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LAWW3111 Law of the European Union 22-23Handout for Lectures 1-2
Welcome to Law of the European Union 22-23! Before we get into the substance
of the topics here is a quick overview of the lectures in Semester 1 and a
reminder of key information which is provided in more detail on the Moodle page
for the module.
Lecture Overview for Semester 1
– Law and Governance of the European Union
4 topics, 15 lectures
1. The legal order of the EU: development 1-3
of the EU; Treaties and EU institutions –
institutions of governance and the courts
2. The primacy of EU law, competence, 4-7
law-making, fundamental rights and the
rule of law
3. Enforcement of EU law by the Court of 8-12
Justice of the EU and national courts:
rights and remedies; judicial review
4. Brexit – the process of withdrawal 13-14
from EU membership and the Treaties
governing the post-Brexit EU-UK
relationship
Consolidation Lecture 15
Lectures 1-7, 13-15 – Dr Ozlem Ulgen
Lectures 8-12 – Dr Scarlett McArdle
Please see the Moodle page (and email) for key dates for the 3 cycles of
tutorials listed below for ease of reference (please ensure you consult your
Timetable for group and room):
Tutorial 1 cycle (starts w/c 31 October and continues w/c 7 November)
Tutorial 2 cycle (starts w/c 21 November and continues w/c 28
November)
Tutorial 3 cycle (starts w/c 5 December and continues w/c 12 December)
Recordings of lectures with PowerPoint slides will be available on Moodle each
week (except Week 7 - Writing Week) until the lecture cycle concludes. Please
note that separate handouts will be issued on Moodle for tutorials.
REMINDER – Law of the EU is a 20-credit core full-year module assessed by
examination in May-June 2023. Semester 1 is concerned with the law and
governance of the EU. Semester 2 covers the law of the EU’s internal market – as
with Semester 1, there will be 15 lectures and 3 tutorials in Semester 2. Both
elements – including interconnected questions – will feature in the examination.
The implications of Brexit on EU/UK law are considered in relation to each topic
ahead of the specific focus on this topic in the final set of lectures in Semester 1.
Topic 1: The Legal Order of the European Union
Lectures 1-2
1|Page
,Topic 1 Themes: development of the EU’s legal order; overview of the Treaties;
the EU institutions: composition and functions.
4 TIPS TO GET OFF TO
A GOOD START ON Required reading for Lectures 1-2 – see
THE MODULE: Moodle for textbook information
Make sure you Craig & De Búrca, EU Law, Text, Cases and
read the lecture Materials (UK Version), 7th ed, (OUP, 2020)
handouts before pp. 1-33 and 61-89.
lectures and
prepare well for Also recommended for supplementary
tutorials by reading:
reading the Chalmers, Davies & Monti, 4th ed, pp. 1-102.
essential
materials as FIRST, you should read and refer to the following
guided on Treaty provisions available AT:
handouts. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/
Ideally do some treaties/treaties-force.html
reading from your
textbook before or The Treaty on European Union (TEU):
shortly after the list of titles on the contents page
lectures. the preamble
Make good use of Arts 1-21 and 47-55
the EU’s electronic The Treaty on the Functioning of the European
databases to read Union (TFEU):
the primary legal the list of parts and titles on the
sources: Eur-Lex contents page
for Treaties and the preamble
legislation: Arts 1-25 and 223-281
https://eur-
lex.europa.eu – The two EU Treaties AND the separate Charter
and Curia for the of Fundamental Rights of the EU (also on the
Court of Justice of linked page) each have ‘the same legal value’ in
the EU (use the the EU legal order – together they form the
case number for primary law (or constitutional texts) of the EU.
searches) - We will examine the Charter in more depth later in
https://curia.euro the Semester.
pa.eu/juris/recher
che.jsf? 1. What is the European Union?
language=en The EU is an original political and legal system,
In addition to the more integrated than an international organisation
textbook reading but less than a national federation.
on the lecture
handouts from In 2009, when the “Treaty of Lisbon” entered into
Craig & De Búrca, legal effect (that Treaty established the Treaty on
EU Law, Text, European Union (TEU) and Treaty on the
Cases and Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) in their
Materials (UK current form), the European Union formally
Version), 7th ed, replaced the European Community as an
(OUP, 2020), international entity – essentially an evolution from
keep up to date the original Treaty structure of the 1950s.
by reading articles
and case notes The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU is also
from the two key legislation.
leading journals in
the e-library: the
Common Market 2|Page
Law Review and
the European Law
Review:
,The EU is a treaty-based legal and political order intended to lead to an ‘ever
closer union among the peoples of Europe’ (Art 1 TEU).
It is an organisation of 27 sovereign Member States who have freely chosen to
confer powers on the EU institutions they have created. Member States are also
free to leave the Union under the procedure laid down in Art 50 TEU, as happened
for the first time with the UK’s departure effective from 1 February 2020.
The Union has its own institutions and agencies, 24 official languages, and a
population of 446 million (down from over 500 million following Brexit). Nationals
of the Member States have the status of Union citizens and a series of important
rights associated with that status. The EU has its own currency – the Euro –
shared by 19 of the Member States. For more facts and figures see:
http://europa.eu/about-eu/index_en.htm
By ratifying the EU Treaties, each Member State has agreed to delegate certain
powers to the EU’s institutions – conferred powers or competences. These
institutions adopt policies and create or interpret EU law, within the limits of their
Treaty powers. EU primary and secondary laws become part of the legal system
of each Member State of the Union either directly or via national implementation.
If a Member State gives notice to withdraw from the EU in accordance with Art 50
TEU, the Treaties cease to apply to them from the effective date of withdrawal.
Although it is difficult to compare the EU to any other multi-state governmental
system, a few points may help to clarify what the EU is and what it does.
The key point is to note the balance between the interests of the Member States
and the interests of EU institutions tasked with advancing the European
integration project. A good starting point is to look at what the EU says about the
role of its institutions: https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/institutions-
bodies_en
the EU's strategic priorities are set by the European Council, which
brings together national and EU-level leaders in regular “summits”;
directly elected MEPs represent European citizens in the European
Parliament which has legislative and budgetary powers;
the interests of the EU as a whole are promoted by the European
Commission, the EU’s main executive body and civil service – appointed
by the Member States but subject to approval by the European
Parliament;
Member State governments defend their own country's national interests
in the Council of the European Union – has legislative and budgetary
powers – separate functions from the European Council.
In a nutshell, the EU has described itself as follows:
‘The European Union
(EU) is not a federation The first paragraph of Art 1 TEU explains the
like the United States, relationship between the Member States and the
nor is it simply an Union thus:
organisation for co- ‘By this Treaty, the [Member States] establish
operation between among themselves a European Union, hereinafter
governments, like the called ‘the Union’, on which the Member States
United Nations (UN); it confer competences to attain objectives they have
is, in fact, unique. The in common’
countries that make up
the EU (its Member
States) remain
independent sovereign 3|Page
nations but they pool
their sovereignty in order
to gain the strength and
world influence none of
, The conferral of competences or powers on the Union, such as the rules for the
EU’s single market, by the Member States is based on the idea that some issues
are better dealt with or more effectively attained at the EU level, advancing their
individual national interest collectively through the Union.
Equally important, competences NOT conferred on the Union remain with the
Member States, such as most aspects of defence, education, health care.
The early activism of the EU’s “supreme court”, the Court of Justice, helped to
provide the momentum for integration and acceptance by the Member States and
their courts of the supranational effect of EU law.
In Van Gen den Loos, the Court of Justice established the important principle that
Community, now Union, law confers rights to individuals, as well as creating new
legal obligations – and:
Case 26/62 Van Gend en Loos, EU:C:1963:1
‘… the Community constitutes a new legal order of international law for the
benefit of which the states have limited their sovereign rights, albeit within
limited fields, and the subjects of which comprise not only Member States but
also their nationals. Independently of the legislation of Member States,
Community law therefore not only imposes obligations on individuals but is also
intended to confer upon them rights which become part of their legal heritage.
These rights arise not only where they are expressly granted by the Treaty, but
also by reason of obligations which the Treaty imposes in a clearly defined way
upon individuals as well as upon the Member States and upon the institutions of
the Community’
The essential point made in Costa was that no domestic provision can supersede
binding EU law – this is essential to achieve uniformity of interpretation of laws,
to maintain the stability of the EU legal order, and to ensure loyalty among
Member States to the EU. Note the emphasis on the:
specified powers conferred on the EU by Member States
the Treaties as an independent source of law
unique and special nature of EU law – penetrates national law –
implications for the democratic legitimacy of the Union
primacy of EU law
application of EU law to individuals and states
creation of rights for individuals – the notion of directly effective rights
enforceability of EU law in national legal orders of the Member States,
legal obligations on individuals, Member States and EU institutions
Case 6/64 Costa v ENEL, EU:C:1964:66
‘… the law stemming from the Treaty, an independent source of law, could not,
because of its special and original nature, be overridden by domestic legal
provisions, however framed, without being deprived of its character as
Community law and without the legal basis of the Community being called into
question’
Remember that EU Law is not the same as the ECHR
The settled case law on the EU legal order has been summarised thus:
Case C-621/18 Wightman, EU:C:2018:999, paras 44-45:
‘… it must be borne in mind that the founding Treaties, which constitute the
basic constitutional charter of the European Union … established, unlike
ordinary international treaties, 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
4|Page
not only those States but also their nationals …
According to settled case-law of the Court, that autonomy of EU law with
respect both to the law of the Member States and to international law is
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