constitutional Approach to EU Law— From Taming Intergovernmental Relationships to Framing Political Processes 52 Part I Defining the Field of European Constitutional Law 60 1 Founding Principles 62 2 Federalism and Democracy 106 3 National Constitutional Law Relating to the European Union 134 4 The Constitutional Role of International Law 182 5 Pouvoir Constituant—Constitution—Constitutionalisation 220 6 On Finality 256 Part II Institutional Issues 286 7 The Political Institutions 288 8 The Federal Order of Competences 326 9 Foreign Affairs 360 10 Legal Instruments and Judicial Protection 396 11 Multilevel Constitutional Jurisdiction 450 Part III The Legal Position of the Individual 492 12 Union Citizenship 494 13 Fundamental Rights 530 14 Fundamental Freedoms 566 15 The Area of Freedom, Security and Justice 602 Part IV The Constitution of the Social Order 638 16 The Economic Constitution within the Internal Market 640 17 The Labour Constitution 674 18 Competition Law as Part of the European Constitution 710 Part V Contending Visions of European Integration 750 19 The European Union as a Federal Association of States and Citizens 752 20 The European Union of States 786 21 The Advantages of the European Constitution 814 Index 838 This volume presents European constitutional law not as a theoretical construct but as binding law. While politicians wrestle with the Constitutional Treaty, this volume presents European constitutional law as it stands, setting out its theoretical and doctrinal fundamentals from the perspective of German-speaking scholarship.