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8.1.2 The European Union Lecture

A. Introduction

The European Economic Community (EEC) was established in 1957 between its original six Member
States. The UK became a member in 1973 by virtue of the European Communities Act 1972.
Attempts were made even at this early stage to challenge entry to the EEC, on the grounds that
membership would undermine Parliamentary Sovereignty. A national referendum was held in 1975
on the UK's continued membership of the EEC. The renegotiation of the EC Treaty at Maastricht in
1992 also led to further challenges in UK courts.

B. European Union Institutions

Table 8.1 European Union Institutions

EU
Instituti Description
on

The The European Council is made up of the heads of state of government of each of the
Europea Member States as well as the European Council President and the President of the
n European Commission. The Council of the EU, the European Parliament and the European
Council Commissions are the EU law making and decision-making bodies.

The The Commission has one member for each Member State. Each commissioner has the
Commis responsibility for a specific area of activity. The European Council nominates the
sion Presented of the Commission, who is voted for by members of the European Parliament
(MEPs).

The Commission acts under the political guidance of the President and has two principal
functions: to propose legislation and to ensure that EU laws are implemented and applied.
The Commission can bring proceedings against EU institutions or Member States that are
in breach of their obligations under EU law.

Enforcement proceedings have been brought against the UK, including

C-382/92, Re Business Transfers: EC Commission v UK [1994] ECR I-2435, where the UK

failed to implement directives.

The Council is made up of political representatives from Member States and meets in ten
different configurations. The Presidency rotates between Member States. The Council
makes policy and approves legislative initiatives proposed by the Commission. The
Council's deliberations were not made in public until the Lisbon Treaty, the non-legislative
The business is still conducted in private.
Council
of the The Qualified Majority Voting Procedure - certain policy changes require simple majorities
Europea whereas others require unanimity, such as social protection of workers.
n Union
The Council of the EU is comprised of Member States' government representatives.
Various members of government would attend these meetings depending on the issue to
be discussed. The European Commission is comprised of representatives that have been
appointed rather than elected and represent the EU itself.

MEPs are elected for five-year periods through elections in the Member States. There are
766 seats in the unicameral Parliament. Larger states have more seats. Elections are
based on the regional list system, the country is divided into 11 electoral regions and votes
Europea are cast for registered parties rather than candidates.
n
Parliam The TEU now provides that the Parliament and the Council jointly exercise legislative
ent functions; legislative instruments require approval of both the Council and the Parliament.

The Commission prepares a draft budget each year and presents it for approval to both
the Parliament and the Council.

Court of The function of the CJEU is to 'ensure that in the interpretation and application of Treaties
Justice the law is observed'.
of the
Every three years there is partial replacement of the judges and A-G's, although they are
eligible for re-election.
Europea The Court of First Instance (or General Court) hears a defined class of cases, with a right
n Union of appeal to the CJEU.

Article 263 TFEU provides that cases may be brought before the CJEU in one of three
ways:

1. The Commission may bring proceedings against a Members State for failure to
comply with a Treaty obligation.
2. A state may initiate a proceeding against another state, first with an opinion of the
Commission.
3. A Member State may challenge the legality of a legal instrument in proceedings
against an EU institution.

Article 267 TFEU the CJEU has jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings on the interpretation
of Treaties. Reference can be made by the courts in Member States - O'Brien v Department
of Constitutional Affairs [2010] UKSC 34, [2011] 1 CMLR 36. The Court of Justice and the
Court of First Instance are the higher court and lower courts respectively for the purposes
of EU law.

C. European Union Law

The EU is different from other international law in that it has created a new legal order. There are five
main sources of EU law:-

Treaties
Regulations
Directives
Decisions
International agreements

Table 8.2 Sources of European Union Law

Sourc
e of Description
Law

The highest forms of law in the EU are the Treaties, which set out the constitution of the EU,
but also substantive matters, some give rise to direct effect in national courts - Van Gend en
Treat Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen (1963) Case 26/62. Not all Treaty provisions
y have direct effect. Where the treaty provision has direct effect between two private parties,
this is referred to as horizontal direct effect. When it is relied upon against the State, this is
known as vertical direct effect.
Regul Article 288 TFEU.  Regulations have general application in the sense that they are directly
ation applicable in all Member States and are binding in their entirety - Case 93/71 Leonesio v Italian
s Ministry for Agriculture [1972] ECR 287. Regulations have horizontal as well as vertical direct
effect.

Directives require legislation to be created within Member States in order to create

enforceable and directly relied upon in domestic courts (Art.288). The default position must
be that directives do not have any direct effect. There are exceptions to this rule. Only the
parts of the directive that are sufficiently clear and conditional can have direct effect (Case
41/74 Van Duyn v Home Office (No.2) (1974) ECR 1337).

Directives can only have vertical and not horizontal direct effect - Cases 152/84 Marshall v
Direct
ives Southampton and South West Hampshire AHA [1986] ECR 723.

The CJEU has categorised the scope of public bodies broadly:

Publically run hospitals [Cases 152/84 Marshall v Southampton and South West
Hampshire AHA [1986] ECR 723]
Nationalised utility companies [Foster v British Gas plc [1991] 2 AC 306]
Privatised utility companies [Griffin v South West Water Services Ltd [1995] IRLR 15]

Decis
Are binding in their entirety as regards those to whom they are addressed.
ions

Reco
mme
ndati
ons These have no binding force.
and
Opini
ons

D. EU Law and the British Constitutional Law

The UK is a dualist state with respect to international law, so it is bound by international law only
once there is a piece of legislation in the UK that incorporates the international agreement into law.
Monist states on the contrary are those in which ratified international treaties become domestic law
without any further action beyond the state ratifying the relevant treaty. 

The Treaty of Rome was drafted to enable Member States to incorporate Community law into their
domestic legal systems and importantly there were penalties though the European Court of Justice
(ECJ) for those who failed to do so. The UK Parliament enacted the European Communities Act
1972 (EC Act) in order to give effect to community law in the UK.
Section 3 EC Act provides that questions as to the meaning of a provision of a Treaty is to be treated
as a matter of law and either referred to the CJEU or determined in accordance with decisions of the
European Court. The CJEU does not interpret the domestic jurisdictions national laws, it makes
rulings as to the meaning of provisions of EU law where domestic courts are in doubt and refer a
question on a point of EU law to it for a ruling.

The ECJ has at certain times expanded the terms of European legal supremacy beyond that which
had been understood during negotiations around European Treaties.

The UK courts have thus had to acknowledge the supremacy of EU law over domestic law and
whether the EC Act 1972 actually does bind future Parliaments - Lister v Forth Dry Dock and
Engineering Ltd [1990] 1 AC 546. EU law has a unique constitutional impact since it compels
domestic courts to enforce EU law even when it conflicts with a provision of domestic law.

Referring back to Blackburn v Attorney-General [1971], does this mean that the UK has limited its
parliamentary supremacy for all times? Since the UK has now voted to leave the European Union,
this is clearly not the case, but the courts were challenged with making decisions on this basis.

The EC Act 1972 is thus capable of repeal and Parliament has not bound its successors. This
makes Factortame an expression of the rules of Parliamentary sovereignty, Parliament has not
bound its successors with the EC Act 1972, and hence it was possible for the British Public to vote
on the 23rd June 2016 to leave the EU.

E. European Union Act 2011 and the Lisbon Treaty

In the Lisbon Treaty, the EU drew a clearer line between the competencies of Member States and
those of the EU.

Lord Denning noted in Bulmer (HP) Ltd v J Bollinger SA [1974] Ch 401 at 418-9, that the impact of EU
law was like an incoming tide flowing up the UK legal system. Burns considers that tide to be more
of a Tsunami, particularly in the light of the Lisbon Treaty. The Treaty amends the TEU; Article 1
states that the Union shall replace the European Community.

Article 35 TEU provides that 'any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in
accordance with its own constitutional requirements'. This provision clarifies the position of the UK
that it is able to pass legislation that repeals the EC Act 1972 in order to withdraw the country from
the EU.

The European Union Act 2011 brought into the law the requirement that any proposal that sought to
transfer power from the UK to the EU be put to a referendum of the UK electorate, before the UK
government was to be empowered to enter into such a treaty. It provided that any further extension
of EU powers would be approved by an Act of Parliament and by a referendum.
Section 2 provides that no Treaty amendment of the TEU or TFEU shall be ratified unless an Act of
Parliament approves it and either a referendum condition or exemption condition is met. The
exemption condition would need an Act dispensing with the need for a referendum. Section 3
applies similar arrangements to the simplified revision procedure for making amendments to the
TFEU under Article 48(6) TEU.   The purpose of the EU Act 2011 in constitutional terms is that it
effectively retinas the balance of power between the EU and the UK and means that any ceding of
power to the EU would have required a referendum in favour of doing so by a referendum of the
British electorate.

F. The European Union Referendum and Brexit

The referendum was held on 23rd June 2016 and the UK voted to leave the EU. There is currently a
lot of debate about what leaving the EU will mean for the UK, in particular how Britain will trade with
other countries that remain in the EU and the situation of EU nationals who are resident in the UK.

For the UK to leave the EU, it must invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which occurred in 2017.
The government is also required to enact a repeal Bill that will end the primacy of EU law in the UK;
the Bill will incorporate all EU law into UK law (that is not already implemented through legislation)
after which the government will need to decide which pieces of legislation to retain and which to
repeal or amend. The terms of Britain's exit from the EU will need to be agreed by the other 27
members of the European Union. EU law will remain static in the UK until it leaves the EU. The UK
will need to repeal the European Communities Act 1972 in order to complete its departure from the
EU.

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accessed 2 December 2019

COPY TO CLIPBOARD

Public Law
1. Introduction
2. Constitutional Fundamentals
3. The Rule of Law
4. Parliamentary Sovereignty
5. The Royal Prerogative
6. Government & Accountability
7. Legislative Functions
8. The European Union
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Lecture Notes
8.3 Example
9. The Human Rights Act
10. The Judiciary
11. Judicial Review
12. Administrative Justice

Other Modules
Contract Law
Criminal Law
Land Law
Tort Law

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