The Question of Competence in the European Union

322 Pages·2014·3.137 MB·English

by  Loic Azoulai

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THE QUESTION OF COMPETENCE
IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
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The Question of
Competence in the
European Union
Edited by
LOÏC AZOULAI
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Contents
Table of Cases ix
List of Abbreviations xix
List of Contributors xxi
Introduction: The Question of Competence 1
Loïc Azoulai
I. The Structure of the European Legal Argument and the
Competence Problem  3
II. The European Union as a Federal Order of Competences?  10
III. Competence and Membership  15
I. THE FEDERAL MODEL 
1. The Allocation of Competences in a Federation—A General
Introduction 19
Olivier Beaud
Introduction  19
I. The Conventional Conception of the Allocation of
Competences: a Technical and State-centred Conception  23
II. Another Way of Looking at the Allocation of Competences
in a Federation  30
Concluding Remark  37
2. Theoretical Deflation: The EU Order of Competences and
Power-conferring Norms Theory 39
Guillaume Tusseau
I. A Metalinguistic Analysis of the Expression ‘The EU as
a Federal Order of Competences’  39
II. A New Methodological Start  42
III. A Theory of Power-conferring Norms  44
IV. Identifying Types of Power-conferring Norms in the EU
Legal Order  46
V. Identifying Types of Relationships between Power-conferring
Norms in the EU Legal Order  54
Concluding Remarks  61
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vi Contents
II. THE ALLOCATION OF COMPETENCES
IN EU PRACTICE 
3. EU External Relations: Unity and Conferral of Powers 65
Marise Cremona
Introduction  65
I. An Evolution in Thinking about EU External Competence  67
II. Give and Take in EU Practice  74
III. Unity and the Scope of Application of EU Law  80
IV. Internal and External Policies and the Union Interest  82
Concluding Remarks  84
4. The Allocation of Economic Policy Competences in the
European Union 86
Roland Bieber
Introduction  86
I. General Economic Policy: an Allocation of Competences
sui generis  87
II. Monetary Policy: an Exclusive albeit Divided Competence  96
Conclusion  99
5. Legislative and Executive Competences in Competition Law 101
Giorgio Monti
Introduction  101
I. The Enforcement of Competition Law in the EU  103
II. Legislative Competence  104
III. Executive Competence  114
IV. National Reactions  119
Conclusion  123
6. The EU as a Federal Order of Competences and the Private Law 125
Hans-W. Micklitz
Prologue or Why Private Law  125
I. European Regulatory Private Law and Traditional National
Private Law: some Clarifications  130
II. Scope of Competence in Private Law: from Market Bound to
Justice Bound?  132
III. Limits of Competence: the Uncoupling of European
Private Law from National Private Law and Possible
Counter-reactions  141
IV. Intensity: the Relationship with Task and Function  148
Concluding Remarks  151
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Contents vii
III. THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE AND
THE QUESTION OF COMPETENCE 
7. ECJ Doctrines on Competences 155
Christiaan Timmermans
Introductory Remark and Conclusions  155
I. Which Approaches?  156
II. What about Pre-emption?  159
III. And what about the Lisbon Treaty?  160
Final Remark  164
8. EU Law and Retained Powers of Member States 168
Lena Boucon
Introduction  168
I. A Specific Legal Framework  171
II. Implications  187
Conclusion  192
9. The Protection of Fundamental Rights and the Allocation of
Competences in the EU: A Clash of Constitutional Logics 193
Edouard Dubout
Introduction  193
I. The Protection of Fundamental Rights and the Definition of
the Union’s Competence  196
II. The Protection of Fundamental Rights and the Exercise of
National Competences  204
Conclusion  211
IV. POLITICAL AND LEGAL LIMITS
TO EU COMPETENCES
10. Limits to the Union’s ‘Internal Market’ Competence(s):
Constitutional Comparisons 215
Robert Schütze
Introduction  215
I. The ‘Internal Market’ Competence in the United States  216
II. The Internal Market Competence(s) of the European Union  223
III. Comparisons and Conclusions  232
11. Subsidiarity as a Procedural Safeguard of Federalism 234
Xavier Groussot and Sanja Bogojević
Introduction  234
I. Political Competence Test in the Post-Lisbon Era  236
II. Impact Assessments as a Competence Test  242
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viii Contents
III. Subsidiarity and Adjudicative Federalism  244
IV. Federal Proportionality and Process Federalism  249
Conclusion: One Vision of Federal Safeguards?  251
12. The Respect for National Constitutional Identity in the European
Legal Space: An Approach to Federalism as Constitutionalism 253
François-Xavier Millet
Introduction  253
I. From ‘Who Should Hold a Competence?’ to ‘How to Exercise
a Competence?’  255
II. A New Kind of Federalism in the European Union  266
Reference List  277
Index  295
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