European Law Journal

vLex
Publisher:
Wiley
Publication date:
2021-02-01
ISBN:
1468-0386

Issue Number

Latest documents

  • How to make EU enlargement a fairer and merit‐based process: A legal and policy analysis

    Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the topic of EU enlargement has reached the top of the EU policy agenda, swiftly granting candidate status to Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, and unblocking some of the stalled accession processes in the Western Balkans. The paper examines the formal and substantive EU membership criteria and proposes ways to improve the accession process to make it more effective, fair and merit‐based. The paper recommends that the EU should improve its EU enlargement policy by adopting a two‐step accession process: joining the EU Single Market within 5 years of opening accession talks and achieving full EU membership within 10 years—subject to demonstrating a track record in upholding the EU's fundamental values. It also recommends improving the decision‐making process extending qualified‐majority voting (QMV) to EU enlargement policy to prevent Member States from politicising the accession process on issues unrelated to EU enlargement.

  • The EU interinstitutional body for ethical standards: A legal and policy analysis

    Amid several high‐profile ethical scandals, the EU has been discussing since the early 2000s the establishment of a dedicated EU ethics authority capable of restoring trust in its institutions. This article provides one of the first assessments of the newly adopted EU Interinstitutional Body for Ethical Standards by examining whether and how it can contribute to strengthening the existing EU public integrity system. After tracing its genesis and evolution, it first identifies the major structural limitations of the extant EU ethical framework, ranging from its high fragmentation across EU institutions, weak enforcement of its underlying standards to its limited awareness within both the EU institutional setting and wider public. Second, it assesses whether the newly adopted EU ethical body may address and overcome those structural limitations and how it may do so. It concludes that, despite its limited investigative and sanctioning powers, the first dedicated Interinstitutional Body for Ethical Standards carries the potential to mark a qualitative difference in the development of the EU public integrity system as we know it. Through a combination of its standard‐setting, advisory and awareness‐raising functions, the Body may profoundly alter both the ethical standards and their enforcement for participating institutions' members and beyond.

  • The EU Minimum Tax Directive—A conceptual discussion of a bold policy move

    The century old international tax system is in the middle of being rebuilt. In the ongoing multilateral efforts to reform international taxation to better accord with the challenges imposed by digitalisation and globalisation, the EU has taken in very active role. In the end of 2022, this has resulted in the adoption of the Minimum Tax Directive (2022/2325), which obliges EU Member States to implement the soft‐law compromise achieved at the level of the OECD and the Inclusive Framework on Global Anti‐Base Erosion (GLoBE) Model Rules. Particularly against the background of the EU's traditional reluctance to become active in this area, the author aims to contextualise this remarkable policy step in EU economic policy. The author demonstrates that implementing minimum taxation rules in the form of a legally binding and enforceable directive is, in principle, the proper thing to do in a setting characterised by heterogeneous interests of states and high tax competitive pressures. However, the institutional framework governing the implementation of the directive and its future development is not viable. Unanimous decision‐making in the Council under Article 115 TFEU risks locking Member States into a specific version of an international soft law compromise, which continues to evolve outside the EU, without any guarantee that Member States will maintain consistent positions in this context. This reinforces the need for a serious debate on the adequacy of Article 115 TFEU as a legal basis for direct tax harmonisation.

  • European defence integration after Trump's re‐election: A proposal to revive the European Defense Community Treaty and its legal feasibility

    Donald Trump's re‐election as President of the United States and Russia's aggression of Ukraine pose unprecedented challenges to transatlantic relations and European security. The EU as it is is unprepared to take care of its defence. This article explores how the law can be activated creatively to achieve defence integration in Europe and proposes to revive the 1952 European Defence Community (EDC) Treaty. Specifically, the article claims that, in strictly legal terms, the EDC can be brought into operation today—simply with the ratification by two states: France and Italy—and provides comprehensive arguments from public international law, comparative law and domestic constitutional law to make the point. Needless to say, legal feasibility does not equate with political feasibility, and the article mentions several of the obstacles and challenges along this path. Yet, shedding light the EDC has two advantages. On the one hand, the article emphasises how the EDC—with a common army, funded by a common budget and governed by supranational institutions—constituted an articulated response to the problem of securing European security. On the other hand, it identifies a differentiated path to achieve greater European defence integration.

  • An Agency of the EU for democratic quality and participation

    The article suggests creating a new Agency at the EU level focused on the democratic quality of EU decision‐making processes and democratic participation in it. The Agency would be tasked with three roles corresponding to 11 goals: institutionalising citizens' panels, organising national parliaments' cooperation and providing structure and expertise to assess the democratic quality of decisions taken at the EU level. The statutory nature of the Agency appears to be essential for the proposal to be successful given its independence vis‐à‐vis other EU institutions and, to a lesser extent, its expertise on democratic issues.

  • Issue Information

    No abstract is available for this article.

  • Correction to ‘Watching the guards: Ensuring compliance with fundamental rights at the external borders’
  • Countering Democratic Backsliding in (Future) EU Member States: Article 10(3) TEU Unlocked

    The Group of Twelve's report aims inter alia to fortify the rule of law and democratic legitimacy within the European Union (EU). In this context, this paper identifies a new trajectory for operationalising the value of democracy on the basis of key developments in the European Court of Justice's case‐law, marking a paradigm shift in the EU's approach to upholding foundational values enshrined in Article 2 Treaty on European Union (TEU). Following the use of Article 19(1)(2) TEU as an operationalising expression of the value of the rule of law, the question will be considered whether Article 10(3) TEU can be used in the same way in order to operationalise the value of democracy. We contend that Article 10(3) TEU offers an unexplored avenue to prevent and address democratic backsliding in Member States, thereby safeguarding democratic participation in a potentially expanding Union. Four key recommendations are made to EU institutions: (1) recognise that the value of democracy should actively be promoted; (2) use Article 10(3) TEU as an operationalising provision for the value of democracy; (3) recognise the directly effective nature of Article 10(3) TEU; and (4) include Article 10(3) TEU in procedures and cases related to democratic backsliding.

  • How to amend the EU Treaties? Legal ways and deadlocks

    The EU Treaties revision procedures have been conceived according to a federal design. That prompts the making of the following recommendations as to how to amend the EU Treaties: treaty revision must follow the specific amendment procedures of Article 48 TEU. Amending EU Treaties through Article 49 TEU‐based agreements is not legally feasible. each treaty amendment recommended by the Group of Twelve must be classified under the proper revision procedure. the shift from the ‘double unanimity’ requirement to a four‐fifths majority for treaty change should be made but without Member States being thereby bound by treaty revisions, they have not agreed.

  • Reforming the EU budget, a prerequisite for future enlargements?

    This article contributes to the ongoing debate on EU budget reform. It proposes a revision of Articles 311 and 312 TFEU in advance of any future enlargements. The reform proposed by the authors is based on four pillars. First, the EU needs to reduce the pressure from and reliance on national budgets by the allocation of new own resources coupled with hybrid and off‐budget instruments. Second, there is a need to adapt the Multiannual Financial Framework to rebalance traditional priorities like the Common Agricultural Policy and Cohesion with emerging political priorities such as sustainability, digitalisation or defense. Third, the European Parliament's role in budgetary decision‐making process needs to be strengthened by modifying the Multi Financial Framework calendar to align it with the Parliament's legislative term and by enshrining the mid‐term review in the treaties. Finally, the use of budgetary conditionality should be extended to ensure sound financial management.

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