The European Union: A Federation in All but Name

Abstract

The question of unification of laws in federal systems is an inherently complex question. The difficulties in the effort to examine developments within federal entities are only magnified when the EU becomes the entity under investigation. The EU is a constantly evolving political organism with a declared goal to bring together the states and peoples of Europe. We focus on two-levels in the EU’s structure of governance: EU institutions and national governments. The distribution of competences between these two levels is based on the principles of conferral, subsidiarity, proportionality and pre-emption, whereas the principle of primacy of EU law applies in cases of conflict between central and national laws. Central EU authorities enjoy a variety of legal and political instruments with which they steer the process of legal unification and harmonization. This legal construct has proven highly successful and functional primarily due to the integrative role of the Court of Justice. However, the significance of not strictly legal factors in the process of legal harmonization should not be underrated. In particular, as this chapter explains, non-state actors within the EU, dense relations and cooperation among legal practitioners and scholars, and the constantly deepening interaction among Europeans are important elements in this process.