5.3.5.2  EU Law

(The latest version of this page is at Pattern Descriptions.  An archived copy of this page is held at https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition02/5352.htm)

The EU started as the European Coal and Steel Community in 1950 €œto unite European countries economically and politically in order to secure lasting peace€�, and has grown and developed since then.[1]  It has formed what, in the terminology of this book, can be described as a treaty which is enforced with a Legal Dimension of governance:

·      Administrative regulations facilitate the free movement of people and trade.

·      People€™s human rights are protected by legislation.

·      The EU legal framework does not have all the components of a national system because it has been designed to be complementary to the systems of member countries.  It operates by overruling national law-making in some respects and influencing it in others:[2]

€’      Its regulations are binding and are applicable without the need for national legislation.

€’      Its directives are instructions to countries to change their laws to comply with European decisions.

€’      Its recommendations are non-binding but are expected to influence national legislation.

·      The European Court of Justice makes decisions which are binding on specific cases that have been referred to it. 

·      Without countries signing new treaties the EU can frame legislation which can be categorised as primary rules (5.2.1).  Its €œOrdinary Legislative Procedure", which has a separation of powers, is described as follows:

€œThere are 3 main institutions involved in EU legislation:

The European Parliament, which represents the EU€™s citizens and is directly elected by them;

The Council of the European Union, which represents the governments of the individual member countries. The Presidency of the Council is shared by the member states on a rotating basis.

The European Commission, which represents the interests of the Union as a whole.

Together, these three institutions produce through the "Ordinary Legislative Procedure" (ex "co-decision") the policies and laws that apply throughout the EU. In principle, the Commission proposes new laws, and the Parliament and Council adopt them. The Commission and the member countries then implement them, and the Commission ensures that the laws are properly applied and implemented.€� [3]

The secondary rules (5.2.3), which allow the exercise of such powers, have been agreed under the series of treaties that formed and amended the EU.

There have been many criticisms of the EU, but its unprecedented level of cooperation has made Europe more peaceful than it has ever been and its Legal Dimension of governance has been necessary to achieving its objectives. 

© PatternsofPower.org, 2014