European Union Law in a Nutshell
Author:
Folsom, Ralph H.
Edition:
9th
Copyright Date:
2017
18 chapters
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Preface to the Ninth Edition 6 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community, aka the Treaty of Rome 1957, was the founding legal document of European inte
- Inevitably I have made judgments about what to emphasize, what to exclude and the like. I have also taken a few liberties in characterizing European Union law and procedure by using terminology that is familiar to Americans. It is my sincere hope that the final product will meet the needs of students, lawyers, faculty, government officials and business people who seek an introduction to the European Union and its law.
- Once again I have tried to present not only the big picture, but also to analyze in more detail some of the most critical developments. This selectivity was undertaken primarily with North American and other audiences located outside Europe in mind. Thus there is special emphasis throughout the book on the external impact of European Union law.
- EU legislation, litigation procedures, international trading rules, and business competition law are of major importance to the global community. It is important to bear in mind, however, that it is not just the externalities of EU law that command attention. The internal operations of the Union are significant not only for Europeans, but also to the many foreign investors and people flocking to the world’s largest common market.
- Principles of European Union Law Including BREXIT,
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Chapter 3 Law-Making in Europe 70 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The two founding treaties of the European Union, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the Maastricht Treaty on European Union (TEU), are the “primary” sources of regional law. They are, in this author’s opinion “quasi-constitutional.” The treaties have a common set of core institutions. These are the Council, the Commission, the Parliament and the Court of Justice. These institutions, supplemented by the European Council, European Central Bank and other EU bodies, and by national legislatures, courts and tribunals, have been busy generating a remarkably vast and complex body of “secondary” law.
- For example, the 1981 European Council resolution on the adoption of EU passports with uniform characteristics fits this mold. This symbolic resolution has been fully implemented, adding to the consciousness of the European Union among its citizens. Another example is the Council’s Declaration on Democracy (1977) which “codifies” the longstanding tradition that no European state can join or remain associated with the EU without a pluralistic democratic form of government. A third example is the formulation of foreign policy resolutions by the European Council (Chapter 2).
- The Treaty on European Union (Maastricht 1993) and to a lesser extent the Single European Act (1987) formalized “subsidiarity” and “proportionality” principles. The Amsterdam Treaty of 1999 added a
- On foreign and security policy matters, it operates outside ECJ review. Whether the European Council can be subjected to judicial review by the Court of Justice in other areas is most unclear. This is the case despite the fact that European Council pronouncements (e.g., the Social Charter in 1989) may have important legal implications for the Union.
- The European Union has been creating law at dazzling though sometimes irregular speed. The focus in this chapter is on law-making institutions and procedures. Without an understanding of these areas, it is almost impossible to function as a lawyer on EU matters.
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Chapter 2 New Europe, BREXIT 74 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The late President Mitterrand of France once said that European history is accelerating. Former Chancellor Kohl of Germany said that the deepening and simultaneous expansion of the European Union are decisive for securing peace and freedom . . . European integration is a question of war and peace in the new millennium. European Union law reflects these truths.
- Membership is limited by the Treaty on European Union to “European states”. Morocco’s informal application was rejected because it is not a European nation. Turkey’s application presents difficult questions about its status in Europe and the meaning of the Treaty. Does “European” only have geographic implications or is there an expectation that members must also be culturally or religiously European?
- Well before the realization of a Europe without internal frontiers under the Single European Act, Community and national leaders were forging another momentous round of European integration. These efforts bore fruit in the December 1991 summit meeting of the European Council in Maastricht, The Netherlands, where the “Treaty on European Union” (TEU) was signed.
- By 2007, with the defeat of the European Constitution fading, EU leaders went back to work on advancement of the Union. Presidents Sarkozy of France and Merkel of Germany, in particular, pushed for a “mini-treaty” during the summer of 2007. Gone was all reference to the “C” word. Promoted as technical amendments to the TEU and EEC Treaty, a proposed “Reform Treaty” (Treaty of Lisbon) emerged late in that year from an Intergovernmental Conference. All references to the European Community would be expunged in favor of European Union, and the EEC Treaty renamed the “Treaty on the Functioning of European the Union (TFEU).”
- Since 2009, Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) permits member states to commence withdrawal negotiations from the European Union. After approval by 52% of its voters in a June 2016 national referendum and strong approval by the House of Commons, Britain commenced two-year withdrawal negotiations on March 29, 2017, nearly the same date as the 60th anniversary of the EU.
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Chapter 7 External Trade and Foreign Investment Law 64 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Because the Soviet Union and its European satellites refused for many years to even recognize the European Union, some bilateral trade and cooperation agreements between those nations and the member states continued in place. It was not until 1988 that official relations between the Union
- Until the completion of the internal market on January 1, 1993 a complicated system of import quotas for individual member states existed for various products, notably for automobiles from Japan as well as bananas. The elimination of controls at the Union’s internal borders necessitated a harmonization of all European Union import and customs quotas. Regrettably this has not always resulted in a liberalized access to the EU market, but in a number of cases the Union has introduced new regimes which make it more difficult to export to the European Union.
- For example, the agreement with Russia on trade and trade-related issues removed all quotas and other quantitative restrictions on Russian exports to the European Union, with the exception of certain textile and steel products. In 2005, responding to the admission of 10 new EU member states, Russia and the European Union concluded a Partnership agreement. Customs duties on cargo shipments between Russia its Kaliningrad enclave on the Baltic Sea are dropped, tariffs generally lowered, Russian steel quotas increased and EU antidumping duties relaxed. The European Union has also promised to guarantee language rights for the Russian-speaking minorities in Estonia and Latvia.
- Another type of association agreement links the EFTA nations with the European Union. These agreements originally provided for industrial free
- United States-European Union open skies agreement followed in 2008.
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Chapter 1 Old Europe 52 results (showing 5 best matches)
- In 1993, the EEC Treaty was officially renamed the Treaty establishing the European Community. Dropping the word “Economic” from its title was symbolic of the expanded political, social and other non-economic roles of the Community in European affairs. At the same time, the Maastricht Treaty on European Union (TEU) was superimposed over the EC Treaty (thereby adding certain common provisions as well as coverage of foreign and security policy and justice and home affairs). The resulting document was titled the “Treaty on European Union together with the Treaty establishing the European Community.”
- The EEC Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community in 1957. As amended and renamed, it remains the penultimate source of European Union law.
- Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands had signed a Customs Union Treaty in January of 1948. By the middle of the 1950s, the Benelux nations were close to agreement on a comprehensive economic union. Benelux integration was already providing substantial economic growth to its member nations. Though not as heavily ladened with European institutions as the Coal and Steel Community, the
- Over 40 nations adhere to the Council of Europe’s post-war European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950). Derived from the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, this Convention has been ratified by every EU member state and by other European nations, e.g. Turkey and Russia. Long ago, the Commission proposed that the European Union accede to the Human Rights Convention. Authorization for this finally happened under the Reform Treaty of 2009, but Union accession to the Convention remains unfulfilled, not the least because the Human Rights Court and EU Court of Justice seem unable to co-exist.
- In 2009, the Reform Treaty of Lisbon amended, retitled and re-numbered the EEC Treaty as the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The Maastricht Treaty was retained, but notably amended by the Reform Treaty. Together, the TFEU and TEU have the “same legal value” as founding treaties of the Union.
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Chapter 5 Free Movement 76 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The Maastricht Treaty on European Union formally introduced the idea of European citizenship and brought with it a selected bundle of civil rights. These include the right to run for office and vote wherever resident in local and European Parliament elections, and the right to be represented abroad diplomatically by other member state consular or embassy services.
- This capital movement legislation, when combined with the various banking and investment services reforms, supports a remarkable new financial sector in Europe. It also supports the EURO replacing national currencies. In moving toward monetary union, the member states created the European Monetary System (EMS). When the EMS was established in 1979, member states deposited 20 percent of their gold and dollar assets with the European Monetary Cooperation Fund in exchange for an equivalent amount of European Currency Units (ECUs). This fund is used as a non-cash means of settlement between central banks undertaking exchange rate support.
- Stage Two anticipated the creation of a European Union central banking system, but functioned with the existing national currencies in the context of the EMS and ERM. Stage Two was a learning and transition period. In October of 1990, it was agreed (save Britain) that Stage Two would commence January 1, 1994. This deadline was actually met, and the European Monetary Institute was installed in Frankfurt. It was the precursor to the European Central Bank.
- It is estimated that there are 4 to 8 million illegal migrants in the European Union, and more on the way. Their employers may now face sanctions.
- This transfer had the notable effect of conveying jurisdiction in these areas to the European Court of Justice. The separate TEU pillar on justice and home affairs was essentially reduced to police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters (e.g., EUROPOL and Eurojust, and European Arrest Warrants), but opened to the possibility of ECJ judicial review starting in 2014. The Reform Treaty eliminated justice and home affairs as a separate TEU pillar, moving all such matters to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. However, the Court of Justice does not have jurisdiction to review police, law and order and internal security operations inside the member states.
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Chapter 4 Litigating European Law 77 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Administrative decisions present another fertile field of European Union law litigation. When can customs officers seize goods in transit between member states? When can they collect money in such situations? When can immigration authorities keep workers from other member states out? When can they deport them? When can professional licensing boards deny the applications of citizens of the European Union? Can national authorities deny EU nationals the right to establish a restaurant? Can they require residency or work permits? What about the families of all these persons? What about pensions, social security, health insurance and other
- , courts in other member states soon became converts. By 1982, when the European Court ruled definitively on the validity of this practice, it was faced with widespread but not particularly abusive utilization of
- National courts and tribunals are vested with wide (but not final) authority to resolve European Union legal issues. That authority rests with the European Court of Justice and its associated General Court, supreme arbiters of the vast body of EU law. The British, in their
- , the Court of Justice has ruled that member state liability for damages to individuals caused by the state’s infringement of European law is inherent in the scheme of the TFEU. This obligation follows from member state duties under Article 4 (3) TEU to ensure fulfillment of European Union law.
- Moreover, certain areas of European Union activity are deliberately undertaken outside the normal legislative and litigation frameworks. At this point, only EU foreign and security policy, including defense, generally fall outside the litigation system analyzed in this chapter.
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Chapter 6 Internal Policies 105 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Expanded economic aid to the least developed members of the Union was accomplished under the “cohesion funds” of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union and the European Economic Area agreement with the EFTA states (less Switzerland). Extensive and difficult negotiations over retention of such funds preceded the 2004/2007/2013 expansion in membership of the European Union which took in numerous states less developed than even the poorest EU member. Countries like Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania (for example) now receive more regional development funds than Spain, Greece and Ireland.
- Article 118 TFEU, added in 2009, authorizes the Council and Parliament acting via “co-decision” to create European intellectual property rights (IPR) and provide for uniform protection of IPR throughout the Union.
- Article 174 commits the Union to the goal of reducing the disparities between its regions and the “backwardness” of its least-favored regions. A region is least-favored if its per capita GDP is less than 50 percent of the EU average. A major step toward this goal accomplished by the Single European Act was formal recognition of the European Regional Development Fund. This fund has operated since 1975 in addition to, and coordinated with, those that function under the Union’s Common Agricultural Policy and its Social Policy.
- The European Union has numerous international fishery agreements, including one with the United States. This agreement primarily accesses U.S. waters and “surplus fish” to EU boats, while opening the Common Market to American exports.
- The European Union began considering the advent of the “Information Society,” and the need to establish a Pan-European information technology infrastructure with the 1994 white paper on “Growth, Competitiveness and Employment: the
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Chapter 8 Business Competition (Antitrust) Law 38 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Union-dimension concentrations subject to notification also occur if the enterprises have a combined aggregate world-wide turnover of at least 2.5 billion Euros
- UNITED STATES-EUROPEAN UNION ANTITRUST COOPERATION
- The Maastricht Treaty on European Union added provisions focused specifically on industrial competitiveness. The goal is to promote a system of open and competitive markets by accelerating structural change, encouraging enterprise initiatives, fostering business cooperation and supporting innovation, research and development. However, Article 173 indicates that this authority may not result in “any measure which could lead to a distortion of competition.”
- The primary purpose of European competition policy is preservation of the trade and other benefits of economic integration. The removal of governmental trade barriers unaccompanied by measures to ensure that businesses do not recreate those barriers would be an incomplete effort. For example, competing enterprises might agree to geographically allocate markets to each other, making the elimination of national tariffs and quotas by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union irrelevant. Similarly, a dominant enterprise in one state might tie up all important distributors or purchasers of its goods through long-term exclusive dealing contracts. The result could make entry into that market by another business exceedingly difficult.
- In 1991 the European Union and the United States reached an Antitrust Cooperation Agreement. This accord commits the parties to notify each other of imminent enforcement action, to share relevant information and consult on potential policy changes. An innovative feature is the inclusion of “positive comity” principles, each side promising to take the other’s interests and requests into account when considering antitrust prosecutions. Since the Commission has traditionally permitted U.S. lawyers to appear before it on competition law matters, the FTC announced on the same day as the signing of the agreement that European lawyers would be permitted to appear before it on a reciprocal basis.
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Index 39 results (showing 5 best matches)
Center Title 1 result
Outline 18 results (showing 5 best matches)
Title Page 1 result
A Timeline of European Integration 15 results (showing 5 best matches)
- 1993—Maastricht Treaty on European Union (TEU); EEC officially becomes EC
- 2009—Reform Treaty approved in Ireland . . . takes effect Dec. 1, 2009; EU Charter of Fundamental Rights becomes binding law; EC Treaty becomes Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
- CHRONOLOGY OF EUROPEAN UNION MEMBERSHIP
- 1957—European Economic Community (EEC) (“Treaty of Rome”); European Atomic Energy Community Treaty (EURATOM)
- A Timeline of European Integration
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Acknowledgments 2 results
- Many colleagues and students have contributed over the years to my learning and understanding of European Union law. For me, it really all began in Britain from 1972–75 when I was an LLM student at the London School of Economics followed by two years as a Lecturer in Law at the University of Warwick. Those were formative times, not only for me, but also for Britain as it joined the European Economic Community in 1973.
- European Union Law
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About the Author 1 result
- Publication Date: August 30th, 2017
- ISBN: 9781683289395
- Subject: European Union Law
- Series: Nutshells
- Type: Overviews
- Description: This Nutshell covers the history of the European Union, including BREXIT, its legislative procedures, litigating EU law and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice. Free movement of goods, services, people (including mass migration), capital and technology, the EURO in crisis, and extensive internal Union policies are detailed. This Nutshell also reviews EU international trade, foreign investment and business competition (antitrust) law.