EUROPEAN UNION LEGAL NATURE: EU AS SUI GENERIS - A PLATYPUS-LIKE SOCIETY

Abstract

The question of the legal nature of the European Union (hereafter: the EU) has been left unanswered to date. Determining the legal nature is important for predicting the consequences, limits and ways of action of any organization, including the EU. Today, the EU is most often defined as a sui generis organization. Given the limited analytical value of the term sui generis, it is important to determine its content. For this purpose, it is necessary to analyze, along with the political aspect of the community, the formal and legal ones, which includes the analysis of federal, international and other elements contained in the legal and political system of the EU. Also, a comparison between the formal and political elements of the EU and a typical federal society such as the United States of America will be made, with the aim of determining the specific features of the EU which prevent it from being called "the United States of Europe". The most prominent definitions of the EU offered by prominent theorists will be briefly addressed in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]