The Non-State Nature of the European Union

44 Pages Posted: 21 Oct 2012

See all articles by Laurent Pech

Laurent Pech

UCD Sutherland School of Law; CEU Democracy Institute

Date Written: December 1, 2007

Abstract

This book chapter defends the argument that the Lisbon Treaty has not altered the ultimate truth of European integration: the EU is and will remain the creation of each Member State for the foreseeable future. Indeed, the EU may only act if it has the power to do so, power conferred on it by an exclusive and unanimous decision of the Member States. As a result, the EU is certainly no “superstate” — an imprecise but prevalent assertion — and the possibility of a superstate ever emerging reveals some phantasmagorical thinking. Ironically, one may even argue that the Lisbon Treaty has reinforced the “conservatory elements” of the Union’s constitutional order. As a result, statehood is indubitably an inappropriate characteristic to attribute to the EU and it would still seem accurate to describe the EU as an ongoing “experiment in transnational politics” whose original political and legal nature of the EU continues to make it a sui generis entity.

Keywords: European Union, Constitutional Law, Lisbon Treaty

Suggested Citation

Pech, Laurent, The Non-State Nature of the European Union (December 1, 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2164348 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2164348

Laurent Pech (Contact Author)

UCD Sutherland School of Law ( email )

Belfield
Dublin 4
Ireland

CEU Democracy Institute

Nador u. 13
Budapest
Hungary

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
57
Abstract Views
557
Rank
659,215
PlumX Metrics