NOTES CONSTITUTIONAL LAW OF THE EU
Course materials:
• Treaties
o TEU and TFEU
o Charter of fundamental rights of the EU
• Readings
• Recommended books
Exam:
• open questions/cases, written and open book
Table of contents CLEU
25/09 (class 1) Introduction + The transition in the EU Institutions following the European elections .....4
I. What is the “constitutional law of the EU”? ..................................................................................4
II. Essentials to having a constitution .............................................................................................5
III. Case Les Verts v European Parliament ......................................................................................5
IV. Member state constitutions: .....................................................................................................5
V. European Institutions (composition 4 political EU institutions: art. 13-17 TEU) ..............................6
25/09 (class 2) Testing the scope of EU competences: Free movement and Member States’ societal
choices ......................................................................................................................................... 10
I. Different cases ........................................................................................................................ 10
II. Division of competences between European Union and Member States ..................................... 13
II.A) What can the EU do? (=scope of EU powers) .......................................................................... 13
II.B) What can the Member States still do? (=scope of MS powers) ................................................. 15
II.C) Free movement and societal choices .................................................................................... 16
II.D) Application of free movement through cases in specific areas (see above) .............................. 17
Questions for discussion: ........................................................................................................... 18
07/10 (class 4, previous session: how to read CJEU cases) EU Decision-making procedure (I):
Legislation – Democracy in practice: ............................................................................................... 20
I. Art. 289 TFEU: ordinary legislative procedure and special legislative procedure ........................... 20
II. Posting of workers ................................................................................................................... 20
III. Questions of the outline: ........................................................................................................ 21
9/10 (class 5) (E. Muir) EU Decision-Making Procedures (II) & Beyond: The Finances of the EU ............ 27
I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 27
II. Financial provisions in the TFEU: .............................................................................................. 28
II.A. Own Resources ................................................................................................................... 28
II.B Multiannual Financial Framework (‘MFF’) ............................................................................... 31
Regulation 2020/2093................................................................................................................. 32
II.C Annual Budget ...................................................................................................................... 33
II.D Institutional cooperation and transparency ............................................................................ 33
III. The singular case of decisions making within the framework of recovery plan in response to the
consequenses of the covid -19 crisis ........................................................................................... 35
, III.A The quest for additional resources ........................................................................................ 35
III.B The purpose of additional resources ..................................................................................... 36
IV. The redistribution of EU financial resources as an instrument of pressure .................................. 37
V. Recent developments: ............................................................................................................ 40
16/10 (class 6) Guest Lecture: Enforcement of EU Law, the challenges of a transnational legal system 40
21/10 (class 7) EU Decision-Making Procedures (II): Implementation and Delegation of Power ............ 40
I. Implementation versus legislation ............................................................................................ 40
II. Committology: Practice of Controlling the Commission ............................................................ 41
III. Class discussion: is EU democratic? ....................................................................................... 44
IV. Implementing acts and delegated acts: art. 291 TFEU .............................................................. 45
V. Implementation through Union agencies (think about ECB, ESMA) ............................................. 48
23/10 (class 8) Guest Lecture J. Tomkin – EU Citizenship: Constructing the fundamental Status of
Member State nationals ................................................................................................................. 49
28/10 (class 9) Guest Lecture T. Corthaut: Implementation of EU Law and interaction with National
Constitutional Law ......................................................................................................................... 49
4/11 (class 10) Rule of law – EU Standards on Judicial Independence ................................................ 49
I. Basic texts:.............................................................................................................................. 49
II. Discussion Questions ............................................................................................................. 49
II.A. Rule of law and judicial independence .................................................................................. 49
Republikka case (judgment of 20 april 2021 in Case C-896/19)...................................................... 54
II.B EU law requirements on judicial independence ...................................................................... 55
II.C Raising doubts about judicial independence in the Member States before the Court of Justice .. 58
II.D Raising doubts about judicial independence as regards appointments to the Court of Justice ... 58
Class 11 (6/11), EU Law and the National Constitutions: Ordering Pluralism (Muir)............................. 60
I. Articulating the primacy of EU law with domestic constitutional diversity from the perspective
of the EU .................................................................................................................................... 60
I.A EU law takes precedence over national (constitutional) law ..................................................... 60
I.B. General principles of Union’s law as bridging devices .............................................................. 61
I.C. National Constitutional diversity within EU primary law .......................................................... 61
Another way of recognizing the MS’s constitutional traditions and law is to refer to national
constitutions within the primary law ............................................................................................ 61
II. The primacy of EU law from the perspective of national constitutional orders Reminder on
traditional constitutional doctrine: monism v. Dualism ................................................................. 63
Selected examples ..................................................................................................................... 63
III – Working towards constructive dialogue .................................................................................. 67
III.A The role of the preliminary ruling procedure ........................................................................... 67
III.B. The degree of determination of EU law is increasingly often used to articulate the relationship
between EU and MS standards of fundamental rights protection ................................................... 71
Class 12 (13/11 and 4/12), Fundamental rights in the EU (E. Muir) ..................................................... 72
I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 72
, I. The sources of protection of fundamental rights in the EU .......................................................... 76
I.A. The guidance of Article 6 TEU ................................................................................................ 77
Article 6 TEU maps out the various sources for the protection of fundamental rights in the EU:........ 77
I.B. Looking beyond Article 6 TEU ......................................................................................... 81
II. The addressees of EU fundamental rights law ..................................................................... 82
II.A. Union Institutions and the Protection of Fundamental Rights in the EU ............................. 82
II.B. The Member States of the EU ......................................................................................... 85
II.C. Natural and legal entities ............................................................................................... 87
Class 13 (25/11), Rule of Law (II) – Monitoring the Rule of Law in the EU ................................................. 88
I. Monitoring compliance with ‘rule of law” and other EU values .................................................... 88
II. Discussion questions .............................................................................................................. 88
1. EU values and the ‘ordinary’ enforcement mechanism of EU law .......................................... 88
Value of democracy (art. 2 relates to it) ........................................................................................ 93
2. The procedure of Article 7 TEU ................................................................................................. 96
3. Can non-compliance with EU values be tackled through financial instruments? ......................... 97
4. Monitoring observance of EU values through the Rule of Law reports ......................................... 99
5. Is it for the EU to ensure respect for EU values in the MS? Is it a matter of EU law? ...................... 99
Class 14 (2/12), Practical Exam Preparation session............................................................................. 99
Class 15 (4/12 and 11/11) Economic (& Monetary) Governance in the EU (E. Muir) ................................. 99
I – Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 99
I.A Historical Note ................................................................................................................... 100
I.B. Geographical Note ..................................................................................................... 101
II – EU Economic & Monetary Policy as it stands in the TFEU ........................................................ 102
II.A. What can the EU do in the field of Economic Policy? ..................................................... 102
II.B. What can the EU do in the field of Monetary Policy? ...................................................... 105
II.C. Institutional provisions on both economic and monetary policy .................................... 106
II.D. Specific provisions on the Eurozone ............................................................................ 106
II.E. How does, in principle, EU intervention in these fields relate to domestic competences ?
107
III – European Economic Governance in the implementation of the TFEU ..................................... 107
III.A. The Stability & Growth Pact from 1997 ......................................................................... 107
III.B. The 2011 & 2024 reforms of the Stability & Growth Pact, some examples ....................... 107
C. Economic Governance in times of crisis ........................................................................... 109
IV. Conclusions and outlook ...................................................................................................... 111
Class 16, (9/12) The interaction between the European Court of Justice and the EU legislator (P. Van
Nuffel) ............................................................................................................................................. 111
I. Discussion questions ............................................................................................................. 111
Class 17 (16/12) – Institutional responsivenness to crisis (Prof. Muir) .................................................. 118
I.Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 118
, II.Crisis management outside of the EU treaties ......................................................................... 119
II.A Locating the ESM in the pre-existing hierarchy norms ............................................................ 119
II.C. Controlling the compatibility of the borrowing of institutions by the ESM treaty with the rules on
EU institutions ......................................................................................................................... 121
II.D. Who is responsible for the (negative) effects of conditions imposed on a state benefiting from
financial assistance under a Memorandum of Understanding negotiated with the ESM? ............... 121
III.Greater reliance on certain legal bases and tools of EU governance ......................................... 122
III.A. Art. 122 TFEU in the spotlight ............................................................................................. 122
III.B. Governance thorugh funding ............................................................................................. 124
IV.The rise of new players within the scope of EU law .................................................................. 125
IV.A. The ECB in the spotlight ..................................................................................................... 125
IV.B. The euro group in the background ...................................................................................... 127
Class 18 (18/12) – Differentiated integration in the EU ........................................................................ 127
I. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 127
II.Differentiated integration outside of EU treaties ....................................................................... 128
II.A.An old idea: some well-known examples .............................................................................. 128
II.B.A theme that was forcefully brought back on the agenda in the context of the economic and
financial crisis ......................................................................................................................... 128
II.C.Again in the response to covid? NO? .................................................................................... 129
II.D.Link with EU law and EU institutional agreements................................................................. 130
III.Differentiated integration within the EU treaties and related protocols ..................................... 131
III.A.Ad hoc differentiated integration within ‘standard’ EU competences ..................................... 131
III.B.Ad hoc differentiated integration organised by the EU Treaties or protocols ........................... 131
III.C.Standard procedures for differentiated integration provided by the EU treaties ...................... 132
III.D Link between differentiated integration anchored in the EU Treaties themselves and mainstream
EU institutional law .................................................................................................................. 137
25/09 (class 1) Introduction + The transition in the EU Institutions
following the European elections
I. What is the “constitutional law of the EU”?
There is not really a constitution of the European Union BUT the Treaties have a
constitutional function for the EU legal order:
• The EU law is
o Treaties
o fundamental rights set out in the charter
o legislation made by the EU institutions (implementing acts, delegated acts => all
EU law).
• EU law applied over national law (even though those have their constitution)
o Primacy in the treaties: NOT mentioned
▪ Constitution for Europe had an article for it
Course materials:
• Treaties
o TEU and TFEU
o Charter of fundamental rights of the EU
• Readings
• Recommended books
Exam:
• open questions/cases, written and open book
Table of contents CLEU
25/09 (class 1) Introduction + The transition in the EU Institutions following the European elections .....4
I. What is the “constitutional law of the EU”? ..................................................................................4
II. Essentials to having a constitution .............................................................................................5
III. Case Les Verts v European Parliament ......................................................................................5
IV. Member state constitutions: .....................................................................................................5
V. European Institutions (composition 4 political EU institutions: art. 13-17 TEU) ..............................6
25/09 (class 2) Testing the scope of EU competences: Free movement and Member States’ societal
choices ......................................................................................................................................... 10
I. Different cases ........................................................................................................................ 10
II. Division of competences between European Union and Member States ..................................... 13
II.A) What can the EU do? (=scope of EU powers) .......................................................................... 13
II.B) What can the Member States still do? (=scope of MS powers) ................................................. 15
II.C) Free movement and societal choices .................................................................................... 16
II.D) Application of free movement through cases in specific areas (see above) .............................. 17
Questions for discussion: ........................................................................................................... 18
07/10 (class 4, previous session: how to read CJEU cases) EU Decision-making procedure (I):
Legislation – Democracy in practice: ............................................................................................... 20
I. Art. 289 TFEU: ordinary legislative procedure and special legislative procedure ........................... 20
II. Posting of workers ................................................................................................................... 20
III. Questions of the outline: ........................................................................................................ 21
9/10 (class 5) (E. Muir) EU Decision-Making Procedures (II) & Beyond: The Finances of the EU ............ 27
I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 27
II. Financial provisions in the TFEU: .............................................................................................. 28
II.A. Own Resources ................................................................................................................... 28
II.B Multiannual Financial Framework (‘MFF’) ............................................................................... 31
Regulation 2020/2093................................................................................................................. 32
II.C Annual Budget ...................................................................................................................... 33
II.D Institutional cooperation and transparency ............................................................................ 33
III. The singular case of decisions making within the framework of recovery plan in response to the
consequenses of the covid -19 crisis ........................................................................................... 35
, III.A The quest for additional resources ........................................................................................ 35
III.B The purpose of additional resources ..................................................................................... 36
IV. The redistribution of EU financial resources as an instrument of pressure .................................. 37
V. Recent developments: ............................................................................................................ 40
16/10 (class 6) Guest Lecture: Enforcement of EU Law, the challenges of a transnational legal system 40
21/10 (class 7) EU Decision-Making Procedures (II): Implementation and Delegation of Power ............ 40
I. Implementation versus legislation ............................................................................................ 40
II. Committology: Practice of Controlling the Commission ............................................................ 41
III. Class discussion: is EU democratic? ....................................................................................... 44
IV. Implementing acts and delegated acts: art. 291 TFEU .............................................................. 45
V. Implementation through Union agencies (think about ECB, ESMA) ............................................. 48
23/10 (class 8) Guest Lecture J. Tomkin – EU Citizenship: Constructing the fundamental Status of
Member State nationals ................................................................................................................. 49
28/10 (class 9) Guest Lecture T. Corthaut: Implementation of EU Law and interaction with National
Constitutional Law ......................................................................................................................... 49
4/11 (class 10) Rule of law – EU Standards on Judicial Independence ................................................ 49
I. Basic texts:.............................................................................................................................. 49
II. Discussion Questions ............................................................................................................. 49
II.A. Rule of law and judicial independence .................................................................................. 49
Republikka case (judgment of 20 april 2021 in Case C-896/19)...................................................... 54
II.B EU law requirements on judicial independence ...................................................................... 55
II.C Raising doubts about judicial independence in the Member States before the Court of Justice .. 58
II.D Raising doubts about judicial independence as regards appointments to the Court of Justice ... 58
Class 11 (6/11), EU Law and the National Constitutions: Ordering Pluralism (Muir)............................. 60
I. Articulating the primacy of EU law with domestic constitutional diversity from the perspective
of the EU .................................................................................................................................... 60
I.A EU law takes precedence over national (constitutional) law ..................................................... 60
I.B. General principles of Union’s law as bridging devices .............................................................. 61
I.C. National Constitutional diversity within EU primary law .......................................................... 61
Another way of recognizing the MS’s constitutional traditions and law is to refer to national
constitutions within the primary law ............................................................................................ 61
II. The primacy of EU law from the perspective of national constitutional orders Reminder on
traditional constitutional doctrine: monism v. Dualism ................................................................. 63
Selected examples ..................................................................................................................... 63
III – Working towards constructive dialogue .................................................................................. 67
III.A The role of the preliminary ruling procedure ........................................................................... 67
III.B. The degree of determination of EU law is increasingly often used to articulate the relationship
between EU and MS standards of fundamental rights protection ................................................... 71
Class 12 (13/11 and 4/12), Fundamental rights in the EU (E. Muir) ..................................................... 72
I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 72
, I. The sources of protection of fundamental rights in the EU .......................................................... 76
I.A. The guidance of Article 6 TEU ................................................................................................ 77
Article 6 TEU maps out the various sources for the protection of fundamental rights in the EU:........ 77
I.B. Looking beyond Article 6 TEU ......................................................................................... 81
II. The addressees of EU fundamental rights law ..................................................................... 82
II.A. Union Institutions and the Protection of Fundamental Rights in the EU ............................. 82
II.B. The Member States of the EU ......................................................................................... 85
II.C. Natural and legal entities ............................................................................................... 87
Class 13 (25/11), Rule of Law (II) – Monitoring the Rule of Law in the EU ................................................. 88
I. Monitoring compliance with ‘rule of law” and other EU values .................................................... 88
II. Discussion questions .............................................................................................................. 88
1. EU values and the ‘ordinary’ enforcement mechanism of EU law .......................................... 88
Value of democracy (art. 2 relates to it) ........................................................................................ 93
2. The procedure of Article 7 TEU ................................................................................................. 96
3. Can non-compliance with EU values be tackled through financial instruments? ......................... 97
4. Monitoring observance of EU values through the Rule of Law reports ......................................... 99
5. Is it for the EU to ensure respect for EU values in the MS? Is it a matter of EU law? ...................... 99
Class 14 (2/12), Practical Exam Preparation session............................................................................. 99
Class 15 (4/12 and 11/11) Economic (& Monetary) Governance in the EU (E. Muir) ................................. 99
I – Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 99
I.A Historical Note ................................................................................................................... 100
I.B. Geographical Note ..................................................................................................... 101
II – EU Economic & Monetary Policy as it stands in the TFEU ........................................................ 102
II.A. What can the EU do in the field of Economic Policy? ..................................................... 102
II.B. What can the EU do in the field of Monetary Policy? ...................................................... 105
II.C. Institutional provisions on both economic and monetary policy .................................... 106
II.D. Specific provisions on the Eurozone ............................................................................ 106
II.E. How does, in principle, EU intervention in these fields relate to domestic competences ?
107
III – European Economic Governance in the implementation of the TFEU ..................................... 107
III.A. The Stability & Growth Pact from 1997 ......................................................................... 107
III.B. The 2011 & 2024 reforms of the Stability & Growth Pact, some examples ....................... 107
C. Economic Governance in times of crisis ........................................................................... 109
IV. Conclusions and outlook ...................................................................................................... 111
Class 16, (9/12) The interaction between the European Court of Justice and the EU legislator (P. Van
Nuffel) ............................................................................................................................................. 111
I. Discussion questions ............................................................................................................. 111
Class 17 (16/12) – Institutional responsivenness to crisis (Prof. Muir) .................................................. 118
I.Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 118
, II.Crisis management outside of the EU treaties ......................................................................... 119
II.A Locating the ESM in the pre-existing hierarchy norms ............................................................ 119
II.C. Controlling the compatibility of the borrowing of institutions by the ESM treaty with the rules on
EU institutions ......................................................................................................................... 121
II.D. Who is responsible for the (negative) effects of conditions imposed on a state benefiting from
financial assistance under a Memorandum of Understanding negotiated with the ESM? ............... 121
III.Greater reliance on certain legal bases and tools of EU governance ......................................... 122
III.A. Art. 122 TFEU in the spotlight ............................................................................................. 122
III.B. Governance thorugh funding ............................................................................................. 124
IV.The rise of new players within the scope of EU law .................................................................. 125
IV.A. The ECB in the spotlight ..................................................................................................... 125
IV.B. The euro group in the background ...................................................................................... 127
Class 18 (18/12) – Differentiated integration in the EU ........................................................................ 127
I. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 127
II.Differentiated integration outside of EU treaties ....................................................................... 128
II.A.An old idea: some well-known examples .............................................................................. 128
II.B.A theme that was forcefully brought back on the agenda in the context of the economic and
financial crisis ......................................................................................................................... 128
II.C.Again in the response to covid? NO? .................................................................................... 129
II.D.Link with EU law and EU institutional agreements................................................................. 130
III.Differentiated integration within the EU treaties and related protocols ..................................... 131
III.A.Ad hoc differentiated integration within ‘standard’ EU competences ..................................... 131
III.B.Ad hoc differentiated integration organised by the EU Treaties or protocols ........................... 131
III.C.Standard procedures for differentiated integration provided by the EU treaties ...................... 132
III.D Link between differentiated integration anchored in the EU Treaties themselves and mainstream
EU institutional law .................................................................................................................. 137
25/09 (class 1) Introduction + The transition in the EU Institutions
following the European elections
I. What is the “constitutional law of the EU”?
There is not really a constitution of the European Union BUT the Treaties have a
constitutional function for the EU legal order:
• The EU law is
o Treaties
o fundamental rights set out in the charter
o legislation made by the EU institutions (implementing acts, delegated acts => all
EU law).
• EU law applied over national law (even though those have their constitution)
o Primacy in the treaties: NOT mentioned
▪ Constitution for Europe had an article for it
