European Union Worksheet

The European Court of Justice – The court has a judge fro each member state that sits for a term of six years. The court adjucates on all legal issues and disputes involving community law and must ensure that community law in uniformly interpreted and effectively applied.

The developing jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice also made it clear that there existed effectively an autonomous European legal order and that the member States were obliged to acknowledge the primacy of Community law over national law in areas where it

(2) European nations began to form economic organizations (e.g. OEEC, EFTA, EEC) to promote economic co-operation & growth.

The European Economic Community was an organization started in 1957 by France, West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Luxembourg, in post War World II torn European. This organization was a union between the Steal and Coal Community and The European Atomic Energy Community. The goal of the organization, heavily influenced by John Monnet one of its founders and National Liberation Committee member at the time, was to build a stronger cohesive Europe through collaboration and economic ties to bring mutual prosperity. This organization and its ideals developed into the well know European Union of today, that currently sits with 28 members. However, one controversial possible membership has increased in importance over the years.

Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands were the six founding member states, the very first ones that progressively pooled their sovereignty to the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, signing the Treaty of Paris under Robert Schuman’s orders (Mccormick 2008:10). The basic idea was that whoever did not have control over coal and steel production would not be able to fight a war (EUROPA 2012a). So the spirit of the community embodied the principle that ‘any war between France and Germany would become not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible’ (Pinder 2001:1) because the control over coal and steel would be taken by a supranational organization. The other reasons were merely economic and the creation of a single market was the first step to start a complementary process of political unification, which, since it involved the very intrinsic factor that defines a state - sovereignty -, was not that immediate and simple in the case of the EU. In 1957 the Treaty of Rome produced the EEC [establishing the ‘common market’, breaking down the barriers between the EU’s national economies and establishing the 4 freedoms: free movement of goods, free movement of persons, freedom to provide services and free movement of capital] and EURATOM [concerning nuclear development] (Bainbridge 1998:287;518). In 1965 the Merger Treaty unified the three institutions forming the

When the Eurozone was founded on January 1, 1999, it was with the intention of further integrating and strengthening the nations of Europe, both economically and politically. Until recently, it was believed that the euro provided a stable currency with low inflation and low interest rates and encouraged sound public finance. That the use of a single currency increases price transparency, eliminates currency exchange costs, oils the wheels of the European economy, facilitates international trade, and gives the European Union a more powerful voice in the world. That the size and strength Eurozone would better protect it from external economic shocks, and provide the EU’s citizens a tangible symbol of their European identity, of which they can be increasingly proud as the euro area expands and multiplies these benefits for its existing and future members (European Commission).

The EU's legal order is traditionally seen as autonomous. The CJEU already established this doctrine in early 60's in the landmark case, Costa v. Enel. This principle is simple: the EU has its own order, distinctive from national and international legal systems, with essential characteristics that domestic law, international law and therefore international agreements cannot alter. Among these characteristics figure the peculiar architecture of the EU legal system: the Treaties grant to the CJEU an exclusive judicial prerogative over the interpretation of EU law.

In 1992, twelve countries came together and signed the Maastricht Treaty creating the European Union (Krajewska, 2014, pp. 6-25). The last obstacle that the EU had to face was the different currencies of each country, therefore a decade later on January 1, 1999 the Euro was created. Many countries that adopted the new currency fell within the Euro Area. Each country had to discontinue their old currency and the monetary policies giving control the newly formed European Central Bank (ECB), but each separate country still had their own fiscal policies one of the key reasons for the current debt crisis (Krajewska, 2014, pp. 6-25). The union of multiple countries into a central body seemed to be a wise choice for greater economic growth, but the failure from one country is a failure for all.

In fact, most members of the EU do not accept the ECJ view unconditionally – despite accepting the requirements of supremacy in practice, most regard this as flowing from their national constitutions and importantly, as no more than a voluntary choice, rather than it being imposed by the EU Treaties or the ECJ. From this view, it may follow that it is still each nation who retains a power of ultimate constitutional review over measures of EU Law; that is, legal sovereignty. This is where the debate regarding supremacy of EU law and the sovereignty of each member state lies. In the following paragraphs, I will conduct some case studies to present different reactions from the member states.

In recent history, following World War II, the Paris Peace Treaty and The Potsdam Agreement, reorganized Europe’s countries dramatically and by the late 1940’s the idea of a European Union was presented. It began as a way to preserve peace among the nations of Europe. In 1951, the first

How has international case law dealt with the conflict between EU law and the ECT?

The Eurozone, the economic and monetary union of 19 of the 27 member countries of the European Union, is far from excellent health. At the root of its multi-causal ailment is the Euro, one of the grander experiments in economics in modern history. The Euro sought to be the cornerstone of the multi decade campaign for the full unification of Europe in the ruble of World War II. Politicians conveyed magnificent ideals of full economic and

The European Union (EU) was established in order to prevent the horrors of modern warfare, experienced by most of Europe during the World Wars of the 20th century, from ever ensuing again, by aiming to create an environment of trust with the countries of Europe cooperating in areas such as commerce, research and trade (Adams, 2001). The EU has evolved into an economic, trade, political and monetary alliance between twenty-eight European Member States. While not all Member States are in monetary union (i.e. share the currency of the euro), those that are form the ‘Euro-zone’ (Dinan, 2006). The EU can pass a number of types of legislation, with a regulation, act, or law, being the most powerful. Its ‘tricameral’ (European

Bibliography:Books:•Craig, Paul P.; De Búrca, Gráinne: EU law: text, cases, and materials, Oxford Univ. Press , 2007•Hartley, Trevor C.: European Union law in a global context: text, cases and materials, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005•Patrizia De Pasquale, Il principio di sussidiarietà nella Comunità Europea, 2000, Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli, 2000•Centre for Economic Policy Research, La distribuzione dei poteri nell'Unione Europea, Società Editrice il Mulino, Bologna, 1995•George A. Bermann, Su

The European Union (EU) was established in order to prevent the horrors of modern warfare, experienced by most of Europe during the World Wars of the 20th century, from ever ensuing again, by aiming to create an environment of trust with the countries of Europe cooperating in areas such as commerce, research and trade (Adams, 2001). The EU has evolved into an economic, trade, political and monetary alliance between twenty-eight European Member States. While not all Member States are in monetary union (i.e. share the currency of the euro), those that are form the ‘Euro-zone’ (Dinan, 2006). The EU can pass a number of types of legislation, with a regulation, act, or law, being the most powerful. Its ‘tricameral’ (European Union, 2007)