European Unity in Diversity?! A Conflicts-Law Re-construction of Controversial Current Developments

Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Studies in European Economic Law and Regulation book series (SEELR, volume 3)

Abstract

The EU has come a long way since its foundation as the European Economic Community in 1957. Starting out as a purely economic union, the integration process has progressively entered into areas of political, social and cultural concern for the Member States. Meanwhile, the institutionalised ‘logic of the market’ and related harmonisation increasingly lead to tensions not only with varying socio-economic and legal systems, but also with different political and cultural perceptions.

‘Conflicts-law constitutionalism’ aims at developing new awareness for Europe’s conflict constellations and their (re-)interpretation with respect to socio-economic diversity, the social embeddedness of markets and the different regulatory cultures in the Member States. Therefore, it does not only serve for critical re-construction of the integration process but also aims at a ‘third way’ between the defence of the nation state and a quasi-federalist streamlining of Europe`s diversity. This is illustrated with five prominent and topical conflicts where market interests interfere with political, social and cultural preferences: the legendary Cassis de Dijon case, the labour law cases of Viking and Laval, the fully harmonised unfair commercial practices law, the promotion of renewable energies and the regulation of genetically-modified organisms.

Keywords

Member State Economic Freedom European Food Safety Authority Fundamental Freedom Unfair Commercial Practice 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Beck, U, Risikogesellschaft (Frankfurt, Suhrkamp, 1986).Google Scholar
  2. Chalmers, D, ‘Deliberative Supranationalism and the Reterritorialization of Authority’ in B Kohler-Koch and B Rittberger (eds), Debating the Democratic Legitimacy (Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007) 329.Google Scholar
  3. Curtin, D, Executive Power of the European Union. Law, Practices and the Living Constitution (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2009). Google Scholar
  4. Drexl, J, ‘Competition Law as Part of the European Constitution’ in A von Bogdandy and J Bast (eds), Principles of European Constitutional Law, 2nd ed (Oxford, Hart, 2011) 659.Google Scholar
  5. Dukes, R, ‘Hugo Sinzheimer and the Constitutional Function of Labour Law’ in G Davidov and B Langille (eds), The Idea of Labour Law (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011) 57.Google Scholar
  6. Everson, M and Eisner, J, The Making of the EU Constitution: Judges and Lawyers Beyond Constitutive Power (Milton Park, Routledge, 2007).Google Scholar
  7. Everson, M and Joerges, C, ‘Reconfiguring the Politics–Law Relationship in the Integration Project through Conflicts–Law Constitutionalism’ (2012) 18 European Law Journal 644.Google Scholar
  8. Forsthoff, E, ’Begriff und Wesen des sozialen Rechtsstaats’ (1954) 12 Veröffentlichungen der Vereinigung deutscher Staatsrechtslehrer 8.Google Scholar
  9. Glinski, C, ‘Sieg und Niederlage für die grüne Gentechnik’ (2011) Zeitschrift für Umweltrecht 526.Google Scholar
  10. Glinski, C, ‘Legal Constraints and External Effects of the German “Energiewende”: A Search for Adequate Collision Approaches’ in C Joerges and C Glinski, Authoritarian Managerialism versus Democratic Governance (Oxford, Hart, forthcoming 2014).Google Scholar
  11. Habermas, J, Staatsbürgerschaft und nationale Identität (St. Gallen, Erker, 1991).Google Scholar
  12. Habermas, J, Between Facts and Norms. Between Facts and Norms. Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy (Cambridge, MIT Press, 1998) 491.Google Scholar
  13. Habermas, J, ‘Does the Constitutionalization of International Law Still Have a Chance?’ in J Habermas, The Divided West (Cambridge, Polity Press, 2007) 113.Google Scholar
  14. Hatje, A, ‘The Economic Constitution within the Internal Market’ in A von Bogdandy and J Bast (eds), Principles of European Constitutional Law, 2nd ed (Oxford, Hart, 2011) 589.Google Scholar
  15. Höpner, M and Schäfer, A, ‘A New Phase of European Integration: Organized Capitalisms in Post-Ricardian Europe’ (2010) 33 West European Politics 344.Google Scholar
  16. Ipsen, HP, Verfassungsperspektiven der Europäischen Gemeinschaften (Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 1970).Google Scholar
  17. Ipsen, HP, Europäisches Gemeinschaftsrecht (Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 1972).Google Scholar
  18. Joerges, C, ‘Der Philosoph als wahrer Rechtslehrer. Review Essay on Giandomenico Majone, Regulating Europe’ (1999) 5 European Law Journal 147.Google Scholar
  19. Joerges, C, ‘Rethinking European Law’s Supremacy: A Plea for a Supranational Conflict of Laws’ (with comments by D Chalmers, R Nickel, F Rödl and R Wai) (2005) EUI Working Paper Law 12/2005.Google Scholar
  20. Joerges, C, ‘Rechtsstaat and Social Europe: How a Classical Tension Resurfaces in the European Integration Process’ (2010) 9 Comparative Sociology 65.Google Scholar
  21. Joerges, C, ‘Integration through Conflicts Law: On the Defence of the European Project by means of alternative conceptualisation of legal constitutionalisation’ in R Nickel (ed), Conflict of Laws and Laws of Conflict in Europe and Beyond—Patterns of Supranational and Transnational Juridification (Antwerp, Intersentia, 2010) 377.Google Scholar
  22. Joerges, C, ‘The Idea of a Three-dimensional Conflicts Law as Constitutional Form’ in C Joerges and E-U Petersmann (eds), Constitutionalism, Multilevel Trade Governance and International Economic Law, 2nd ed (Oxford, Hart, 2011) 413.Google Scholar
  23. Joerges, C, ‘Unity in Diversity as Europe’s Vocation and Conflicts Law as Europe’s Constitutional Form’ (2011) TransState Working Paper No 148.Google Scholar
  24. Joerges, C, ‘The European Economic Constitution and its Transformation Through the Financial Crisis’ in DM Patterson and A Södersten (eds), A Companion to European Union law and International Law (Chichester, Wiley-Blackwell, 2014, forthcoming).Google Scholar
  25. Joerges, C and Neyer, J, ‘From Intergovernmental Bargaining to Deliberative Political Processes: The Constitutionalisation of Comitology’ (1997) 3 European Law Journal 273.Google Scholar
  26. Joerges, C and Rödl, F, ‘On the “Social Deficit” of the European Integration Project and its Perpetuation through the ECJ Judgements in Viking and Laval’ (2008) RECON Working Paper 2008/06.Google Scholar
  27. Joerges, C and Rödl, F, ‘Reconceptualising the constitution of Europe’s post-national constellation—by dint of conflict of laws’ in I Lianos and O Odudu (eds), Regulating Trade in Services in the EU and the WTO. Trust, Distrust and Economic Integration (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012) 762.Google Scholar
  28. Joerges, C and Weimer, M, ‘A crisis of executive managerialism in the EU: no alternative?’ (2012) Maastricht Faculty of Law Working Paper 2012/7.Google Scholar
  29. Joerges, C, Kjaer, P and Ralli, T (eds), ‘Conflicts Law as Constitutional Form in the Postnational Constellation’ (2011) 2 Transnational Legal Theory. Google Scholar
  30. Kaufmann, M, Europäische Integration und Demokratieprinzip (Baden-Baden, Nomos, 1997).Google Scholar
  31. Lutz, J, Schütt, M and Behlau, V, ‘Klimaschutz durch nationale Energiebeihilfen, Möglichkeiten und Grenzen nationaler Maßnahmen zur Förderung Erneuerbarer Energien und Energieeffizienz unter dem europäischen Beihilferegime’ (2011) Zeitschrift für Umweltrecht 178.Google Scholar
  32. Lyon-Caen, A, ‘Droit communautaire du marché vs. Europe sociale’, contribution to the symposium The Impact of the Case Law of the ECJ upon the Labour Law of the Member States, Berlin, 26/6/2008.Google Scholar
  33. Majone, G, ‘Regulating Europe: Problems and Prospects’ (1989) 3 Jahrbuch zur Staats- und Verwaltungswissenschaft 159.Google Scholar
  34. Majone, G, Cross-national resources of regulatory policymaking in Europe and the United States’ (1991) 11 Journal of Public Policy 79.Google Scholar
  35. Majone, G, ‘The European Community as a Regulatory State’ in 1994- V/1 Collected Courses of the Academy of European Law (The Hague, Kluwer Law International, 1996) 321.Google Scholar
  36. Majone, G, Regulating Europe (London, Routledge, 1996).Google Scholar
  37. Majone, G, Dilemmas of European Integration: The Ambiguities and Pitfalls of Integration by Stealth (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005).Google Scholar
  38. Majone, G, Europe as the Would-be world power (Cambridge, CUP, 2010).Google Scholar
  39. Menéndez, AJ, ‘United they diverge? From conflicts to constitutional theory? Critical remarks on Joerges’ theory of conflicts of law’ (2011) RECON Working Paper 2011/6.Google Scholar
  40. Micklitz, H-W, ‘Zur Notwendigkeit eines neuen Konzepts für die Fortentwicklung des Verbraucherrechts in der EU’ (2003) Verbraucher und Recht 2.Google Scholar
  41. Micklitz, H-W, ‘Review of academic approaches to the European Contract Law Codification Project’ in M Andenas et al (eds), Liber Amicorum Guido Alpa (London, BIICL, 2007) 710.Google Scholar
  42. Micklitz, H-W, ‘The Relationship between National and European Consumer Law—Challenges and Perspectives’ (2008) Yearbook of Consumer Law 35.Google Scholar
  43. Müller-Armack, A, ‘Die Wirtschaftsordnung des gemeinsamen Marktes’ in A Müller-Armack (ed), Wirtschaftsordnung und Wirtschaftspolitik (Freiburg, Rombach, 1966) 401.Google Scholar
  44. Neyer, J, The Justification of Europe. A Political Theory of Supranational Integration (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012).Google Scholar
  45. Rabel, E, ‘Das Problem der Qualifikation’ (1931) 5 Rabels Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht 241.Google Scholar
  46. Reich, N, ‘Free Movement v. Social Rights in an Enlarged Union—the Viking and Laval Cases before the ECJ’ (2009) German Law Journal 125.Google Scholar
  47. Rödl, F, ‘Die Idee demokratischer und sozialer Union im Verfassungsrecht der EU’ (2013) Suppl 1 Europarecht. Google Scholar
  48. Scharpf, FW, ‘The asymmetry of European Integration, or why the EU cannot be a social market economy’ (2010) 8 Socio-Economic Review 21.Google Scholar
  49. Scharpf, FW, ‘Legitimacy Intermediation in the Multilevel European Polity and Its Collapse in the Euro Crisis’ (2012) MPlfG Discussion Paper 12/6, http://www.mpifg.de/pu/mpifg_dp/dp12-6.pdf.Google Scholar
  50. Steindorff, E, ‘Probleme des Art. 30 EWG’ (1984) 148 Zeitschrift für das gesamte Handelsrecht und Wirtschaftsrecht 338.Google Scholar
  51. Streit, M and Mussler, W, ‘The economic constitution of the European Community. From “Rome to Maastricht”’ (1995) 1 European Law Journal 5.Google Scholar
  52. Teubner, G, Constitutional Fragments: Societal Constitutionalism in Globalization (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012).Google Scholar
  53. Weiler, JHH, ‘The Community System: the dual character of supranationalism’ (1981) 1 Yearbook of European Law 257.Google Scholar
  54. Weiler, JHH, ‘Transformation of Europe’ (1990–91) 100 Yale Law Journal 2403.Google Scholar
  55. Weiler, JHH, ‘Fin-de-Siècle Europe’ in R Dehousse (ed), Europe After Maastricht: An Ever Closer Union? (Munich, CH Beck, 1994) 203.Google Scholar
  56. Weiler, JHH, ‘On the power of the word: Europe’s constitutional iconography’ (2005) 3 ICON 173.Google Scholar
  57. Weiler, JHH, ‘The political and legal culture of European integration: An exploratory essay’ (2011) 9 ICON 678.Google Scholar
  58. Weimer, M, Democratic Legitimacy through European Conflicts Law? The case of EU administrative Governance of GMOs (Florence, EUI PhD Thesis, 2012).Google Scholar
  59. Weimer, M, ‘Between scientification and politicization—the failure of risk governance in EU regulation of GMOs, and its implications for Conflicts-Law-Constitutionalism’ in C Joerges and C Glinski (eds), Authoritarian Managerialism versus Democratic Governance (Oxford, Hart, 2014).Google Scholar
  60. Wiener, A, The Invisible Constitution of Politics: Contested Norms and International Encounters (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008).Google Scholar
  61. Wiethölter, R, ‘Just-ifications of a Law of Society’ in O Perez and G Teubner (eds), Paradoxes and Inconsistencies in the Law (Oxford, Hart, 2005) 65.Google Scholar
  62. Wilhelmsson, T, ‘Private Law in the EU: Harmonised or Fragmented Europeanisation? (2002) European Review of Private Law 77.Google Scholar
  63. Wilhelmsson, T, ‘Harmonizing Unfair Commercial Practices Law: The Cultural and Social Dimensions’ (2006) Osgoode Hall Law Journal 461.Google Scholar
  64. Winter, G, Risikoanalyse and Risikoabwehr im Chemikalienrecht (Dusseldorf, Werner, 1995).Google Scholar
  65. Winter, G, ‘Das Inverkehrbringen von unerkannten gentechnisch veränderten Organismen—Ein Problem? Ein gelöstes Problem?’ (2005) Neue Zeitschrift für Verwaltungsrecht 1133.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Collaborative Research CentreUniversity of Bremen, Universitätsallee GW1BremenGermany
  2. 2.Collaborative Research Center, Centre for European Law and Politics (ZERP)University of BremenBremenGermany
  3. 3.Hertie School of GovernanceBerlinGermany
  4. 4.Fachbereich Rechtswissenschaft, Zentrum für Europäische Rechtspolitik (ZERP)Universität Bremen, Universitätsallee GW1BremenGermany

Personalised recommendations