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1
The constitution and character of EU law
1.1 Origins and background 1.1.1 The concept of a single Europe
1 The UK tends towards âeuro-scepticismâ, so two misconceptions usually prevail:
that the idea of a united Europe is new;
that the EU legal order is a haphazard process of co-operation between Member States.
2 The Roman Empire is one possible starting point, with several subsequent attempts at European unity or aspirations towards it:
Papal view of âChristendomâ;
Charlemagneâs âHoly Roman Empireâ;
Henry IV of France and the âChristian Commonwealth of Europeâ;
Even the aspirations of Napoleon and Hitler;
European unity has also been a common theme of every major political philosopher, e.g. Kant, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Marx.
3 So history possibly favours the âeurophilesâ, with âeuro-scepticismâ a more recent nationalist hostility to the EU.
4 Ironically, a federal Europe originated as a British idea.
5 The intellectual architect of âEuropeâ was Jean Monnet.
1.1.2 The background to the European Union (Community)
1 There were various attempts at integration in the 19th and 20th centuries.
2 These were based on need to avoid war, particularly after the Second World War.
3 There were two key factors:
the Treaty of Versailles failed and led to the rise of Nazism;
so it was vital to bring Germany within the European âpartnershipâ.
4 Churchill, in his 1947 Zurich speech, said âWe must build a kind of United States of Europeâ.
5 The European Union of Federalists was established in 1947.
6 Continental advocates of union argued for âsupranational bodiesâ in the Montreux Resolution 1947.
7 Various intergovernmental agreements created new world or European organisations at this time: IMF; GATT; OEEC; The Council of Europe; Benelux Union.
1.1.3 The creation of the Treaties
1 The Treaties originated in the âSchumann Planâ following principles established in the âMarshall Planâ in the USA:
the narrow aspect was placing French and German coal and steel production under a âhigher authorityâ;
the wider agenda was to move towards a federal Europe.
2 The plan led to the first Treaty: European Coal and Steel Community Treaty (ECSC Treaty) â Treaty of Paris 1951.
It also devised an institutional framework of communities (later to be added to by the European Court of Justice).
Monnet was made first President of ECSC.
3 This was followed by an unsuccessful initiative to create a European Defence Community.
4 Further integration and a move towards the establishment of supranational institutions came with the two Treaties of Rome 1957 â the European Atomic Energy Community Treaty (EURATOM) and the European Economic Community Treaty (EC Treaty).
5 The latter resulted from the Spaak Committee Report and a recommendation for the creation of a âcommon marketâ.
6 The Treaties were originally signed by only six countries: France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Different countries had different things to gain.
This meant that integration was always dogged by national self-interest.
This ensured that development would be âincrementalâ and that principle would be sacrificed to pragmatism.
As a result, the UK sta...
