Suchergebnisse

This book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary analysis of the Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK). It unpacks the complex provisions of the agreement, identifies emerging security challenges, and examines the evolution of EU-UK trade relations as a result of the Windsor Framework.

The purpose of this book is to offer a comprehensive analysis of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), a treaty concluded between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) on Christmas Eve 2020, and which officially entered into force on 1 May 2021. The book builds on a number of earlier volumes on the law and politics of Brexit, but goes beyond them by specifically considering in greater depth those policy areas of EU-UK cooperation which are included in the TCA: ie free movement of goods, customs, rules of origin, services, investment, public procurement, capital movement, intellectual property, transport, aviation, fisheries, health, energy, cyber, and regulatory cooperation, and UK participation in EU programmes. This book, however, does not provide only a technical legal analysis of core provisions of the TCA. Rather, consistent with the ethos of all earlier volumes, it takes an interdisciplinary and policy perspective. On the one hand, it contextualizes the TCA in the political and economic reality in which the treaty operates. On the other hand, it explores the TCA for what it is, but without assuming that this must be the inevitable landing zone of EU-UK cooperation. As such, the book reflects on what the possible prospects to further develop EU-UK relations may be going forward in light of new global, national, and local developments, including the war in Ukraine, a growing public opinion shift against Brexit, and the recent approval of the Windsor Framework defusing EU-UK tensions over Northern Ireland.

This volume explores the implications of Brexit for the ongoing debate on the future of Europe, first by mapping the process of UK withdrawal from the EU through the Brexit referendum, negotiations, and extensions, and then by exploring effect of Brexit on the EU institutions, treaties, and integration processes.

The Euro-Crisis and the legal and institutional responses to it have had important constitutional implications on the architecture of the European Union (EU). Going beyond the existing literature, Federico Fabbrini's book takes a broad look and examines how the crisis and its aftermath have changed relations of power in the EU, disaggregating three different dimensions: (1) the vertical relations of power between the member states and the EU institutions, (2) the relations of power between the political branches and the courts, and (3) the horizontal relations of power between the EU member states themselves. The first part of the book argues that, in the aftermath of the Euro-crisis, power has been shifting along each of these axes in paradoxical ways. In particular, through a comparison of the United States, Fabbrini reveals that the EU is nowadays characterized by a high degree of centralization in budgetary affairs, an unprecedented level of judicialization of economic questions, and a growing imbalance between the member states in the governance of fiscal matters. As the book makes clear, however, each of these dynamics is a cause for concern - as it calls into question important constitutional values for the EU, such as the autonomy of the member states in taking decision about taxing and spending, the preeminence of the political process in settling economic matters, and the balance between state power and state equality. The second part of the book, therefore, devises possible options for future legal and institutional developments in the EU which may revert these paradoxical trends. In particular, Fabbrini considers the ideas of raising a fiscal capacity, restoring the centrality of the EU legislative process, and reforming the EU executive power, and discusses the challenges that accompany any further step towards a deeper Economic and Monetary Union.

This text examines the European system for the protection of fundamental rights. The aim is to identify the constitutional dynamics that occur as a result of the interaction between state and transnational human rights standards. Fabbrini compares the European system with the US federal system based on four case studies.

Russia's aggression in Ukraine has caused a severe energy crisis for the European Union (EU). The purpose of this article is to examine the core legal measures that the EU deployed since the start of the war to address a spike in energy prices, to facilitate the green transition and to develop an industrial policy for the net-zero age. The article argues that the EU measures adopted to respond to Russia's aggression in the fields of energy and industry have exploited potentials of the EU treaties and contributed to mitigate the energy crisis – thus preserving public support for Ukraine's cause too. Nevertheless, the article also discusses how EU interventions in the energy market and efforts to decarbonize industry have caused legal and budgetary issues. In particular, the article assesses the legality of some of the emergency measures, such as a windfall tax on surplus profit for energy companies. Moreover, it considers the challenges to the EU internal market level playing field resulting from the relaxation of EU state aid law – especially in the absence of corresponding supranational spending to fund the green industrial deal – and highlights the risks for EU competitiveness.

This article examines the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) – a regulation adopted by the European Union (EU) in July 2023 to boost the production capabilities of the EU defence industry with a view to supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia. The article explains the context in which the regulation was adopted, examines its content, and discusses its consequences for EU integration in the field of defence. At the same time, however, it also considers some critical aspects of ASAP, highlighting the limitations of the regulation approved by the European Parliament (EP) and the Council – particularly when compared with the original proposal of the European Commission. As the article argues, the ASAP regulation endeavours to support the capacity of the EU defence industry to live up to the challenges posed by the war in Ukraine, funding with EU money ammunitions' production and procurement. At the same time, ASAP also positions the EU to address in a supranational way a more threatening geo-strategic environment. From this point of view, therefore, the ASAP is a step in the direction of establishing a European defence union, seen both as a combination of military capability and industrial capacity. Nevertheless, ASAP falls well short of an EU equivalent of the United States' Defence Production Act, which suggests that further steps are needed towards the establishment of a real EU defence union. Yet, as the war in Ukraine turns into an ongoing conflict of attrition, the article posits that such a union would be needed – asap.
Act in Support of Ammunition Production, European Union, Common Security & Defence Policy, War in Ukraine, Legal bases