Balancing Unity and Diversity in EU Legislation

Presenting cutting-edge insights into the current state of EU legislation, this book addresses the profound changes that the EU’s legislature has undergone in recent years and how these shape EU law. At the heart of this inquiry is how the strive for uniform EU legislation is balanced with the necessity to leave a certain degree of autonomy to member states, and how such tension between unity and diversity is reflected in the design of EU legislation.

Featuring sectoral and cross-sectoral contributions from a diverse array of distinguished academics, the book examines how the tension between EU unity and national autonomy has evolved over time. In particular it considers the response to significant new developments in the EU constitutional and law-making framework. The chapters explore the legislative strategies that have been adopted across various fields of EU law and policy to shape unity and diversity, and the practical, conceptual, and constitutional issues that these engender. Case studies from different EU fields and member states are critically analysed alongside key concepts including harmonization, derogations, proportionality, and effectiveness.

Both incisive and authoritative, this book will prove indispensable to academics, researchers and students with an interest in constitutional and administrative law, law and politics, and European law, politics and policy. Legal practitioners and policymakers wanting a better understanding of EU legislation and its impact on national legal orders will similarly benefit from the analysis and recommendations this important book makes.

Edited by Ton van den Brink, Professor and Jean Monnet chair of EU Legislative Studies, Utrecht Centre for Shared Regulation and Enforcement in Europe (RENFORCE), Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands and Virginia Passalacqua, Assistant Professor of EU Law, Department of Law, University of Turin, Italy