European law

European law
Lecture 1 - Setting the scene
The EU and its meaning
- An international organisation, but different than usual
- A political union - depending on subject
- A monetary union, but not economic (anymore)
- Certain characteristics of a federal state

Meaning of EU law for national law
- Broad scope of application of EU law and EU principles
- Hardly any aspect of socio-economic life escapes EU law influence
- Eu law cuts through all (traditional) legal disciplines
○ Public/administrative, criminal, private law
○ Environmental, labour, food agriculture, commercial, competition, trade, customs and
duties, transport, data protection, state aid, asylum, migration, cross-border judicial
cooperation, police cooperation

Challenges and crises
- Brexit
- Covid
- War Ukrain

Some history
- World war II - Never again
○ The will to prevent war is what started European integration and it's still what propels it
forward

EU history
- Innovative -> origins and fundament of the EU in economic cooperation - ECSC 1950, EEC 1957
- Six founding member states
- Aim: socio-economic and political integration
- Now economic and political integration

Fundamental values and principles of the EU
- Art. 2 TEU
- Art. 3 TEU

History of the Treaties
- Treaty of Lisbon
○ Constitutional foundations: TEU
○ Elaboration: TFEU

- With each Treaty change - Strenghtening supranational character
○ Role and tasks of the European Parliament
○ Decision-making procedure and qualified majority
○ Extension of policy areas

- Internal market remains crucial but note that the second E(E)C has disappeared since
Maastricht.

Recap Inleiding Europees recht
- EU institutions art. 13 TEU
○ Commission, Council (of ministers), European Council (the heads of states), European
Parliament, Court of Justice of the European Union, European Central Bank, the Court of
Auditors

, ○ The EU institutions have various interests, but there is a division of powers and
institutional balance
- Various sources
○ Primary EU Treaties
 TEU, TFEU, CFR (art. 6 TEU)
○ General principles of EU Law
 Primacy Costa/ENEL
 Proportionality
○ Secondary hard law
 Art. 288 TFEU - Regulations (verordeningen), Directives (richtlijnen), Decisions
(besluiten)
○ Secondary soft law
 Recommendations and opinions (and others)
○ Case law

EU competences
- Only competences (powers) conferred on it by the Treaties (conferral/attributie)
- Various competences granted to EU
○ Exclusive art. 3 TFEU
○ Shared art. 4 TFEU
 Subject to subsidiarity and proportionality art. 5 (3) TEU
○ Supporting art. 6 TEU
- Judicial protection
○ The role of the CJEU
○ Complementing the role of national courts -> decentralized EU courts
○ Different procedures with different purposes
 Preliminary ruling art. 267 TFEU
□ Court asks question CJEU
 Action for annnulment and action for failure to act art. 263 and 265 TFEU
 Infringement procedure art. 258-260 TFEU
□ European Commission brings Member State to CJEU
□ Sometimes 2 Member States
- Substantive law
○ Introduction to the internal market
 Negative integration
□ Free movement of goods
 Positive integration
□ Legislative harmonisation
 Introduction to EU competition law

Focus on EU substantive law
Economic integration Non-economic integration
- Freedom of establishment and free movement of services - EU citizenship
- EU competition rules - Equal treatment
- Free movement of workers - Area of freedom, security and justice

Free movement of economically active persons
- Free movement of workers
- Free movement of services
- Freedom of establishment
Free movement of non-economically active persons
- EU citizenship
Need for guardrails to manage free movement
- Area of freedom, security and justice

EU internal market

, A. art. 3 (3) TEU
- Social market economy
- Highly competitive

B. art. 26 (2) TEU
- Area without internal frontiers
 Free movement of goods, persons, services and capital in a legal fashion

C. CJEU 15/81 Gaston Schul para. 33
- The concept of a common market as defined by the court in a consistent line of
decisions involve the elimination of all obstacles to intra-community trade in order to
merge the national markets into a single market bringing about conditions as close as
possible to those of a genuine internal market.
- Relationship with social market economy art. 3 (3) TEU

D. Free movement of
Goods Services Workers Establishment Capital
Art. 34 TFEU Art. 56 TFEU Art. 45 TFEU Art. 49 TFEU Art. 63 TFEU



The internal market is realised by 3 pilars
1. Four treaty freedoms artt. 34, 49 TFEU
a. Member States (and private actors under conditions)
2. EU competition rules artt. 101, 102 TFEU
a. Private actors, undertakings (for some rules Member States - state aid)
3. Harmonisation measures Directive 2006/123/EC on Services
a. EU legislature

Negative integration
- Removal of existing impediments to free movements, striking down national rules and
practices by applying Treaty rules on free movement
○ General principles of prohibition of discrimination
 Direct or indirect
○ All restrictions on free movement prohibited market acces

Positive integration
- Approximation of differences between existing national laws, removing future obstacles of
trade by EU institutions
○ Legislative harmonisation
 Exhaustive
 Optional
 Minimum

Mutual recognition
- Cassis de Dijon

Lecture 2 - Establishment and services
Overview of the relevant Treaty provisions

Establishment and Services in Establishment Services
the Treaty
(relevant provisions)
Prohibitive Treaty provisions Art. 49 TFEU (2(2) Services Artt. 56, 57 TFEU (2(2) Services
Directive) Directive)
Treaty exceptions Artt. 51, 52 TFEU Artt. 51, 52 TFEU jo. art. 62 TFEU