The distribution of competences between the union and the member states

Abstract

The order of competency of the Lisbon Treaty largely follows the vertical division of powers between the Union and the Member States. It is based on main principles elaborated by the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), but has been innovated and reformed by the Lisbon Treaty in several aspects. Both the Declaration on the Future of the Union and the Declaration of Heads of Government of Laeken underlined the question of division of competences in the post-Nice process. The mandate of the Constitutional Convention even considered the rendering of attributed competencies to the Member States as a possibility. The divergent linguistic versions of the Declaration on the Future of the Union as well as the mandate of the European Council based on the Declaration of Laeken gave leeway to rather differing concepts in the search for a better vertical delimitation of competences between the Union and the Member States. The mandate also aimed at the re-examination of Art. 95 and 308 EC to bar the extension of the Union versus the Member States. Within Working Group I (Subsidiarity and Additional Competences) there was consensus to reformulate the competency in order to find a clearer definition and structural division of powers.