The constitutional legal order of the European Union

Abstract

This thesis should be of interest to readers who wish to explore the relationship between the European Union and its Member States. In the political debate raging throughout Europe today, not least in our own country, the thorny issue of national sovereignty has taken centre stage. It is an issue which is passionately debated on many fronts and which consequently needs to be understood and analyzed all the more urgently. The work is divided into four chapters. In the first, I tackle the nature of the legal order of the Community and of the Union. I analyze the important difference between the two before discussing whether the legal order, based as it is on international treaties, still derives its authority from international law or whether it has developed into a truly constitutional order. I briefly tackle the consequences of its transformation into a constitutional order by the European Court of Justice. For reasons of space, however, I have not included a specific chapter on the European Court of Justice's 'constitutional doctrines'. This has been well developed and examined by various excellent text books on European law as well as by two recent LL.D. theses presented to the Faculty of Law. The central issue of this thesis is tackled in Chapters II and III. Chapter II describes the reaction of the Member States to the process of constitutionalization of the treaties by the European Court of Justice and to European integration in general. The key concept of sovereignty is examined in some detail and linked to the originality of the Community legal order. Finally, I give an overview of the constitutional evolution which European integration brought about in various Member States. Chapter III contains a detailed analysis of the acceptance of and resistance to European integration in two particular Member States - France and Germany. The final chapter presents a theoretical analysis of the relationship between the constitutional order of the Member States and the Community's constitutional order. The analysis will show that the conflict is based on the existence of two orders constitutional and community - which both claim to be the ultimate source of authority of European law. I discuss the proposals for the adoption of a European Constitution which is widely seen as a solution to the constitutional dilemmas facing the Union today before examining the theory of multi-level constitutionalism as applied to the European Union: a theoretical model which claims to bridge the apparent conflict between European constitutionalism and the constitutionalism of the Member States.