The EU Constitution: The Best Way Forward?

ISBN-13: 9789067042000 / Angielski / Twarda / 2005 / 555 str.

Deirdre Curtin; Alfred E. Kellerman; Steven Blockmans

Opis

Since the French and Dutch voters rejected the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, in May and June 2005 respectively, politicians and lawyers have been confronted with the question of how to move forward. This book strives to formulate answers on the question of what to do if not all the Member States ratify the Treaty. It brings together contributions from over 50 experts from the 25 Member States, from candidate, potential candidate and neighbouring countries, as well as from Russia and the US. Key topics covered are: the process and impact of EU constitution-making; the democratic life of the EU; improving the efficiency and quality of legislation in the EU; the expansion of executive, judicial and legislative powers; and access to justice.

Spis treści

The Process and Impact of EU Constitution-making: Voice and Exit.- On the Power of the Word: Europe’s Constitutional Iconography.- The Process of Ratification and the Crisis Options: A Legal Perspective.- Referendums on the Constitutional Treaty 2004: A Citizens’ Voice?.- Flexibility and the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe.- The Process and Impact of EU Constitution-Making: ‘Voice and Exit’.- The Constitutional Treaty and the Nature of European Constitutionalism: The Tension between Intergovernmentalism and Constitutionalism in the European Union.- Wine-Bottling Legitimacy or EU Legitimation by a Written Constitution.- Discourse, Authority and the Making of the EU Constitution.- Transparency and Legal Instruments in the EU Constitution.- Drawing the Threads Together from Parts I and III of the EU Constitution.- La Loi Europeénne: Promise and Pretence.- Control of Executive acts: The Procedural Solution. ‘Proportionality, State of the Art Decision-Making and Relevant Interests’.- Operational Collaboration on Justice, Security and Policing in the Constitutional Framework.- Transparency in the Exercise of Power in the ‘Constitutionalized’ Union: The Problem of Diffused Leadership and Responsibility.- The Democratic Life of the European Union.- The Role of Parliaments in the EU Constitutional Framework: A Partnership or Rivalry?.- Theory and Reality of Public Access to EU Information.- European Citizenship: Origin, Contents and Perspectives.- The European Ombudsman and the EU Constitution.- Expansion of Executive, Judicial and Legislative Powers.- Shared Leadership in the EU: Theory and Reality.- The Unstoppable Advance of the European Council.- The Evolution in the Role and Powers of the European Commission.- The Expanding Role of the European Parliament.- Expansion of Executive, Judicial and Legislative Powers — A Contribution to the Debate.- Some Reflections on the Expansion of Executive, Judicial and Legislative Powers.- Access to Justice and the EU Constitution.- The Workload of the EU Courts and the Citizen’s Right to Have Access to a Judge.- The Expanding Role of the National Courts and the EU Constitution.- The Impact of the EU Constitution on the Relationship between Strasbourg and Luxembourg.- The Expanding Jurisdiction of the EU Court of Justice.- Constitutionalizing Effective Remedies: Too Much on EU Courts, Too Little on National Courts.- Some Thoughts on Access to Justice within the European Constitutional Framework.- The Impact of the EU Constitution on selected Member States and neighbouring Countries.- The Impact of the EU Constitution on the National Constitutions: Focusing on the Netherlands’ Constitutional Debate.- Some Points Concerning the EU Constitution from a Hungarian Perspective.- The Construction of The European Union: Recommendations from a Balkan Perspective.- The EU Constitution and Its Impact on Relations with the Russian Federation.

O autorze

Steven Blockmans, a former Head of Research at the T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague, the Netherlands, is a Senior Research Fellow and the Head of the EU Foreign Policy Unit, Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, Belgium; Professor of EU External Relations Law and Governance at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Visiting Professor at the University of Leuven, Belgium and a member of the governing board of CLEER.